Category Ohio Adventures

Day trips and such around Ohio

Spooky Season has arrived

Theresa Rushlow Leave a comment

Fall, my favorite time of year. I have my yard decorated for the season and am gearing up for some wonderful fall times.

I have the yard all decorated for the season; it isn’t that elaborate, but I have fun putting everything out. I had several people drive by and tell me they love the decorations, so that makes it all worthwhile.

I was able to participate in an insanely large Trunk or Treat; I can’t even begin to explain how big this thing is, but I am talking thousands of eager young goblins with massive bags in hand needing to be filled by our very generous community of families and businesses. It was my first year doing this, and I was not prepared for the massive crowd or the wind that kept taking my display down. But I had so much fun, and I was happy I did it, at least once. For the event, I found this trick with marbles, so I was handing out my space marbles, and it seemed to be a huge success. Amazing what a marble, foil, and a glass jar will do.

I had a fabulous evening sampling delicious tea at a Gothic Tea Party. It was such a fun little event, and the tea was delicious. I had some interesting conversations with other participants, and my granddaughter was able to join me for all of the fun. She loved the tea, but the cucumber finger sandwiches were her favorite; now I have to find the recipe for those.

My grandson attended the Ohio State High School Honors Band weekend. The Ohio State Honors Jazz Band is a program for select high school students (grades 10-12) who are nominated by their jazz band directors. Students participate in a weekend of high-level music-making, including masterclasses and rehearsals led by OSU faculty, and culminating in public performances. This is not a permanent band, but a special annual or semi-annual event that allows advanced students to perform together. We were able to attend the concert at the end, and he had a solo; so proud of him.

We made our annual trek to a local corn maze and I tell you what is said, “get lost in the maze.” They always say that, but this time they were not joking; it seemed like an eternity, and we just kept going in circles. I think we were in there about an hour, and we found a total of 3 clues (there were 9). We finally claimed defeat and went and sat by the bonfire.

So what are your fall traditions? We typically enjoy driving around the local yard displays; we have some folks with very elaborate setups in the area, so they are always entertaining. Then we try an evening corn maze. We try to get to an orchard and pick apples for the season. Then right before trick-or-treat, we have our Halloween jack-o-lantern carving party. Just hanging out with family, enjoying the cool weather and, of course, ending it all with trick-or-treating. I love handing out candy to all the little ones.

Every Picture tells a story

Theresa Rushlow Leave a comment

My backyard has turned into a cool Ohio native pollinator garden, and I spend a ton of time snapping pics of the flowers and critters that come to visit. I also love taking photos of cool plants and animals I come across during my walks, so this post is all about those snapshots!

Deer Creek State Park, Ohio

Theresa Rushlow Leave a comment

We had a super fun fishing trip at Deer Creek State Park, such an awesome lake and a cute little campground. So clean and perfect! We only stayed for 3 days, so we might have to check it out more in the future since it’s only about an hour and a half from the house. We stayed in site , which was cool with trees all around us, but I think the site next to us, , was even better – super private. Next time for sure!

The park’s got a really cool lodge and a golf course for those who want to go the fancy route. There are loads of hiking trails and spots to fish from at the marina and the dam. I think renting a boat would be a better bet for fishing, so maybe we’ll give that a go next time.

We didn’t manage to catch any fish, but we definitely gave them a lot of worms. The campground wasn’t too packed during the week, but when we left on Friday, it was starting to get pretty busy for the weekend.

Ohio does offer so many wonderful state parks to explore, so if you are in our state in the future this may be one to check out.

Stretching our legs

OHIO – The beautiful buckeye state

Theresa Rushlow Leave a comment

Local Explorations

I’m so lucky to live in an area with incredible hiking and walking trails in local parks, reserves, fens, and wetlands, and forests. And to top it off, I’m less than a 2-hour drive from Hocking Hills, home to the Whispering Cave trail, recently crowned as the best in the country by USA Today. Forbes even listed it as one of the best places to travel in 2023. And let’s not forget about our rich heritage, including over 70 Indian Mounds in Ohio, with the granddaddy of them all, the Serpent Mound, the largest effigy mound in the world. If you haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the natural beauty of Ohio, let me introduce you to this wonderful state.

So with that being said, I enjoy exploring all the great things my state has to offer and have plenty to choose from.

Just a short drive from my front door offers some beautiful trails to hike and natural areas to explore. So today I am featuring 3 places in Fairborn, Ohio. All of them are very close to each other and on the small side so you can visit them all in one morning or afternoon.

Hebble Creek Reserve – Spangler Rd, Fairborn, OH

GPS: 39 49.974 -83 59.857

They’ve just put in a gravel parking space and there are a couple of short mowed trails. It’s a 78-acre wetland area with special plants and animals. A perfect place for birdwatchers, plenty to check out if you’re cool with getting a bit muddy and don’t mind going through the taller plants. Looks like they’re working on adding more paths to walk since they put in the parking area.

Pearl’s Fen – 4533 Byron Rd – Fairborn, OH

GPS 39.817646707595905 -83.98401820869843

A peat wetland with tons of different plants (like 170+) and wildlife. This 2 acre spot is packed with diversity, so just take a leisurely walk on the boardwalk, grab your camera or binoculars (or both), and soak it all in. The sunset view from the accessible boardwalk is totally stunning. It even hooks up with the Oak Quarry pike if you’re up for more strolling.

Oaks Quarry Park – State Rte 235 – Fairborn, OH

GPS 39.814651, -83.994988

An old limestone quarry turned into a park, how cool is that? This spot is part of the Beavercreek wetlands, a real gem.

If you’re into time travel, this is your chance to go way, way back – we’re talking 440 million years! Believe it or not, this place used to be an ocean and a huge coral reef. Now, you can hike awesome trails and even hunt for fossils to take home as souvenirs.

When the glaciers passed through here, they left all kinds of marks on the rocks, like grooves and slides. It’s like nature’s own rock art gallery, frozen in time since the ice age ended 14000 years ago.

This park covers a whopping 190 acres and has horseback riding trails as well as around 2 miles of hiking trails. Time to saddle up and explore!

If you haven’t already, I would appreciate it if you could subscribe to my blog and my YouTube channel. I am just starting out, but I am committed to bringing you fresh content regularly. Your support means the world to me.

Wayne National Forest

Theresa Rushlow Leave a comment

Lake Vesuvius Recreation Area – Iron Ridge Campground

“Wow, what a gorgeous place! I think we should totally come back here. We stayed at site at Iron Ridge – Lake Vesuvius, and it was awesome. The spot was flat and had plenty of space. We drove through the Oak Hill camping loop, and it seemed a bit more busy, but I guess it’s closer to the hiking trails and the beach (even though it wasn’t open yet). The spots there looked nice too, just a tad busier than where we were.”

The Vesuvius recreation area used to be all about the Iron Industry, and you can still spot bits and pieces of the old Vesuvius furnace around the place. When the ore dried up, all that was left were the remnants of the once booming industry. Thankfully, the Civilian Conservation Corp stepped in and rescued this gorgeous area, preserving it for everyone to enjoy for years to come. They built a dam on Storms Creek, creating the lake that everyone loves today. We didn’t get to do any fishing this time, but next time we will be more organized.

The Vesuvius recreation area used to be all about the Iron Industry, and you can still spot bits and pieces of the old Vesuvius furnace around the place. When the ore dried up, all that was left were the remnants of the once booming industry. Thankfully, the Civilian Conservation Corp stepped in and rescued this gorgeous area, preserving it for everyone to enjoy for years to come. They built a dam on Storms Creek, creating the lake that everyone loves today. We didn’t get to do any fishing this time, but next time we will be more organized.

There’s this trail that goes around the lake, and even though we couldn’t walk the whole loop because part of it was closed, we still managed to cover a good bit of it. It was so beautiful out there, and it seemed like a lot of locals were using it for swimming. Can you believe it? Even though it’s spring, people were still taking a dip. And the plant and animal life was just stunning. Ohio is just so beautiful. No bigfoot, dogmen or UFO’s could be found on this trip.

TT even liked it a bit, well maybe not, but she did like sleeping in the bus.

On our way back home, we decided to take a little detour just outside of Chillicothe to check out the Leo Petroglyphs. It’s not a huge place, but it’s really gorgeous, and Potter was loving it because he’s convinced he’s part mountain goat. We wandered around looking for the petroglyphs on the cliffs for a while, but couldn’t find any. It turns out they were actually on a slab inside a gazebo right next to where we parked the bus. Quite a surprise, but definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

So here we go again with another adventure in the books! Park’er did it again – performed like an absolute champ. That bus is just so reliable. Next stop: Senecas Rocks, WV. Not entirely convinced we’re ready to conquer those big hills, but hey, who knows what’ll happen!

Licking County Jail – Paranormal Investigation

Theresa Rushlow Leave a comment
GHOST HUNTING

 

 

December – 2015

 

 

OLD LICKING COUNTY JAIL
 

 

 

 
 
 

  I think we are officially hooked on banging around in the dark trying to capture evidence of ghosts. Love the history behind the haunts and love old buildings so it is a fun hobby all around.

When the opportunity arose to do a ghost hunt at the Old Licking County Jail we couldn’t pass it up. It was a cold, cold night but worth it. We are going back in May – 2016, so hope to add to our EVP collection then.

 

EVP – Mae’s cell at the very end of the clip listen carefully and you will hear exactly what Mae thinks of the guy telling her she isn’t to have visitors. You may have to turn your sound up.