Other attractions (fairly nearby) to extend your trip

[k757]

This will be an updated list of places that you might want to do to extend your ROC adventure

Alphabetical list
*Cedar Point Amusement Park (http://www.cedarpoint.com/) - Sandusky, OH

*Cincinnati Reds (http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=cin&m=6&y=2008) - Home games: Wed 6/18 (v LA Dodgers), Thu 6/19 (v LA Dodgers)

*Cleveland Indians - on the road that weekend

*Columbus Zoo (http://www.colszoo.org/) - Columbus, OH

*COSI (for children of all ages :) ) (http://www.cosi.org/) - Columbus, OH

*Field of Corn (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/OHDUBcorn.html) - Dublin, OH

*Football Hall of Fame (http://www.profootballhof.com/hall/info/index.html) - Canton, OH

*Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom (http://wwk.geaugalake.com/index.cfm) - Aurora, OH (Less than 2 hours from Columbus)

*Hocking Hills State Park (http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/tabid/743/default.aspx) - Logan, OH (about an hour SE of Columbus)

*King's Island (http://www2.cedarfair.com/KingsIsland/visit/visit_directions.cfm) - just north of Cincinnati

*Motorcycle Hall of Fame (http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/) - Pickerington, OH (just southeast of Columbus)

*National Museum of the USAF (http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/) - Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton OH

*Pittsburgh Pirates (http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=pit&m=6&y=2008) - Home game: Sun 6/22 (v Toronto)

*Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (http://www.rockhall.com/) - Cleveland, OH

*The Beach Water Park (http://thebeachwaterpark.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/PWDA.woa/wa/loadPage?pageId=6058) - just north of Cincinnati




If you know of anything else, post it and I'll add it to the list.

Thanks to RRIDER, Dub, ridgeln and the EOC (Element Owners Club) for your input

[Dub]

Having worked at COSI for three years I would have to say it is just as much for adults as it is for children--activities for both and I highly recommend it! It's the 3rd largest science center behind Chicago and the Smithsonian.

[MoosePond]

I can concur that COSI is great - was there a few years ago with my buds from ButtKicker to review their installation in the main theater.

[k757]

I am leaning to the Thu morning/afternoon Football Hall of Fame, but the National Museum of the USAF looks pretty strong.

[ChrisM]

I am leaning to the Thu morning/afternoon Football Hall of Fame, but the National Museum of the USAF looks pretty strong.

I have been to the USAF museum in Dayton about a dozen times. I cannot recommend this trip strongly enough. It is worth the trip to Ohio by itself. You will be amazed at the planes they have there. You can see everything from a Wright flyer up to the latest military planes. Here are a few on my short list of favorites

F-117
B1
B2 Stealth
SR-71
F-22A Raptor
B52
A whole series of MiG's from the old USSR

The Air Force Museum is free to the public. It is about an hour and 10 minutes from Downtown Columbus. It's a half a day trip if you leave early in the morning.

Someone mentioned Cedar Point. It is a pretty good clip from Columbus but it is one of the best amusement parks on the planet. That is a one day very tiring trip by itself but it's a blast. King's Island north of Cincinnati is pretty good as well. That is about a 1.5 hr drive from Columbus.

You might also drop by the Ohio State University. It's a sight to see in it's own right.

There is an Budweiser plant in Columbus that gives tours as well.

[25 Year Honda Owner]

I have been to the USAF museum in Dayton about a dozen times. I cannot recommend this trip strongly enough. It is worth the trip to Ohio by itself. You will be amazed at the planes they have there. You can see everything from a Wright flyer up to the latest military planes. Here are a few on my short list of favorites

F-117
B1
B2 Stealth
SR-71
F-22A Raptor
B52
A whole series of MiG's from the old USSR

The Air Force Museum is free to the public. It is about an hour and 10 minutes from Downtown Columbus. It's a half a day trip if you leave early in the morning.

There is an Budweiser plant in Columbus that gives tours as well.

Since WPAFB is South of Columbus (on my way home) I may check it out Sunday morning (they open at 9:00). If it is anything like the Naval Museum in Pensacola it will be worth the time. A couple of years ago we took in the Navy Museum in Pensacola, then went thru the Air Force Armament Musem at Eglin AFB, (Fort Walton, FL), and still made it back to Tennessee before dark.:)

[ridgeln]

The Columbus Zoo will have a new water park this summer. Driving by it, it will be HUGE!!! They totally tore out/down the previous water park.

[OhioJeffro]

They tore down Wyandot lake? I didn't know that. I guess I need to make fewer trips to Cleveland and more to Columbus!

And BTW, its a bummer that Geauga Lake closed, because that was a nice "miniature" version of Cedar Point, but atleast they left Wildwater Kingdom.

Edit: Also Wayne (National?) Park should be nearby, and I know they have ATV and dirt bike trails, although I don't know if there's anywhere for fun trucks to go, too...

[ridgeln]

Edit: Also Wayne (National?) Park should be nearby, and I know they have ATV and dirt bike trails, although I don't know if there's anywhere for fun trucks to go, too...

Wayne Natl is way south of us - by about an hour and a half.

[ChrisM]

Since WPAFB is South of Columbus (on my way home) I may check it out Sunday morning (they open at 9:00). If it is anything like the Naval Museum in Pensacola it will be worth the time. A couple of years ago we took in the Navy Museum in Pensacola, then went thru the Air Force Armament Musem at Eglin AFB, (Fort Walton, FL), and still made it back to Tennessee before dark.:)

The WPAFB museum is a lot larger and has many more planes than Pensacola has. IMHO it is the best avaiation museum in the country by a long shot. There is one hanger that contains virtually every military plane that has been made in the modern era including MiG's.

The museum also has rockets, spacecraft (from the Mercury, Gemini, & Apollo programs) helicopters, rocket motors and complete rockets (stuff like Minuteman missles) & various other assorted rare items like a Predator drone. There is also an outside area that has some of the less rare planes and a slick Peacekeeper ICBM rail rocket launcher and the "Midgetman" small ICBM mobile launcher.

They also have an array of various bombs and cruise missles. They used to have a daisy cutter but I didn't see it on my last trip.

Dayton is almost directly west of Columbus. You are looking at about an hour and 15 minutes of driving time but it is absolutely worth the trip. I'd be up for this trip myself since all of the hangers are air conditioned. Remember, this is the end of June and Ohio is fairly hot this time of the year. Last year it was about 80 degrees at that time with about 70% humidity.

I think that I would be interested in formally organizing this trip since I know the area well and have been to this museum a ton of times. I think that anyone with any interest in aviation or military avaition history would kick themselves for missing this museum. Like I said, it's huge. It will take you 4-5 hours to just walk by and look at all of the planes and you actually get up close to the planes. Many are not behind ropes. Has anyone here actually touched an SR-71 or a Stealth Bomber? I have.

There is plenty of parking, everything is 100% handicapped acccesible except for some of the planes that they let you go into, and best of all, it's FREE. :)

PS. Did I mention that it is FREE. :)

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/shared/images/nmusafaerial.jpg

This is a picture of the museum. For a size reference, there are about a dozen transport type planes sitting outside of the hanger at the bottom of the picture to it's left.

[ChrisM]

Here is a link to the Air Force Museum's website.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

I was poking around on thier website to see if some of the planes and the daisy cutter that I remember from earlier trips that I hadn't seen in recent years were in storage or in restoration.

To my delight I discovered that they are still around but are not in the main hangars. They are in different hangers and are on display but they are on a secured part of the AFB which is accesible by bus which is free.

I have never been to these hangers. Now I'm REALLY fired up about this trip.

This is now most likely going to be an all day affair.

I might go there TODAY! :)

[larryr]

I used to work for NCR ( HQ in Dayton OH ) and had to spend a lot of time there. Every Weekend I was stuck in Dayton, I visited the AF Museum. One days is not enough, One week is not enough. The displays are changed about once every 3-4 months ( not all but quite a few ). The have different events on different weekends.
One weekend they had all the WWII surviving pilots and crews there about 1800 showed up. My Parents next door neighbor (Mr. Dail) was a turret gunner for 50 missions over Germany and died 2 years before the reunion. There were 20 survivors that knew him and the pilot of his last mission was wondering where he was . That gentleman told me the my neighbor had been the only one in his training class to survive the war. He had been hit with schrapnel and was in the hospital when his plane was shot down on its 16th mission. His second plane crashed while landing after heavy damage and flipped over - he was the only survivor of that bomber. He felt guilty the rest of his life that he survived and they did not. I sat in the gun turret that he flew 50 missions in and I cannot believe anyone could sit there for 20 hours and not be claustrophobic.
I took 8 of the survivors that knew Mr. Dail down to the Oregon District ( of Dayton - another place to visit especially Bonnets Books Store it was there in 1995 my last visit lots of 1930's and 1940's stuff) and bought them all a beer. ( this was 1985, 40 years after WWII ended ).
Besides the Oregon District, Medelsons electronics outlet was another place that was different in Dayton - they sold obsolete electonics by the pound. you could buy a battleship turett computer that worked for $18 / pound. It was on the north side of the Oregon District.

[Pizza Man]

I think that I would be interested in formally organizing this trip since I know the area well and have been to this museum a ton of times.

Chris, this is something I would be interested in doing. (USAF, 1967-1971) My problem is Sunday is a getaway day for me and Wright-Pat is further west taking me further from home. If this could be done as a Saturday event, not yet knowing what's planned for Saturday, I would seriously consider it.

I appreciate your offer to organize things.

[ChrisM]

[QUOTE=ChrisM;275467]I think that I would be interested in formally organizing this trip since I know the area well and have been to this museum a ton of times.

Hhris, this is something I would be interested in doing. (USAF, 1967-1971) My problem is Sunday is a getaway day for me and Wright-Pat is further west taking me further from home. If this could be done as a Saturday event, not yet knowing what's planned for Saturday, I would seriously consider it.

I appreciate your offer to organize things.

Generally all of the main ROC festivities are on Saturday. The AFB closes at 5 pm. By the time we all meet up on Saturday and take pics and try this longest line of Hondas thing it will be at least 2-3 pm. I also hear that Gary Flint and the Honda gang have something special lined up so it may take even longer. I think you can see where I am going with this. There simply won't be enough time on Saturday.

That's not saying we couldn't make the trip on Friday. This may even be a better day for those who are coming up on Thursday.

What day are you coming out on?

I am an expert at getting to the AFB since I drive by it about once a week and have a pretty good working knowledge of what is where but I am by no means an expert on airplanes. (I can also suggest where we can sit down and eat lunch.)

Most of you ex military folks have much more knowledge than I do. Every plane has a very descriptive sign explaining what it is and when it was used and a little history of the plane. They do have guided tours but for the most part we can guide ourselves. You start at the front door and work your way from the Wright Flyer up to the big boys. It's a really sweet trip. :)

PS. You mentioned that you went into the Air Force in 1967 at the same time that my father was in. 1967 was the year that I hatched. :eek:

[Pizza Man]

What day are you coming out on?
Plan on arriving Thursday, late afternoon or early evening.

PS. You mentioned that you went into the military in 1967. That was the year that I hatched :eek:
Respect your elders, son! ;) :D

Yes, I'm an old fart!:eek:

[ChrisM]

Yes, I'm an old fart!:eek:

You ain't old, you are experienced. :)

[Pizza Man]

You ain't old, you are experienced. :)
Yeah, I've been around the block a few times. :(

[MoosePond]

Chris, this is something I would be interested in doing. (USAF, 1967-1971)
Air Force? Oh yeah, that's the guys what flew us to where the real fighting was happening! :D (US Army, 1966-1972)

p.s. and came and got us out when it got too hot for comfort! :cool: thanks guys

[Pizza Man]

Air Force? Oh yeah, that's the guys what flew us to where the real fighting was happening! :D
Yup, my momma raised no fool! ;) :D

[BigFoote]

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/shared/images/nmusafaerial.jpg[/IMG]

Where I'm from (Baton Rouge) that's what we call Fall. Cool temp with low humidity.

[SHUEY027]

Note: The brewery does not have tours. They use to and had to expand the brewery and removed the tours and gift shop to do so. There is Easton which is a mecca for shopping, eating, movies. They have the Shadowbox (which is sketch comedy) http://www.shadowboxcabaret.com/columbus/ very funny, Easton also has The Funny Bone (stand-up comedy) http://www.symfonee.com/funnybone/columbus/home/index.aspx
Easton: http://www.eastontowncenter.com/
The Short north area is just north of downtown and around the corner from the arena district. They are having a grillmasters festival that Saturday http://www.northmarket.com/
There is also Polaris fashion place(mall) http://www.polarisfashionplace.com/
Tuttle mall is very close to the hotel as well ( more of a standard mall)
http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=1229

[ChrisM]

Where I'm from (Baton Rouge) that's what we call Fall. Cool temp with low humidity.

I was trying to warn some of the folks who might be coming from Canada. To them, Ohio weather is like Bermuda.

I hear it gets awful hot down your way in August. I don't know if I could run with the little dogs down there when it's hot. :eek:

[k757]

I hear it gets awful hot down your way in August. I don't know if I could run with the little dogs down there when it's hot. :eek:I just moved from Baton Rouge.... it really only feels hot when above 95 degrees. :D That is my cut off temp for mountain biking

[CUinaRidge]

I thought this thread could use a little bump....

Here's a CNN travel - Columbus Ohio - news link

Columbus, Ohio's happening side - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/getaways/05/30/columbus.ohio/index.html)

:)

[SHUEY027]

Here's another link to a local paper for stuff going on in the city.

http://www.columbusalive.com/