Mansfield, Ohio

Well two days later rolled around and we decided we couldn’t wait any longer to explore Mansfield Reformatory. It popped up right away when Googling interesting things to do in Ohio. Just in case you didn’t know Mansfield Reformatory is where ShawShank Redemption and scenes from Air Force One were filmed. So we met in Dublin, Ohio, parked his truck and headed North on I-71 towards Mansfield. Along the road Caleb entertained me with stories like how he almost got his eye poked out of his head with a pair of scissors and breaking his collar-bone by running into someone who had already run into a tree sledding… yea. Anyways, it took us about an hour to get to the city limits.

Side Note: I failed to mention previously that I have a un-trusty sidekick named Gerty the GPS. Now if you own a GPS also then hopefully you have had better life experiences with yours because mine is a bitter piece of equipment. Example being, on a previous trip to explore Plymouth, Mass. she completely bypassed the city and took us to this little, remote, half mile long, wooden bridge that just drove over the ocean to a tiny, little island with NOTHING ON IT. It was horrifying for someone scared of the ocean…

Anyways, we were blindly following bitter Gerty to Mansfield when I look and see a big sign that states “MANSFIELD TOURISTS CENTER.” Of course I instantly get excited at the thought of collecting more pamphlets, so I pull off the interstate and park in front of a tiny octagonal building with hundreds of pamphlets waiting just for me! After collecting a bazillion packets about anything and everything we were back in the car and Gerty was directing us in a different direction than before, but we weren’t worried. Being worried is not a good quality of someone seeking adventure because then just about everything will NOT turn out your way. Trust me. Just go with it. After a VERY round about route we made it into downtown Mansfield and discovered it was the proud home of the Carousel.

So the first thing we do is park the car along the road in downtown and walk up the hill to an active carousel ride that seems to be providing the entertainment for a few kid’s birthday parties. Not wanting to back down from the full experience of Mansfield we spent 50 cents on tokens to ride the ride and chose our means of transportation. As I am mildly obsessed with cats I chose a lion, while Caleb went with the more traditional horse. To make us stand out just a little bit more we decided to take pictures to document us enjoying the ride.Unfortunately they turned out too blurry for anyone’s viewing pleasure. Lesson learned. After riding the Carousel we walked further up the hill to a little chocolate shop and this is where I discovered my little, old person for the day.

I wish I could remember her name but never the less she was adorable. When I asked her what the local favorite was the chocolatier recommended a treat called a squirrels paw, which came in white, dark, and milk chocolate. I, of course, got a dark chocolate one as they are my favorite and Caleb got one of each flavor because he couldn’t make up his mind with a total bill coming to around $5 (but totally worth it). She also informed us of something called the “Block House” that was a replica of a fort built by settlers to protect them from Native American attacks.  Although it is quite neat, it is not all that impressive in size considering she described it to be this grand fort. Still worth seeing though if you are in the immediate area.

Next on our list of downtown Mansfield was the KingWood Garden Estate. This is a beautiful estate with several intricate gardens with winding pathways and exotic plants. It was breathtaking seeing the abundance of different flowers everywhere and ponds with colorful fish. You will also hear and notice several Peacocks roaming the grounds. We spent a good hour seeing everything on the estate so it was absolutely worth the $5 admission (with military discount) $10 for everyone else.

After this beautiful adventure we were off to Mansfield Reformatory to become ghost hunters for a day. We built each other up and talked about what we would do if we saw a ghost and such, but upon arrival we found out that the Reformatory is closed on Saturdays and Tuesdays. This day was in fact a Saturday so we were very much out of luck. When I asked the man, who was oddly enough just standing in the parking lot, why it was closed on Saturdays his response was, “Don’t we deserved Saturdays off, too?” Touche.

Side Note: We later returned to the Reformatory on a Sunday and took the 2 pm tour, which was spooky and very cool. Admission is $8 per person. You can take as many pictures as you want and they take you EVERYWHERE in the place with lots of great stories. Definitely recommend taking this tour at some point because its historical, educational, and kinda creepy.

After our disappointing rejection from the Reformatory we decided to head East. Along the way, I discovered in one of my many pamphlets that there was a working historical farm called Malabar Farms not far away so we stopped to check it out. Since it was after 5 pm by this point everything was closed up, but it is still neat to see.

Tired and hungry, we decided it was time for some dinner and we thought we would stop along one of the many exits heading South on I-71 because there had to be someplace to sit down and relax. Wrong. We stopped at every single exit trying to find a restaurant and no such luck, other than an Amish Diner that closed  minutes before we got there. This became an amusing observation to us both and I’m pretty sure I had a laughing attack caused by hunger, lack of sleep, and Caleb being quite witty. So after doing a chinese fire drill to get me out of the drivers seat in the middle of the interstate we were off in desperate search of a Subway, which we eventually found one exit away from his truck. Needless to say it was a wonderful ending to a very eventful day.

After two successful adventures to cities we decided to it was time to take on the outdoors. Our next destination was Old Man’s Cave in Hocking Hills, Logan, Ohio.