AndiLast spring, we did a road trip to Ohio for my son’s drum performance in Dayton. I love to make the most out of any trip and Ohio happened to have a couple of our bucket list destinations. Unfortunately, they were spread out all over the state. The performance was in the Dayton area, and we wanted to do things in Cleveland and Canton. Not to be deterred, I mapped it out and we made it happen!
Day 1-Cincinnati
We arrived in Cincinnati around noon and only allocated a couple hours to this city. For some reason, we chose to check out Jungle Jim’s, the craziest grocery store ever! This place was ginormous!! A grocery store on steroids. Huge meat department, every kind of cheese you can think of, cigars, wine, beer, toys, EVERYTHING….. A memorable Port a Pottie! I did not really know what to expect going in there, but it was recommended by people…. I used to call them friends, but friends don’t lead you astray like that! It was kind of cool in its own unique way and would have been fine if we were staying in Cincinnati for a couple days. But we weren’t, and there are so many better places to see in Cincinnati for an Ohio road trip!
Graeter’s Ice Cream is the ice cream to have in here and it did not disappoint!
If we had more time, we would have visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati Art Museum and American Sign Museum, ate at Skyline Chili and Montgomery Inn BBQ, and strolled on the Purple People Bridge.
We continued on to Dayton, found a hotel and called it an early night to catch up on sleep.
Day 2- Dayton
The National Museum of the United States Air Force was our first stop of the day. This place was huge, over four hangars! It starts off with the innovation of flight, goes through World War 1 and World War 2, up to modern aircraft and space flight. We saw the Bockscar which dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Air Force One exhibit has past presidential planes on display that you can walk through. If you are into history and/ or planes, I would recommend an entire day to explore everything. We stayed for a few hours and saw everything we had an interest in seeing.
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Park is the birthplace of plane travel, so it was only fitting that we added this to our day. Dayton is very proud of the fact that the Wright brothers are from this area. It shows in little details all throughout the city. The museum is located in the Wright Brothers old bicycle shop. It gives information on their lives from birth through flying and beyond. We were here for a little under an hour.
For a quick lunch we ate at Zombie Dogz- Gourmet Hot Dogs.
For dinner, we tried Melt-Gourmet grilled cheese! The original Melt is a Diners, Drive- In’s & Dives place! YUM!!
We watched Austin’s performance that evening and left immediately to start the three hour drive to Canton.
Day 3- Canton
Pro Football Hall of Fame has been on my husband’s bucket list for years! Since we were only a few hours away, we had to make the drive over here and mark this off his list. For a place all about football, I found it pretty interesting. I loved reading about some of the players and teams. The Bronze Bust Gallery was awesome! Patrick could have stayed here all day, but we had places to go. I would recommend at least 2 hours.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is one of the smaller parks in the National Park system. It’s located close to a city, so you can hear the nearby traffic sometimes. It’s still a great little getaway into nature. Brandywine Falls is a must see! 65 foot waterfall on an easy to walk trial makes this accessible for most.
The Ledges is a 1.8 mile trail through some of the park’s cool geological features. The pictures look amazing and I wish I would have had the time for this hike. I hope to get back there again and explore more of this place.
We were in and out of here, but I would recommend two to three hours if you want to enjoy more than the one waterfall.
Cleveland
Since Patrick got to knock something off his bucket list, it was my turn! A Christmas Story House! Yes, I’m a big kid/ nerd, but it was a fun outing! You can read more about the house here.
The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame was our other big must do. This is a music lover’s paradise. They have the coolest things! Elvis’s gold sparkly outfit, old magazine copies with the Jackson 5 on the cover, Nirvana memorabilia, Metallica’s bass guitar, Alice cooper’s boots, U2 outfits, original song lyrics written out on scratch paper, Michael Jackson’s glove and so much more!!! We missed Bon Jovi’s Induction Ceremony by a couple of days! Fangirl here! That would have been an awesome experience! Overall, loved it! We stayed here for a couple of hours.
The West Side Market is an indoor/outdoor farmers market with dozens of vendors. We purchased fresh berries and some baked goodies. There’s a Before I Die mural nearby, love these!
I wish we had more time to check out the Cleveland Museum of Art and walk around to explore the city. Finding all the Cleveland signs and street murals would be an added bonus!
We stayed the night here, before driving back home to Texas the next day.
Ohio has a lot to offer! We accomplished everything we set out to do on our Ohio road trip and the driving wasn’t so bad. I wouldn’t change anything except for our time in Cincinnati. If you have a couple more days in the area, there’s even more you can check out! We plan on getting to these on our next trip to Ohio.
More to Add on an Ohio Road Trip:
Hocking Hills State Park- the pictures I see of this place are beautiful!! I can’t wait to hike here one day!
Cedar Point- Our whole family LOVES coasters, so this is a must do! I would have added another day to our vacay if they were open for the season.
The Ohio State Reformatory- the setting of a great movie and a creepy prison, YES! We almost toured this place and at the last minute had to abandon our plans. Next time!
Are there any places in Ohio you recommend adding for an Ohio road trip?
[…] Rock & Roll Hall of Fame– […]