Officially stop #2, but sorta stop #3. Our Thursday morning was to be spent at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, so we planned to stay in a hotel just around the corner from it Wednesday night.
Ohio is full of slow drivers! It took us 4 hours (I think) to get from Tamarak to Columbus. Now, granted, I missed a turn and we decided to take back roads, hit one major detour and ended up back on track, but that’s not the reason it took so long.
People in Ohio drive exactly the speed limit or a few under. Oh my goodness it was frustrating. We, in our 7 passenger, full mini van, passed 3 cars at once to get around it. And I must say, 80 in a Dodge Caravan is smoooooooooooooooooth. 😉
In any case, passing from WVA to OH was not fun as it was on a huge metal bridge … and most people know I have one and only one phobia/paranoia … driving off a bridge. So it was NOT a fun experience.
We kept going though and enjoyed our drive through the countryside. We stopped in Nelsonville hoping to make use of the historic train they have, but alas, it only runs on the weekends. 🙁 So, we kept going, trying to decide where to eat. After driving through a very cute, quaint little downtown area somewhere in the middle-of-nowhere-Ohio, we ended up at “The Old Dutch Restaurant”. Since it met criteria #1 and #2 for places to eat … (#2 being there are other people at said restaurant), we decided we’d try it.
Think Cracker Barrel, but not as tasty and with a sad buffet. It really was “ok”. The girls chowed down on mashed potatoes though. 🙂 Yum! Ron enjoyed his chicken fried steak and I had a single bite of my ham/pineapple “mush” then ate the sides and left it at that.
Outside of “The Olde Dutch” was “The Olde Ice Cream Shoppe” so we decided that was where we’d have dessert. First though, we had to stop and see the reindeer that were in the petting zoo. 😉 I had Mint Chocolate Chip, Emi had Rainbow, Abby had Orange, Joseph had Rocky Road and Ron had Mint Chocolate Chip. 🙂 Yum! We sat outside and commented on the three businesses across the parking lot…
#1 – The Olde Antique Store. #2 – Craft Store. #3 – A Glassware Outlet. Interesting combination … especially with the restaurant. 😉 We all finished off our cones … Emi drank the last little bit of her ice cream and Abby threw away 99% of hers 🙄 and off we continued up to Columbus.
After getting over the river and through the woods, it wasn’t to Grandma’s house we went, but the Fairfield by Marriott in Reynoldsburg. This was our ‘free hotel’ night, using my Marriott rewards points. It was worth it … I guess.
Ron and I are NOT use to sleeping on a double bed … Joseph got his own double bed and the girls had to get to sleep on the floor … not really a problem except without baby jail, they didn’t have “boundaries” and kept getting UP. Ugh! We ended up turning off all lights until they crashed, then turning some back on for ourselves.
All in all not a bad place … in a very populated, very urban city!