Ohio

Before I even sat down for lunch, I had already spent a few minutes watching ducks circle the pond outside. That was my first clue this was not going to…

I have driven along the Ohio River enough times to know how easy it is to keep going. The road bends, another little town appears, and before you have decided…

The first thing I noticed at Auddino’s was not the pastry case. It was the smell of bread drifting through a tiny Columbus storefront that looks far more ordinary than…

My fall food plans in Ohio have a habit of turning into mileage. One good pierogi stop leads to another, and suddenly I am tracing a route from Parma to…

More than 600 playable arcade machines under one roof is the kind of number that makes a quick visit sound wildly optimistic. Inside this former Ohio grocery store, rows of…

I have a hard time resisting a restaurant when the ingredients were growing nearby not long before they reached the plate. That becomes especially tempting in Ohio once harvest season…

I expected tidy neighborhoods and not much else. Instead, I found wooded trails, nearby waterfalls, a community theater, and enough green space to make Cleveland feel much farther away. This…

I knew this was more than a casual lunch stop when the quiet Ohio country road suddenly ended at a packed parking lot. A few minutes earlier, I had been…

I used to think finding a really good neighborhood bakery was mostly about luck. Cleveland changed my mind pretty quickly. Around Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, there are bakeries where families…

You know how you walk into a fabric shop for one little thing and somehow leave with plans for another quilt? That happens to me more often than I care…

The cold hit me before I even closed the car door. By the time I stepped into the diner and wrapped both hands around a hot mug, breakfast had already…

I nearly walked past the place that Cleveland locals keep bringing up whenever the cheeseburger debate starts. A small doorway and a short trip downstairs lead into a basement room…

I was halfway across an eastern Ohio lake when a local angler casually mentioned that old foundations were sitting beneath me. That was enough to make me stop paddling and…

I have learned that Ohio hikes get a lot more interesting once the trail starts dropping into a gorge. Add a cliff edge or a narrow rock passage, and suddenly…

The line was already creeping down the sidewalk when I arrived, and nobody seemed particularly bothered by it. Most people looked like they had done this before. Once I got…

I have learned that ordering Italian food in Akron sometimes requires a little more planning than expected. Mainly because what looks like dinner can easily become lunch the next day…

The first clue that you are not in a typical Ohio grocery store is usually the checkout. There is no card reader waiting for you. Then you notice the shelves….

The smell of cinnamon reached me before I had even finished looking around the shop, which felt like a very good sign. I had come to this little Ohio bakery…

I have a hard time walking into a longtime Ohio deli and ordering quickly. There is usually too much happening behind the counter. Regulars call out familiar orders while sandwiches…

I knew I had underestimated this Ohio bakery the moment someone handed me a number. The line stretched toward the counter, yet nobody seemed remotely surprised to be standing in…

I have a weakness for Ohio roads that give me a reason to slow down. Covered bridges are especially good at that. In fall, the drive becomes part of the…

I knew this was not a typical Ohio pumpkin farm when I watched a grown adult climb into a giant tube and roll down a hill. A few minutes later,…

I have never been very good at walking into a fabric store for one thing. Give me a few shelves of quilting cotton, and suddenly one project has turned into…

I have yet to walk into a good fabric shop and leave with only the thing I came for. Somehow one missing spool of thread turns into three yards of…

I thought this would be a quick ice cream stop. Then I spotted a restored grist mill, a giant water wheel turning beside the pond, and realized my afternoon plans…

At some point during this Ohio donut hunt, I realized my car smelled permanently like maple glaze. That felt like a fair price to pay for spending several mornings bouncing…

The first thing I noticed was how few people seemed to need the menu. Regulars walked in, settled into their tables, and ordered dishes they had clearly been coming back…

I have learned that walking into an Ohio country store with a short shopping list is usually wishful thinking. One minute I am looking for something simple, and the next…

Some restaurant patios are nice enough for dinner. This one in Ohio made me want to keep checking the weather forecast for an excuse to come back. By fall, the…

Some Ohio restaurants make you wonder whether the drive was really necessary. These are not those restaurants. Across the state, family-run steakhouses have spent decades building reputations the slow way,…

Some places in Ohio practically announce themselves. This one does the opposite, pulling you quietly down a shaded trail until the trees open and an enormous sandstone overhang suddenly takes…

Have you ever walked into a restaurant and wondered just how many people have sat at that same table before you? Ohio has quite a few places that can make…

I thought I was making a quick bakery stop. Instead, I found myself in a downtown Ohio storefront behind customers who clearly knew exactly what they wanted. Cream sticks and…

Ohio restaurants hit a little differently once fall rolls in. Maybe it is the cooler air or the excuse to take the long way through changing leaves, but suddenly driving…

My favorite kind of playground has no plastic slides bolted to rubber matting. Instead, it has treehouses linked by swinging bridges, mud kitchens with real dirt, boulders worth scrambling over,…

Lake Erie may get the headlines, but Ohio’s seafood story does not stop at the shoreline. Across the state, low-key fish counters, neighborhood restaurants, crab boils, and polished seafood rooms…

A converted barn, a pond full of ducks, and a weekend buffet loaded with country cooking make this Ohio stop feel like much more than lunch. Inside, the setting is…

Ranking breakfast restaurants sounded easy until I started arguing with myself over pancakes. Northeast Ohio has enough great morning spots to make the job surprisingly difficult. Some win with flaky…

I went in for a loaf of bread and somehow needed two trips to the car. That is usually a good sign that my grocery list has lost control of…

Pumpkin season in Ohio does not mess around. The moment fall shows up, bakery cases start filling fast. Think spiced doughnuts, pumpkin rolls, creamy pies, muffins, scones, cupcakes, and frosting-covered…

Crisp Ohio weather can make schnitzel, warm bread, dumplings, and red cabbage sound like an excellent plan. Across the state, German restaurants settle naturally into fall with cozy dining rooms,…

For years, this old brick grocery store sat quietly along an Ohio country road while plenty of drivers passed without a second look. Now the parking lot is filling again….

I have learned that calling a visit to Cincinnati’s oldest public market a “quick stop” is a very optimistic way to start the day. Inside, butcher counters, bakeries, spice shops,…

When the leaves start turning and the wind gets that little bite to it, nothing warms you up quite like a steaming bowl of soup. Ohio happens to be full…

I went looking for a donut and somehow ended up planning half a day around an Ohio barn. The warm cinnamon sugar got me first. Then came the cider slushie,…

I have driven farther for a cinnamon roll than I care to admit, and Ohio Amish country keeps giving me reasons to defend that decision. These country bakeries reward the…

The first chilly Ohio afternoon of fall is usually when I stop pretending a light lunch sounds appealing and start thinking about chili instead. That craving can lead in several…

I have learned that walking into an Italian deli hungry is basically volunteering to lose all control of the shopping list. That happened to me in Ohio, where one quick…

I knew I was still in Ohio, but the brick streets were doing a surprisingly good job of arguing otherwise. A few blocks south of downtown, narrow sidewalks curl past…

I am not naturally enthusiastic about getting out of bed early, but pumpkin pancakes have an alarming amount of influence over my schedule. Fall in Ohio turns breakfast into a…