The Beginning: Springfield, Ohio and Yellow Springs, Ohio

So Caleb is from the Dayton area and I’m obviously from Lancaster so we decided we needed to find someplace to explore in the middle. Ergo MapQuest.com  suggested Springfield, Ohio, but more specifically Buck Creek National Park. I have always been one for outdoor/ hiking and such so this was right up my alley.

So I drove the hour and fifteen minutes to meet up at Buck Creek National Park. Upon arrival we reacquainted ourselves with each other, since our one brief introduction and shared glass of Bubble Vodka with Sprite was a little fuzzy. Then I promptly snatched up as many pamphlets about Ohio Parks, Things to do in Springfield, and other such wonderful informational packets as I could possibly get my little hands on. I have a mild obsession with collecting pamphlets, which will become a reoccurring theme throughout my stories. Also, I decided to ask the two little, old ladies doing some gardening where would be the best place to go in the area for a day trip of adventuring. They suggested young folks like us would enjoy a town about 20 minutes away called Yellow Springs. We set that as our end destination (because I spotted a gloriously large Antique Center right off I-70) and we were on our way.

Our first stop of the day was to the gloriously large Antique Center as previously mentioned located in Springfield, Oh. It was HUGE! For those of you that have a passion for antiques, as my father does, this is heaven for you. It had something like 5 different wings (and I mean WINGS) with branching off aisles full of antiques. It seemed like ordered chaos and I loved every second of it. There is something about touching old stuff that makes me feel more connected to the past. Luckily, Caleb seemed like a kid in the candy store, as well. So it was very enjoyable playing with the old fashion toys, playing dress up with old war uniforms, and brilliant old-fashion hats. My personal favorite was trying to figure out the old measuring stick that folded up in a very awkward manner and being called an “obvious blonde” by a little, old man. He was adorable, rude or not.

From there we made our way to Yellow Springs where, fun fact, Dave Chappelle is from, I guess. Needless to say Yellow Springs is a very interesting place to visit. It can be described perfectly in three ways: small, quaint, and full of hippies. I loved it! People are playing guitars on the sidewalk, everything is made with bright colors, and there were some funky things in the little shops along the main drag. Just walking around and listening to the music made me feel very mellow. Caleb informed me that there is a StreetFair and upon further research it’s called Music Festival and Beer Garden that takes place on October 9th, 2010. I will hopefully be attending!

After exploring Yellow Springs we decided to visit John Bryan State Park to walk along the the beautiful limestone gorge. Side Note: when preparing for a day of adventuring you should bring several types of footwear because you really never know where you will end up. Case and point this little adventure along a gorge in flip flops. Not good. There was so much breathtaking scenery that it was very hard to take it all in in just one visit, but its FREE to visit as many times as you would like!

Funny story: We were walking along and a tiny 3 inch long snake slithered along the path next to us and Caleb jumped and screamed like a little girl. Classic.

Anyways, next on our list for the day was Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Spring where I died and went to ice cream lovers heaven. They offered so many flavors it gave me a mild headache just trying to choose. Once I finally settled on my favorite fall back, Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl and Caleb decided on Cookies n Cream, we sat out on the front porch in very comfortable rocking chairs and enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine. The Dairy also offers pony rides for children considerably smaller than Caleb and I, but still looked fun. Another attraction is everyone can feed the Dairy’s goat population and these little suckers have some sort of goat high rise walking track that was very entertaining to observe. Last on the list for the Dairy was a putt putt course that was fairly challenging and very fun. P.S. I won  Overall the ice cream and putt putt cost around $20 for both of us.

Even though ice cream is a gift from the gods it did not fill the place in my stomach like cheap, good pizza does. So we headed back to Springfield to try the self proclaimed “Best Pizza in Ohio” at some little hole in the wall joint. I won’t mention the name of it for various reasons. Anyways, by this time we were both dead tired, we weren’t experts in adventuring quite yet, so we both stared at the table and mumbled our order to the overly energetic waiter. The pizza was good, but I’m not going to lie.. not the best in ohio. Someone should probably let them know…

Side Note: One place we went to visit in Springfield on a later date was Schuler’s Bakery and that place is PHENOMENAL!! The donuts are probably the best I have ever tried and I do love donuts. They were reasonably priced as well considering we bought a dozen and it only cost around $5. I also observed delicious cakes (hopefully made out of donut, but probably not) and other baked goods that made my mouth water hardcore. Only warning: I was really in the mood for a delicious coffee beverage as well and there was not much of a selection, but good news Tim Horton’s is a few blocks away!

We had so much fun adventuring together we set a date for two days later to explore Mansfield, Ohio.