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Joe the Plumber's Lucas County Ohio: There are decent things to do there. How about a corn maze and Toledo?
When I heard Joe the Plumber, the guy McCain made his personal friend in Wednesday night's presidential debate, was from Holland, Ohio, my first thought was maybe there's something to do in Holland--a weekend getaway perhaps?
Not exactly. Not Holland, per se, but, it's close to Sarah Palin's corn maze for some fall fun. Whitehouse is also in Lucas County.
Corn, Palin and Joe Plumber aside, this is a part of Ohio has been on my list of places to go for sometime--Toledo, specifically.
Just this month, Toledo won first place in the America in Bloom Awards for cities of 100,001 or more people. The award is given to a city for its beautification efforts. Toledo must be lush with flower gardens. The Toledo Botanical Gardens would be a place to start to see the floral bounty.
For art lovers, the Toledo Museum of Art recently expanded its weekend hours because visitors had requested more access to this gem of a museum.
Two aspects of this art museum I've always been drawn to are the extensive events and art classes offered each month. Some are one day experiences.
A weekend trip to Toledo could include one of these. Make sure you arrive in time for It's Friday. Each Friday the museum is open until 10 PM. Tours, music and glass blowing demonstrations are part of the fare.
Also, not to be missed is the museum's Glass Pavilion where the museum's collection of more than 5,000 pieces of glass art pieces are housed. The pavilion won an award in 2007 for being the best designed museum.
Another Toledo high point that achieved fame with the television series M*A*S*H is the eatery Tony Packo's Café. Jamie Farr who played Corporal Max Klinger is from Toledo.
His first mention of Tony Packo's during an episode came with the line "If you're ever in Toledo, Ohio, on the Hungarian side of town, Tony Packo's got the greatest Hungarian hot dogs. Thirty-five cents..."
Known for its chili dogs and Sweet Hot Pickles, Tony Packo's has been serving up Hungarian style food since 1932.
So, one of these days I'll head to Toledo, but probably not before Palin's maze is browner than brown. Maybe next year when the spring flowers have bloomed. First stop, Tony Packo's. I've wanted one of those chili dogs for years.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Festivals and Events, Stories, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LeTourist Oct 17th 2008 3:32PM
Ha! Loved this post. You see, I'm from Toledo but escaped long ago (aside from necessary visits). They have been getting so much press with this Joe Plumber thing that I wonder if they will see tourism dollars. In any case, the city is a has-been industrial town with a hilarious mayor and no convenient flights into the airport (unless you're flying in from Detroit- 40 minutes away by car). When I was still living there, we won the "All-American City" award. I think the town reacted with a collective "um, ok."
Jamie Rhein Oct 17th 2008 3:40PM
LeTourist,
Your escape from Toledo sounds like my husband's escape from the Cleveland area. He was surprised when Cleveland made it to the list of the top 10 cities for walking.
Devin Oct 17th 2008 2:38PM
I enjoyed the post very much as a current Toledo resident (28 years worth to be exact). You pointed out some of the enjoyable things the city has to offer (and when you do make it here you HAVE to hit Packo's).
If you are looking for a few other activities the Mud Hens (AAA baseball team) have a great stadium right downtown as well as the Walleye (AAA Hockey) who are currently building there stadium.
The restaurants at the docks offer a variety of different foods and are all situated right on the river for an enjoyable evening.
The Toledo Zoo is also a highlight for any visit. They are constantly growing and improving and have a wide variety of animals in the different area's of the zoo.
One final spot to visit may be outside of Toledo technically but Maumee Bay State Park is just a short drive out of town and offers a wonderful resort hotel on the beach along with golf, walking/biking trails etc.
I am glad that you are interested in visiting our little corner of the country so hopefully something in my list may catch your eye as another stop.
Jamie Rhein Oct 17th 2008 4:08PM
Devin, thanks for the what else to see in Toledo addition, particularly the food mentions. I'm scouring Ohio for any places of interest to eat. The restaurants at the docks are a good tip.
Devin Oct 20th 2008 8:22AM
Jamie, you are welcome if you are looking for restaurants there are also the Mancy's family of restaurants, Mancy's Steakhouse, Mancy's Italian, Mancy's Bluewater Grill (my personal favorite) and Shorty's Roadhouse. All serve great food and have a great selection of menu items as well as drink options. Website at https://www.mancys.com/
Craig Oct 17th 2008 4:07PM
Another Toledo escapee here. Aside from Tony Packo's and maybe the Mudhens, I can't recommend too much. The zoo is great, but if you've been to a decent zoo elsewhere then it's a bit redundant (or, at least, the Berlin zoo [with more species than any other zoo in the world] was made redundant by all those visits to the Toledo zoo).