Ohio

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I live in the state of Ohio which is often considered a fly over state because most people don't realize how amazing it can be here...well despite the bitter cold winters and humid summers. We have the Rock N Roll hall of fame, we have the football hall of fame which wouldn't be my pick but I know some people love sports. We have a ton of decent zoos and museums. You'd be amazed what you can find to do here. There's so much here even I haven't done it all. Now that being said my area has less to do than some other areas. I also live in the only truly flat part of Ohio. It's funny to see the change after leaving part of it and coming into NW Ohio. I am not far from Michigan maybe a twenty to thirty minute car ride. I'm about an hour or so from Indiana. We do have an amazing zoo here. The Toledo zoo was actually voted number one zoo in the country by I think it was USA today albeit yes that was voted for by people so I'm not sure how much it counts but it is a great zoo. I remember going to the Pittsburgh zoo with my inlaws and my step father inlaw claiming it was the best zoo and thinking wow...Toledo's is MUCH better. I also remember taking Ohio history in 7th grade and while I always just did ok in history classes I did exceptionally well in that class because I found it more relatable and interesting. Now I love history but at that time a lot less so. One of the biggest reasons NW Ohio is flat is that we were covered in swamp. We had the great black swamp here that they eventually drained. It still gets super flooded when it rains due to the fact that it was a swamp and the land is flat. We haven't had major flooding in my area but I know a town further south had a lot of flood damage to houses and their downtown. Some businesses closed permanently after that. I remember learning about the Toledo war which is a real thing but it didn't last very long. Michigan and Ohio fought over who got Toledo and the way my history teacher told it he said that basically, they went in guns blazing and that Michigan was like "yeah...we don't want it that bad" and gave it to us but I read years later that they actually made an agreement where Michigan got the UP and Ohio got Toledo...I feel like Michigan got the better deal. Toledo has a horrible crime rate and can be quite dangerous in certain areas especially at night/early morning. I hate going there and usually choose to go south to Findlay but Toledo does have some stuff I'll go there for usually my son's cranial facial clinic and of course the zoo. We have a lot of neat small towns in my area that I enjoy going to and checking out. One of the towns has a neat general store that has been there for I think 200 years maybe it's less I don't remember anymore. They have all kinds of neat finds and they always have home-made goodies like cookies and cakes. We have a ton of neat nature parks in my area and I love checking them out. Growing up that was always one of my favorite things to do with my dad. We'd check out all of the local nature parks and we'd go to the lake or the river. He took us fishing and camping a lot. I will say lake Erie is probably not a place you'd want to swim as the water has gotten more and more polluted over the years. Sandusky has Cedar Point which is one of the biggest roller coaster parks in the nation if not the world. We have put-in-bay which is an island that has a lot of taverns and things to do on it. We also have numerous orchards that often have corn pits where kids can play in dried corn...it's an interesting concept but the kids love it. We love our fall festivals here. Our town usually has what is called the Black Swamp arts festival which has amazing live music where people come from all over to play and there's always amazing art vendors where you can find neat art pieces or even cool one of a kind clothing. They have a kids area where kids get to do art for free. My son has a ton of wooden things he has built there over the years with the help of the university since I live in a college town. They also have a ton of amazing food there. We didn't have it this year due to COVID but hopefully we'll get to have it next year. We are big on sports in Ohio. I mean probably more so than a lot of other places. The Midwest in general seems to love their sports teams. Here we are big college football fans and by here I mean in my area. Most of Ohio you would think would root for Ohio state...but some root for Michigan. Here's it's especially more likely to be divided because we are so close to the Michigan border. I know a lot of other countries don't understand why college football is so popular and I honestly couldn't tell you. I am not a sports person but if you are I would say you'd probably like it here. We also have a ton of presidents and astronauts from Ohio. In Dayton we have the flight museum which is pretty awesome. I went once and it was so big and somewhat overwhelming. It was neat learning about the different planes and things. There's so much here I have yet to explore. I know people go on about wanting to travel here and there but sometimes there can be interesting things to do in your own backyard. I wouldn't mind checking out all of the places Ohio has to offer one day. I still haven't been to the Rock n' Roll hall of fame but would love to check it out one day.