OH Travel Guide

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2013's Hottest New Roller Coasters: Cedar Point's GateKeeper

May 23, 2013 at 10:50 AM | by | Comments (0)

According to Mother Nature it’s not technically summer for at least another month, but we go by the calendar and the season starts with Memorial Day weekend. Thankfully theme parks also seem to follow the calendar, so the last few weeks of May are always a good time to enjoy that new roller coaster smell. That’s especially the case over in Sandusky, Ohio, as once again Cedar Point is welcoming the amusement park season with a brand new ride.

This year it’s GateKeeper that’s taking up a permanent residence inside the park, as the new roller coaster breaks all kinds of records. With a 164-foot drop and over 4,000-feet of track it’s the best in its class, and that’s even before your get buckled in for a ride.

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Tractors Pulling Planes? Yep, at This Weekend's Heritage of Flight Festival

October 2, 2012 at 12:24 PM | by | Comments (0)

It’s only Tuesday, but that hardly means that’s it too early to start talking about—and planning—some stuff to do this weekend. If you’re looking to get outside to enjoy the cooler temperatures but also want a little entertainment, there’s always the option to attend a fall festival. Lucky for you we have one in mind, and it’s all taking place this weekend in New Carlisle, Ohio.

This weekend the eighth annual Heritage of Flight Festival and Parade rolls into town, as stuff is scheduled for October 5, 6, and 7. The highlight of the festival has to be the tractor pull, but we’re not talking about the usual country fair style tractor pull. Here the tractors are pulling airplanes on a parade route right through the center of town, so if you’ve ever wanted to see a biplane being towed by a John Deere tractor—this is the place to accomplish that mission.

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Did You Know? Cleveland Airport Has a Special-Edition Beer

September 13, 2012 at 10:32 AM | by | Comments (0)

Fun fact: fun facts are awesome. Whether you're trying to chat up a flight attendant or simply love learning something cool, we've got some tidbits to share. So all this week, we'll be squeezing our mindgrapes to bring you some awesome, random travel factoids.

Fact: Cleveland Airport serves a special edition, locally brewed beer: The Wright Pils.

Okay so typically we wouldn't recommend your scheduling an extra hour or two before your flight to spend at Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport, but that was before we found out a little secret the airport's been keeping within Terminal C (mostly Air Canada and United flights).

At the Great Lakes Brewpub near Gate C 14—the only location of Great Lakes Brewing Company's Brewpub outside their Brewery in Cleveland proper—the limited edition beer is on draft. You'll want some of this, as it's more than just limited edition; it's aviation-themed. The Wright Pils is "classic style with flowery bouquet and an elegantly dry finish." It's made to pair well with salads, salmon, tuna and "marbled meats." It also happens to be named for Ohio's own Wright Brothers.

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Did You Know? Cedar Point Once Had a Boeing 747-Theme Roller Coaster

September 11, 2012 at 11:02 AM | by | Comments (2)

Fun fact: fun facts are awesome. Whether you're trying to chat up a flight attendant or simply love learning something cool, we've got some tidbits to share. So all this week, we'll be squeezing our mindgrapes to bring you some awesome, random travel factoids.

Fact: Cedar Point Amusement Park used to have a Boeing 747-themed roller coaster named "Jumbo Jet."

It's the late 1970s at a theme park in Ohio, but this isn't just any theme park; it's Cedar Point. This park, on a peninsula sticking out into Lake Erie, celebrates over 100 years of fun, with five roller coasters at the time: Blue Streak, Wildcat, Cedar Creek Mine Ride, Corkscrew and Jumbo Jet. Three of those five still exist and the losers are—you guessed it—Wildcat and the very similar Jumbo Jet.

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You Know, There's Already a Whole Museum Honoring Neil Armstrong

August 28, 2012 at 11:44 AM | by | Comments (0)

What you already know by now is that Neil Armstrong, NASA pilot and first man on the moon, died Saturday at age 82 of complications from cardiovascular procedures. What you probably don't know is that the man already has a museum dedicated to him, and it's been around for thirty years! The museum opened in 1972, three years after the famous first moonwalk 1969.

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum sits in the tiny (under 10,000 people) town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, Armstrong's birthplace. Since Ohio has a reputation as a breeding ground for aviators, astronauts and presidents, the structure branches out beyond Neil to cover all Ohio's contributions to the history and politics of space flight.

Among the items on display are Armstrong's uniforms, an F5D Sky Lancer, the Gemini VIII spacecraft (in which Neil flew and which also made the first space docking), Apollo 11 artifacts (Neil's backup Apollo 11 spacesuit!) and a moon rock. Even the architecture of the museum is notable; it resembles the moon rising and the dome that gives this effect contains a star theater.

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Cedar Point's Already Psyching Up to Break Roller Coaster Records in 2013

August 21, 2012 at 11:11 AM | by | Comments (0)

The summer season is quickly coming to a close and that means only a few more chances to ride your favorite roller coaster this season. Even though time’s running out for some theme parks in 2012, we like to stay optimistic and look forward to 2013. Already we hear that Cedar Point is cooking up something spectacular for next season, and now the details have been revealed.

It’s name will be Gatekeeper, and it’ll be all about breaking records as it scares riders silly. As a "winger coaster," it will kind of hang riders off the sides as the main part of the car maintains a connection with the track. There’s still plenty of pieces to put together—we imagine it’s much like assembling a piece of IKEA furniture; however, when the final screws are set into place the thing will be over 4,000-feet long with a drop of around 164 feet.

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So You Want to Ride in a Torpedo-Toting PT Boat from World War II?

August 6, 2012 at 11:57 AM | by | Comments (0)

531 PT Boats plied the waves for the Allied powers during World War II. These torpedo-toting motorboats of 70-80 feet were designed to zip up to large ships, attack, and zip away. The American military called them the "Mosquito Fleet," Japanese forces gave them the nickname "Devil Boats," but these days we just know them as museum pieces, since only 13 still exist, 3 or 4 of which are still operational.

What happened to the rest of 'em? Well, PT boats were made of wood, wood which was then burned or re-used at the end of the war. Countries celebrating their victory while simultaneously worrying about piecing together a broken Europe and getting their boys back into the workforce weren't thinking about putting PTs up on plinths. Heck, it would be nearly another twenty years before John F. Kennedy, former commander of PT-109, would become president and spark the public fascination with these boats.

Now, of those 3-4 left seaworthy, two are now to be found in Ohio of all places, the newest pieces of the collection of the also very new Liberty Aviation Museum.

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How to Ship a B-17 Bomber: Shrinkwrap!

August 2, 2012 at 9:00 AM | by | Comments (0)


"My Gal Sal" after ditching on the Greenland icecap

There's a B-17E Flying Fortress Bomber sitting in a hangar Cincinnati's Blue Ash Airport. It is one of three still surviving, and yet its army green body is gathering dust, unused and mostly unseen. All that is about to change.

Cincy's Local 12 reports that the World War II-era aircraft is about to be transported (not flown) to a new, more visible home within the National WWII Museum in New Orleans before Blue Ash closes down for good on August 29. But how exactly does one go about shipping a delicate vintage airplane? Naturally by using shrinkwrap:

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Inside Ohio's New Liberty Aviation Museum and Ford Tri-Motor Airplane Restoration

July 23, 2012 at 5:15 PM | by | Comment (1)


Yes, that's a plane being restored right there

Hey, did you know that Ford once made airplanes?

It was the 1920s and Henry Ford had a finger in many industries, but aviation took a backseat only to cars. During the period from 1925-1933, 199 Ford Tri-Motors were produced in Dearborn, Michigan and Henry himself blatantly bragged that its all-metal, American-built construction made it the "safest airliner in the world."

Ford Tri-Motors are still puttering around, outliving and outflying countless other airplanes. They've lived crazy lives, for example going from Pan Am to drug smuggling in Central America, doing domestic routes in Cuba to hopping between the Lake Erie Islands. It's that last piece of the Tin Goose's history that's being celebrated with the debut of a new museum at Ohio's Erie-Ottawa Regional Airport (PCW), the former home of Tri-Motor operator Island Airlines.

The Liberty Aviation Museum formally opened on Friday, and we were there for the fanfare. Focusing on World War II, the golden age of aviation and vintage aircraft, the museum covers multiple bases for history lovers. However, it's the Ford Tri-Motor that rings most truly with us, having figured in our personal family history. This is a story, told by my mother, of her first flight ever—onboard an Island Airlines Ford Tri-Motor from PCW to Lake Erie's South Bass Island.

Let's continue.

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On Ohio's Lake Erie Wine Trail: Put-in-Bay Winery

July 13, 2012 at 2:06 PM | by | Comment (1)

Everybody knows the Wine Trails of Napa/Sonoma, Argentina, the Loire Valley and, more recently, NY's Hudson Valley, but this week it's all about Ohio. Yes, Ohio has wineries—lots of 'em actually—and we'll be sharing our favorites with you.

Today: Put-in-Bay Winery in the town of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, Ohio

Perhaps the newest winery of all in the area, Put-in-Bay winery only opened in 2009 but at least took over a vintage Victorian mansion on prime waterfront property to make its mark. WIthout a history like Heineman's has, PIB decided to focus their energy on becoming a pretty place for drinking wine—get the tourists that way.

The first floor of the Italianate complex is given over to a few rooms of tables for indoor tastings, plus a retail store and tasting bar. Head out back to a gazebo and massive park, or out front to the porch and front yard that looks over toward Put-in-Bay harbor, the tiny Gibraltar Island and the towering Perry's Victory Monument. We ordered up our wines, took 'em to the porch and played a game of checkers while enjoying the lake breeze. Cheap, easy and absolutely idyllic.

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On Ohio's Lake Erie Wine Trail: Heineman's Winery and Crystal Cave

July 12, 2012 at 2:01 PM | by | Comment (1)

Everybody knows the Wine Trails of Napa/Sonoma, Argentina, the Loire Valley and, more recently, NY's Hudson Valley, but this week it's all about Ohio. Yes, Ohio has wineries—lots of 'em actually—and we'll be sharing our favorites with you.

Today: Heineman's Winery in the town of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, Ohio

Now that we've detailed how exactly to get to the little Lake Erie island of South Bass, it's time to start hitting them wineries. Just a short golf cart ride/bike ride or long walk from the Miller Ferry's Lime Kiln dock sits Heineman's, a whole complex that includes more than just some winemaking machinery; there's a weingarten and a very cool cave, its walls lined with crystals.

If you think Heineman's looks and sounds German, that's because it very much is so. The winery was started in 1888 by an immigrant who headed to the new world from Germany's wine-growing region. While digging for a well, Heineman happened upon one of the natural caves that dot the island. Though what's now called Crystal Cave is indeed lined with massive crystals, they sadly have no commercial value (thought the Smithsonian houses one).

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On Ohio's Lake Erie Wine Trail: Getting to South Bass Island

July 11, 2012 at 12:06 PM | by | Comment (1)

Everybody knows the Wine Trails of Napa/Sonoma, Argentina, the Loire Valley and, more recently, NY's Hudson Valley, but this week it's all about Ohio. Yes, Ohio has wineries—lots of 'em actually—and we'll be sharing our favorites with you.

Today: Getting to the town of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island, home to two excellent wineries

Now that we've covered two coastal Ohio wineries on the mainland, it's time to head out over open water to two more...on an island...in Lake Erie. Yes, you read that right. Not only does Ohio have excellent wineries, but it's also got excellent islands. We like to think of Put-in-Bay as the cheaper, more casual, Midwest version of Nantucket and, just like with Nantucket, there's few ways to reach it.

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