Taking A Sunday Drive #7

I was so happy when my daughter moved from Minnesota back to Iowa, then in 1994 daughter dearest decided to move to Ohio; perhaps not the wisest decision she ever made. Let's just call it a learning experience. However, it did give us a chance not only to see her but also part of Ohio.

We went the first part of June. I was so excited to take Kari's birthday presents to her. She was collecting blue glass at that time in her life and I had found some neat pieces for her at an auction. She seemed happy with them.

We had planned to camp while there but after one night of camping on the way out we changed our minds - the temperatures were unseasonably HOT - more like July or August than June, so we opted for a motel with air conditioning and a swimming pool in Troy which was about ten miles from where she was living.

I remember one of the first things I noticed about Troy was the beautiful fountain in the middle of downtown - and the fact that the water was PINK.
When I told Kari about it she was perplexed. She had been there and the fountain wasn't pink.

Later we learned that the fountain had actually been much brighter, strawberry red in fact, the weekend before for their annual Strawberry Festival. The light pink was the remnant of it going back to normal.

It was too hot to do much walking around so much of our sightseeing was done by car. Unfortunately I did not record what this building was.
I liked the area because the buildings were obviously so much older than in Iowa.

This neat old water tower caught my eye.

As did this old cemetery along the road between Covington and Troy.

We did spend some time touring Bear's Mill near Greenville. It was built in 1849 and still operates as a working grist mill. I remember bringing some of their flour home for my mother.


The four-story mill is situated along scenic Greenville Creek.

Part of the first floor of the Mill is an art gallery featuring local artists as well as housing the Market at Bear's Mill featuring gift items and the meals and flours ground there.
(You can see many more photos on the Bear's Mill Facebook page.)

Before leaving town for home, Kari took our picture at Greenville Falls on the west edge of Covington.

Then we stopped in Englewood, a suburb of Dayton to visit with relatives, Gladys and Joe Stearns. Gladys' father, Roy Gray, and my grandfather, Joe Ridnour were first cousins. I grew up knowing Gladys' mother, Nellie, and brother, Don quite well as they came to Iowa at least once a year and we visited them in Plainville, IL.

I was very happy when Kari decided to move back to Iowa. Surprisingly the people who had rented her apartment when she left had moved out and we were able to move her back in. After only a few months away, she was right back where she started from - just down the street from me - slightly older and quite a bit wiser.

Thanks to Kari we saw a part of Ohio we would not have otherwise seen. This morning on CBS's Sunday morning ending segment, "We leave you now..."

Hocking Hills State Park in Southeast Ohio was featured. I've already put it on my "if we go back to or through Ohio 'want to see' list." Any time of year would be fine with me, but the winter scenes like this one of 'Old Man's Cave' have a beauty of their own.