We had a fairly short drive from Lebanon to Logan on Tuesday June 24th, so we made a stop on the way at Ohio’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe, OH. There are several locations within this National Park Service site, each preserving earthworks created by the Hopewell peoples, American Indians who lived between 2,200 and 1,500 years ago. The various mounds cover burials and ceremonial sites, but it does not appear that anyone lived in these locations. In mapping several of the sites, they all have sizes and shapes in common…it’s all really fascinating, but many questions remain about the Hopewell Culture. The heat index was well over 100 degrees, so we didn’t walk through the earthworks; we just looked at them from a distance, and watched the park film in the comfort of an air conditioned visitors center!

From there, we continued our journey East into the Hocking Hills region, so named because of the Hocking River. It’s unbelievably hilly – so very different from what we’ve seen of Ohio so far. The area lies in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and is considered part of Appalachia. Our campground is in the town of Logan and is about 10 minutes away from the area’s biggest claim to fame, Hocking Hills State Park, and the main reason for our trip to Ohio. The campground is extremely hilly – each row of campsites is on a different level.

On Wednesday, we were up and out early so we could hike before the heat of the day (with another 100-degree-plus heat index). We headed to Cedar Falls and did the ½ mile loop out to the Falls.  The hike goes through hemlock forests (which early settlers mistakenly identified as cedar) and the trail is surrounded by towering cliffs with unique rock formations and recesses. Really unique and beautiful area!

In the afternoon, we ventured into the town of Logan. The town is home to Columbus Washboard Company, in business since 1895 and the only washboard manufacturer still operating in the US. We had hoped to take one of their factory tours, but they have the worst possible system. There need to be at least four people for a tour to happen, but it turns into a chicken & egg situation…you can’t commit to/pay for a tour until there are four people, so no one ever commits and you’d literally just have to sit there all day hoping someone else comes in wanting a tour (unless you are a group of four already, then it’s super easy!). So after trying for both the 1pm and 3pm tours, we gave up and decided they clearly didn’t want our money (we even offered to pay for four people, but they don’t allow that). Weird. But I guess they get to decide how they run their tours. I did grab a couple photos of old washboards in their shop…

Thursday was another hot day, so we headed out early once again, this time to the most popular trail in the park which goes to “Old Man’s Cave”. It’s about a mile total, mostly flat, and absolutely beautiful. Everywhere you look, there’s something interesting to see – rock formations, massive cliffs, waterfalls, bridges, caves/recesses, and more. We clearly weren’t the only ones with the idea to start out early because it was pretty busy all along the trail for a Thursday morning…but likely nothing compared to how busy the weekends are! The cave measures 250 feet long and is 50 feet high, and was created when water and wind carved out the softer middle layers of sandstone. It was named for a hermit who lived in the recess cave with his two hound dogs.

Thursday afternoon, we drove about a half hour North to Lancaster, OH. Our first stop was the Sherman House Museum, the house where General Sherman was born, along with his brother who is famous for the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. We took an interesting tour to learn more about the Sherman family and their time in Lancaster, and there were some excellent exhibits about Sherman’s role in securing the Union’s victory in the Civil War.

Next door to the Sherman House we saw a sign advertising a Star Trek-themed exhibit at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio. We decided to check it out (I’m not a Trekkie at all, but Mark definitely is!). Apparently, a Lancaster native works for Paramount Studios, which explains why this relatively small town has this exhibit which includes over 150 costumes and props from the Star Trek TV shows and movies. It was a cool exhibit and even for a non-Trekkie, there was plenty to look at and enjoy!

While we were there, a massive thunderstorm started and it was raining cats and dogs by the time we finished and were ready to leave. So we killed some time looking at their other displays (it was a beautiful old home filled with wonderful furniture and decorative items), and finally decided to just make a run for it back to the truck. And we got drenched from head to toe!  We had to make a quick grocery run, and by the time we finished there, the rain had stopped. The weather on this trip has definitely left something to be desired, between heat, humidity, rain, thunder…ugh!

On Friday, we headed about 50 miles North into Columbus, to our first stop at Topiary Park. A Columbus sculptor had a really creative idea to not just create some topiaries, but to re-create a very famous painting, “A Sunday Afternoon On The Ile De La Grande Jatte”. Love it! It’s a gorgeous painting that I frequently enjoy seeing at the Art Institute of Chicago, so to see it brought to “life” was wonderful!

The Columbus Public Library was next to the park, so we headed in to cool off a bit and use the restrooms, but we were pleasantly surprised by the interior. It’s a very new building, but connects to a much older building that is architecturally stunning. Plus, there was a massive LEGO display that was fun to look at. They had a café area so we decided to eat our lunches there, in the air conditioning, rather than sitting in the hot truck. Worked out great!

From there, we drove to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. It’s a massive conservatory and they have an impressive collection of Chihuly Glass scattered among the plants.

Outdoors, they had some LEGO sculptures made of thousands of bricks, plus there was a wonderful “Blooms & Butterflies” exhibit with hundreds of butterflies. So fun to see them up close!

We spent the next couple of hours running some errands, including a visit to the Eddie Bauer Warehouse Store which is always full of fantastic deals (70% off on this visit). We learned about it when Connor was in college, and made a bunch of trips over the years as we drove to/from Oxford, but haven’t been there in a while…so it was a necessary stop! We had some delicious pizza in Lancaster, and got back to the campground just before a massive thunderstorm blew through, bringing more downpours.

Saturday morning, we headed out early again for our last Hocking Hills hike of the trip, this time to Ash Cave. It’s a short walk out to the recess cave which is absolutely massive, measuring 700 feet from end to end, 100 feet deep, and 100 feet high at the front edge. There’s a beautiful waterfall, too! They sometimes hold gatherings or concerts in the cave…apparently, it has impressive acoustics. When early settlers arrived, they found a huge pile of ashes under the rock overhang – hence the name, Ash Cave. It wasn’t a long hike, but again, with the heat and humidity, it felt much longer!

Mark opted to spend the afternoon washing the trailer and staying cool in the air conditioning; I headed out for two final stops. First, the Pencil Sharpener Museum. Yes, there is actually a museum full of pencil sharpeners here in Logan, OH. It’s located in a small building next to the Visitors Center, and there are over 3,000 unique sharpeners there. There are lots of the plastic ones we had as kids, plus a bunch of metal ones shaped like cars, bridges, planes, and more! Quite an assortment and worth a few minutes to check out!

From there, I went back to Lancaster to visit the Ohio Glass Museum. Their current exhibit is candle holders, and I’ve never seen such a wide assortment – all shapes and sizes, mostly clear glass but some beautiful colors, too. I watched an interesting film about the history of glass making in this area. There’s abundant Natural Gas and Sandstone, both of which are needed for glass production…and once Anchor Hocking was founded there in 1905, there was a workforce with glass-making expertise. I enjoyed seeing the wide variety of glassware, from bottles and paperweights to beautiful decorative items and some Steuben glass (from Corning, NY). Another fun and interesting stop!

Saturday night, we had one last thunderstorm. There was a tall pine tree at our site, and pinecones were making unbelievably loud thuds as they hit our roof! They kept startling us! Sunday morning, we ran into a minor issue when we were packing up to leave the Hocking Hills area. We have a power cord that plugs into a surge protector, which then plugs into shore power at the campground. Somehow, the power cord and surge protector melted together and became impossible to separate. There must have been some power surge or some other electrical issue that caused them to become one (oh, and maybe the heat contributed, too). Mark tried everything to get them apart, with no luck. So, that meant we needed to purchase a new power cord for Sunday night, or we’d be without power (which means no air conditioning, which is not an option in this heat). We tried a Walmart on our route, as they sell a selection of RV stuff…but no power cord. So we called a Camping World, and he said they had a bunch in stock…so we stopped near Dayton and got our cord. Phew!

When we’re traveling in the RV, we run both Google Maps and our RV GPS which knows our height/length and recommends routes that avoid low-clearance bridges and other challenging roads. For some reason, the GPS thought there was a road closure on our route and was recommending a detour that was going to add FOUR HOURS to our arrival time. Four hours. We decided to trust Google Maps and stick with the original route…and it was fine, no detour needed. Phew again!

We had one final night, at the KOA near Indianapolis (we’ve stayed here twice before), and we arrived back home on Monday.

And that wraps up our trip to Ohio. It was wonderful, but the weather was not. Too hot, too humid, too many storms, too wet. Just ugh overall on the weather, but we still got to see and do lots of fun things! If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend Hocking Hills State Park – it’s one of the best we’ve ever been to!

Happy 4th of July!