We enjoyed spending the month of June in Ohio.

Our RV stayed at Tree Haven Campground in Westerville, a northeastern suburb of Columbus. We slept there and not much more as there was much to see and many to visit in town. We did see our first albino squirrel there. They are rare (1:100,000) and are said to bring good luck. We also enjoyed breakfast in the trailer including a Cincinnati, Ohio favorite courtesy of friends Nancy & Rich…Goetta (German breakfast sausage that includes pork, beef, steel-cut oats, onions, and spices). Delicious! We explored the quaint college (Otterbein) town of Westerville and nearby Hoover Dam.

PEOPLE

She & Me both grew up in the greater Columbus area so Our primary purpose was to visit with loved ones who still reside there. We enjoyed many wonderful and delicious days with Me’s dad (Ron, 92) and Stepmom (Dorba). They made us feel so at home and Dorba prepared many tasty meals & desserts. 🙂 One special event was a delicious Chinese Dinner with Dad on Father’s Day for the first time in decades.

Also got to visit with brothers Curt & Greg…

Our adorable grand nephew, Augie, with parents Michael & Emily and Great Grandparents

We enjoyed visitors at the trailer for a meal and S’Mores over the campfire. Me’s brother Scott (Jill) and She’s sisters Jo (Richard) & Beth

So good to see friends Rich & Nancy, Dave & Linda, Fred & Connie…

It had been 30 years since we had been back home and were shocked to see how much the Columbus area has grown. Since we left Ohio for Florida in 1992 the population has increased by over 250,000 people. We’re so thankful that so many of our favorites remain 🙂

PLACES

One of our goals was to stop by our childhood homes and schools.

Me’s homes in Worthington…

She’s homes in Upper Arlington…

Kindergarten, Wicliffe Elementary (She), Linworth Elementary (Me)

Elementary Schools, Homedale (Me), Barrington (She), Brookside (She & Me)

Worthingway Middle School (She & Me)

9th Grade at Kilbourne (She)

Worthington High School (She & Me)

Two United States Air Force veterans, Me & Dad, visit the National Veterans Memorial in downtown Columbus.

We enjoyed a day with She’s sister & husband (Jo & Richard) at their country farm property near Rio Grande, Ohio.

Also stopped by the home of Bob Evans Farm.

In the evening we enjoyed dinner overlooking the Ohio River in Gallipolis.

Followed by a trip across the river to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and an encounter with the infamous Mothman! Here is the story from Southern Living Magazine…

In November 1966, gravediggers working in a cemetery in Clendenin, West Virginia, spotted a strange, man-like figure in the trees above their heads.

A few days later, two young couples from Point Pleasant reported being chased by a large creature with 10-foot wings whose eyes “glowed red” while driving near a former military munitions site outside town.

Sightings of what area newspapers dubbed the “Mothman” continued throughout the next year, oftentimes leaving witnesses with a deep sense of dread. Many locals believed the Mothman lived in a vacant nuclear power plant outside Point Pleasant, perhaps the escaped product of some secret government experiment.

The sightings came to an abrupt halt in December 1967, however, after a horrific tragedy in Point Pleasant. The Silver Bridge—which carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River—collapsed under the weight of heavy rush hour traffic, killing 46 people. Coincidence?

The fact that the collapse was later attributed to a faulty suspension chain didn’t stop the conspiracy theories. In 1975, writer John Keel wrote a book titled The Mothman Prophecies linking the bridge collapse with the Mothman sightings. In it, Keel suggested that the sightings were actually bad omens about the impending bridge collapse.

In 2002 the book was turned into a movie starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, and the spooky West Virginia legend exploded onto the national stage.

The small town of Point Pleasant fully embraced its most famous resident, welcoming the annual Mothman Festival in 2002, installing a 12-foot metallic statute of the creature in 2003, and opening the Mothman Museum and Research Center in 2005.

Though Mothman sightings have decreasing significantly since the 1960s, photos of a Mothman-like creature taken by a man driving through Point Pleasant made headlines in 2016. The Mothman has also been spotted in Chicago in recent years, leading some to believe that he’s relocated to the Windy City. Or, perhaps, there is more than one Mothman in our midst.

Before leaving the city we discovered authentic Ohio State University Football memorabilia at the campus McDonald’s on Olentangy River Road. Jersey signed by OSU Heisman Trophy winners Troy Smith (#10, 2006), Eddie George (#27 1995), Howard “Hopalong” Cassady (#40, 1955), Archie Griffin (#45, 1974 & 1975), Brutus Buckeye.

We had to visit the Bob Evans restaurant at Route 161 near I-71 where She (server) & Me (grill cook) worked & met. The original building burned down in 2018.

One thing we learned on this trip is that we need much more time in Columbus & Ohio. There is so much to see & do.

On to Michigan…