The Trip to Ohio

 After Hilary and I went to Gatlinburg over spring break, Gary told me he wanted to just go somewhere.  He didn't care where...he just wanted to get away, to see something different, to eat at different places. A couple of weeks later we were off to Holmes County, Ohio.

Now how many trips to Ohio have we taken over the years?  Too many to count!  Plus we had our usual places to stay.  The house on Barnes Drive was no longer ours to camp out at, and we didn't really want to stay at the Hampton (prices had been raised there) or Days Inn (kinda shabby) or Best Western (why stay downtown Wooster) or the Hilton Garden Inn (a little too expensive too).  We hadn't tried the Comfort Inn by the Hilton and I refuse to stay closer to the Rural King (Knights Inn?  Yuck!).  Since we wanted to focus on Berlin and Walnut Creek and Sugar Creek, we checked out places in Millersburg and booked three days at the Holiday Inn Express.

Now we had not explored Millersburg before, and we discovered an entire nice little town south of the stop light where we usually turned east to go to Berlin.  Not only was there a HIExpress but there was also a Comfort Inn.  Further exploration found a Walmart, several fast food options, and a street full of cute shops (saving that for next time).  

On Sunday we drove into Wooster as usual, we stopped at Bob Evans, then drove through the cemetery.  As I told Gary, 'Well, they are still there!'

Monday found us heading into Berlin to check out fabric stores.  We hadn't been to the Zinck's Outlet store and it was HUGE.  We found fabric for a baseball quilt for Cooper, one with a firefighter theme for Blaine, then one with pigs and one with cows and found coordinating pieces for both of those.   Later in the day we stopped at a new place, The Plaid Pig, and I loved that store.  Bumbles bees and a pack of Christmas themed fat quarters were in the bag,  After lunch in Sugarcreek and a stop at Sol's, Yoders, and the other place that we like with groceries and crafty stuff we went to Helping Hands.  I usually really like that shop but I was very disappointed.  I was the only one perusing fabric, while the other two shops had many ladies wandering around and checking out the bolts.  I did find three pieces of Christmas themed prints to use for a Christmas mini-quilt.  

Tuesday was a beautiful day so we drove to Charm and spent some time wandering around Keim Lumber and Hardware.  We have a soft spot for that place since Dad introduced us to it.   Later we returned to The Plaid Pig and I headed immediately to the bumblebee prints and select another set.  I also picked up a layer cake of spring type flowers and prints.  And I found more Christmas prints to pair with those I had selected the day before at Helping Hands.

After lunch at the Farmstead Inn (and we usually sit in the same booth each time0 we drove to Mt. Hope to the Lone Star Quilt Shop.  I loved that place too.  We found an outdoorsy print that we thought Landon would like. I also picked up a red-black print that I really liked.  I thought the shop was new...but I saw on FB this past week that they would be celebrating their 40th anniversary around my birthday.  Guess it isn't a new shop!

Finally a trip into Wooster from Mt. Hope.  We went to Kohls to look for summery pajamas for me.  Next we went to Hartlzers for ice cream (Heifer Trails), then past the house on Barnes Drive, and back to the cemetery to clean off the stone and pull some weeds.

The only two families that we know in Wooster we didn't even call.  I knew Melanie and Brian would be busy with the girls and baseball.  Plus we were there at the beginning of a week and everyone would be in school, including Ryan, so why call him either? Another time...when planning is better and when school isn't in session.

On Wednesday morning we were up, packed, loaded, and out of there.  

Home by 4:00.  

On Tuesday evening as we were sitting in the room, Gary mentioned that he felt the best that he had for several weeks and that he had really enjoyed the trip.

I attribute his enjoyment to several things.  One is that we stayed in Millersburg instead of Wooster.  There wasn't that old feeling of dread at seeing Mom or having to take care of some type of business to do with cleaning out the house or settling the estate.  There was no sense of feeling like we 'belonged' when we really don't.  Another is that while that area is familiar, we didn't know everything about it.  Who knew there was a Walmart in Millersburg?  What about all of those little shops on the west side of it?  We checked out new-to-us fabric stores, even returning to one of them for more shopping.  And third ---Gary likes to know where he is going when he is driving.  He had driven in that area before, so it was familiar and I didn't have to tell him everywhere to turn and which road we should take.  Even when we explored a little more to find Mt. Hope, he wasn't flustered or anxious about the unfamiliar road.  The road out of Millersburg to the west when we left town wasn't bad either.  And finally....just being able to look around, eating at some favorite restaurants and enjoy great pie, relaxing and not  checking on pigs and goats or expecting children to ring the doorbell (not that we don't love them or mind when they do pop in).  

It was just a good time away.

And I am ready to do it again.

But first....I need to sew up some of this new fabric!