Central Ohio

We spent our first three days here exploring the area north of Columbus that included stops at the Rutherford B. Hayes “BP” (see the photos below to get the joke) and the “bp”, home and tomb of that great Ohioan Warren G. “Jerry” Harding (Google “Jerry” Harding to find out more about our esteemed 29^th president’s propensity for giving names to parts of his body when corresponding with his mistress).

During these travels we saw some more bicentennial barns, stopped at a few courthouses, ascended to the highest point in the state and answered that long-burning question; "Where's Waldo?".

About 40 miles north of Columbus, next to I-71. Who knew?

One of our first stops was in the bustling town of Delaware (the seat of Delaware County), which is basically a suburb of Columbus and home to the Hayes “BP as well as Ohio Wesleyan University. It is a nice town with a bustling main street that we walked up and down; went in the courthouse, had a beer at a funky tap house and returned another day for a beer at another neat place with outdoor seating. It’s a nice, pleasant, seemingly-prosperous place.

The next day we went to Marion, the seat of county (also Marion) that is immediately north of Delaware. The distance between the two cities is less than 20 miles but the differences were startling.

Remember the neutron bomb? It was a 70s era controversial weapon that was designed to kill lots of people but leave buildings and other structures intact. I think it's possible a neutron bomb may have been detonated in downtown Marion, Ohio.

We parked and went in the courthouse and then walked around the downtown area. The streets were virtually deserted except for an occasional passer-by that looked like they were auditioning for a part in an episode of Breaking Bad; and an old woman with no teeth who was rummaging through trash bins looking for aluminum cans. 

Marion has a creepy, post-apocalyptic vibe.

Curious about the stats, I looked at the Census data for the two counties and I’ve posted a few of the data points here that seem illustrative; but the only stat you really need to know to understand the difference in the two places (not included in the data table) is that the per capita income in Delaware County is the same as the household income in Marion County. The two places are both overwhelmingly White and solidly Republican, but starkly different.

Stat	Marion	Delaware
White	89%	87%
Population Change since 2010	-0.9%	6.2%
Home Ownership	68%	83%
Median Household Income	$     40,966	$   90,499
Below Poverty	19.6%	4.7%
College Degree	12.1%	49.8%

Obama                                                             45.1%       37.5%
Romney                                                           52.7%       61.2%

Another depressing sight that we saw between the cornfields in north-central Ohio was in the town of Ontario where a General Motors plant was famously shuttered at the onset of the Great Recession and has since been razed. It’s now a vast, empty, sea of concrete.

After three nights at the Delaware State Park - which was a decent park, but eerily empty; we moved to a busier park closer to Columbus. Using that as our home base, we spent the next week doing things in and around the City of Columbus.

We like Columbus. It’s maybe not quite as cool and hip as Austin but it has a similar feel, with the state capitol and the flagship university…speaking of which. I think I could live in Columbus.

We attended the Buckeyes 66-0 blowout of hapless Kent State. It was a lousy game and we left early but we really enjoyed the experience and, especially, the halftime show. It was band alumni day and there were 700 alumni marching and playing; including the recently-fired band director. Of course the gigantic OSU band (made up entirely of current students) was also on the field and, with all of that fire power, they were able to do four of the famous, moving, script o-h-i-o formations; dotting each i one by one.  It was nearly 1,000 band members playing and marching on the field and it was a pretty cool thing to see.

Another cool thing we liked was the grove of buckeye trees that have been planted in a park-like area adjacent to Ohio Stadium; one tree for each player that has been selected as an all-American.

I followed the 1968 team closely and it was a treat for me to see the names of guys I idolized as a young teenager; like Rex Kern, Jack Tatum and, of course, Archie Griffen. Another really cool thing about the grove was being able to pick our very own buckeyes from these "All-America" trees.

Guys, I'm ready to suit up!

Betsy and Brutus, her new best friend.

After the game we went to a “brewfest” that was kind of like a street party; in a near-downtown neighborhood that is adjacent to the enclosed farmer’s market, which is similar (but not quite as extensive as) the market in Cleveland.

On other days we rode our bikes through the nice German Village area of Columbus, which is a bit like King William; went to the Ohio History Museum; biked to the State Capitol (which Ohioans call the statehouse) and then over to the fabulous, 11-story, recently-refurbished, 1930s art deco state courts building; and then to Topiary Garden (topiary = "sculptured shrubbery") Park. 

Outside the Courts Building

Inside the Courts Building

I got in a little trouble with the park ranger for climbing up here without a rope, but it was worth it - O-hio!

Honestly Mr. Ranger, I did not see that sign.

McKinley is still standing at the Statehouse

I've been to 49 state capitols and hundreds of county courthouses all across this country. Everyone of them has a Veterans Memorial; but I'm not sure I've ever seen a better memorial to the veterans (outside of Washington D.C.) than these letters, written by men in service from the Civil War to Vietnam, that are now embedded in stone outside the Ohio Statehouse. 

On another day we toured the Jack Nicklaus museum on the OSU campus and, somehow, found the time to stop in suburban Dublin, famous not only as the home of Nicklaus’s Memorial golf tournament but also as the home of the Wendy’s restaurant chain and the Concrete Corn Sculpture.

At the “statehouse” we had our own private guide for a 90-minute tour. She is a retired teacher and seemed ecstatic that two people from another state are willing to spend a month “really getting to know” Ohio.

Her reaction is pretty typical. Many times jaws drop (often visibly) when we tell them we are (voluntarily) spending a month in their state. Once they are able to recover from the shock the most common comment is: “you’re kidding”. 

Suffice to say, you do not see a lot of out-of-state license plates here in Ohio.

On the final day of our stay in Central Ohio we returned to Delaware, for the Delaware County Fair and its famous Little Brown Jug harness race; one of the "Triple Crown" of Harness Racing.

Betsy and I employed our famously scientific strategy of placing bets by picking appealing names of horses.

For instance, I picked "On Golden Ponder" in recognition of our aging bodies and Betsy chose "Lawyer Up" in recognition of our son in law school, etc.

Fortunately, this strategy worked well enough for Betsy that we (collectively) came out (more or less) at break even.