GRISWOLDDAD
Parenting, Entertainment, and Travel Tips
Things to Do in Ohio
*For the top events of the Cincinnati area of Ohio, click here. For the Cleveland area, click here. Finally, for the Columbus area, click here.
Ohio is kind of interesting in that each big city has your typical big city itinerary of art, museums, and small amusement parks...but the unique things to Ohio are separated, virtually one per city. Was this top-down tourism approach the state's way of attempting to get tourists to spread their money throughout the state rather than just in one city? Who knows, but it works because it drives you to visit the whole state.
Canton
The Pro Football Hall of Fame honors the heroes of the gridiron. The Hall focuses mostly on the NFL and inducts new "Hall of Famers" each year.
Football Hall of Fame
Cincinnati
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a museum dedicated to the Underground Railroad and slavery in America. Exhibitions follow slavery through the years, up to and including modern slavery and human trafficking.
Sounds like Cincinnati is only filled with seriousness! But wait, there's more! Every year, at the end of the summer on labor day, Cincinnati holds a hunger fundraiser in the form of an adorable "Rubber Duck Regatta." 150,000 rubber ducks race a quarter mile down the Ohio River. This tradition has raised millions of dollars for the homeless and hungry. The rubber ducks are sold for $5 a piece to anyone wanting to enter the race. The winning duck gets their person a new car! Also...there's a randomly selected $1,000,000 duck. If IT crosses the finish line first, the winner gets a new car AND $1,000,000.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Rubber Duck Regatta
Cleveland
This is the land that Howard the Duck thought was ironically called Cleave Land. This is the home of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the house from the simply awesome family Christmas movie, The Christmas Story. So, yes, "Cleveland rocks!" The Hall of Fame has the yearly musician inductees but also has the museum which archives the history of "some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way, influenced the music industry." You'll find everyone from Elvis and Chuck Berry to KISS and Kurt Cobain.
Although, I do have to say that, while the Cities and Sounds exhibit was my favorite and told the nomadic story of the evolution of rock as it changed from the sounds of different movements from different cities, it was missing a key city and therefore a big music movement. It covered Sun Records' and Elvis' Memphis to Motown to the British Invasion and Liverpool to flower power in San Francisco to Seattle for the grunge rock of the 90's, plus others. It missed LA in the 80's though as Sunset Strip was the starting point for all the famous glam rock hair bands like Poison, Motley Crue and so on. Glam rock may not be your favorite, but it deserved to fit in with these other cities and sounds.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Columbus
COSI, The Center of Science and Industry, has been voted the #1 science center for families by Parents' Magazine. With of 300 interactive exhibits, live shows, movies, and a planetarium, this museum is both fun and educational. The Wilds (an hour outside of Columbus, near Cumberland) is a large drive through safari style zoo which happens to also be one of the largest and most innovative conservation centers in the world.
COSI
Dayton
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the US Air Force and has over 300 aircraft and missiles on display.
Holmes County
You can visit Ohio's Amish Country at historic Roscoe Village.
Sandusky
With 17 roller coasters, they call Cedar Point Amusement Park the "roller coaster capital of the world" (even though the record for coasters in 1 park is Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA). However, the park does have the world record for total number of rides in one park, 72!
