The South-Central Ohio Wild, Weird, and Wonderful Social Distancing Driving Tour!

My family was sick and tired of our indoor quarantine life, so we took a simple road trip to some of the more interesting and off the beaten path sights in the Dayton – Xenia – Wilmington area. I like to call this the Wild, Weird, and Wonderful Social Distancing Driving Tour!  This was our route for sightseeing satisfaction at a socially acceptable distance. Every stop on this tour is free, open at all hours of the day, and provides enough space to keep socially distant from other folks. The route follows a U-shape formation, starting in Enon and ending in Dayton.

Adena Burial Mound

Stop 1: Enon Adena Burial Mound, 400 Mound Cir, Enon, OH 45323.

This conical burial mound is the second tallest in Ohio. The mound is 40 feet high and is thought to be the work of the Adena Native Americans, original settlers of the area. There is a small parking lot, and it’s an easy walk up to and around the mound.

Stop 2: Beavercreek 9/11 Memorial, 1152 N Fairfield Rd, Beavercreek, OH  45432

These 25-feet-tall steel beams came to Beavercreek from the World Trade Center site. This respectful memorial features placards naming all the 9/11 victims from all the crash sites. It’s easy to spend some time here reading and remembering. This stop is at Beavercreek Station, which also provides access for the Creekside recreational trail. When social distancing, this is the most challenging stop as it can be very busy with people accessing the trail. There is a great parking lot, picnic tables, and restrooms, although they were closed while we visited.

Stop 3: Engle Mill Rd. Covered Bridge, 3420 Engle Mill Rd, Xenia, OH 45385

It’s an easy country drive to the Engle Mill Rd. Covered Bridge. Visitors can’t drive across the bridge, but there are places to park on either end to get out and walk. When we visited, it was a lovely day, so we paused to enjoy nature for few moments. Descriptive signs provide the history of this bridge.

Engle Mill Rd. Covered Bridge

Stop 4: Downtown Wilmington wall mural (Corner of Rt. 68 and Main St.), 2 E Main St., Wilmington, OH 45177

It's easy to park across the street from the mural by the county courthouse and have the perfect spot for picture taking. This mural is the work of local artist Jason Morgan and it features images from the Century Farms life in the 1930s.

Stop 5: Frankenstein’s Monster, 1261 W Dalton Rd, Wilmington, OH

Standing guard at the gate of the Wilmington Haunted Hollow Ride, it doesn’t have to be Halloween to snap a picture with this guy! He’s officially the scariest stop on our tour, standing about 15 feet tall with a permanently creepy face. There’s no official parking during the off season, but it’s easy to pull in the driveway long enough to take a photo.

Stop 6: World’s Largest Horseshoe Crab, 7592 OH-124, Hillsboro, OH 45133

World's largest horseshoe crab

This crab is currently sitting in its fourth location having previously lived in Baltimore, the Creation Museum, and Blanchester, Ohio. At 28 feet wide and 68 feet long, it’s affectionately known as “Crabby,” and it’s worth the stop. The crab is large enough to house a picnic table and umbrella inside, although there's really no time for picnicking these days. The parking situation at this site is the most difficult. There is a driveway adjacent to the crab that will work for a quick stop. We missed the driveway, so we pulled across the street to an apartment complex. It's tough to pull off along the side of the road, and there’s no official parking lot.

Stop 7: Large Adirondack Chair, 6945 Hwy 73, Wilmington, Ohio 45177

This larger than life piece of furniture sits at The Wooden Branch business, so if visitors are in the market for a shed, they can kill two birds with one stone at this top. It’s easy to park in the parking lot and take a photo by the chair. Unfortunately, climbing up into the chair is frowned upon.

Stop 8: Tall Stack of Books, 111 West Spring Valley Pike, Centerville, OH

This sculpture can be found at the Washington-Centerville Public Library. Officially called “The Record,” it is 22 feet tall and is made of terracotta. The library parking lot makes for easy parking and access.

Stop 9: Big Apple Made of Flatware, 56 Armor Place, Dayton, OH 45417

This eight-foot-tall apple sculpture is the work of artist Chad Johnson and features thousands of knives, forks, and spoons. It can be found outside the Dayton Foodbank on the south side of their property. The adjacent parking lot makes it easy to visit.

 

Large apple made of Flatware

When touring during the pandemic, it's smart to pack sandwiches, snacks, and drinks, although we didn’t have trouble finding enough drive thru restaurants to feed us on our journey. Restrooms are harder to come by during the shut down. Gas stations proved to be the best bet. As always, pack hand sanitizer and masks to be prepared for any situation. The total travel time will be 4-6 hours depending on the starting point and how much time is spent at each spot. We had an easy five-hour journey on our travel day. 

Map of the driving route

Frankenstein's Monster

Large stack of books

Large Adirondack chair

Wall mural in downtown Wilmington

This beaver is an added bonus when you stop at the 9/11 site.

The 9/11 memorial

Yes, you can get close to the world's largest horseshoe crab!!

Beware the Pickpockets!

“Do you have your wallet?” To this day, I cannot explain why I asked my husband that question in the middle of a crowded Paris subway. It must have been God nudging me because only seconds later the question was answered in the worst possible way. No, my husband didn’t have his wallet and the likely suspects were the crew of men who were sliding away on a subway train heading into the darkness of the next tunnel. And there we were, standing alone in a foreign city, not even 24 hours into a European vacation, and my husband without his wallet.

How could this have happened to us, seasoned travelers? World travelers, even! Four continents, multiple trips to both coasts of the USA, and both of us traveling alone and together across various journeys. We’re no slouches when it comes to travel, and yet in the blink of an eye, thieves managed to lift my husband’s wallet straight out of his pocket without him even realizing it. For a few moments, we panicked, as any normal people would do. Then we pulled our wits together to form a game plan on how to move forward. 

Use caution in train stations as thieves tend to
work in teams.

Even though our initial reaction was panic, then anger, we soldiered through and really did have a great time over the next two weeks as we made our way across the European continent. Thankfully, I was also carrying a full array of credit cards, so we weren’t completely lost and helpless, waiting on replacement money and cards. It just meant that I had to carefully guard my purse even more diligently because if my wallet got stolen, then we’d absolutely be in trouble. And fortunately, our credit card companies and banks were excellent in working with us to deter any damage to our accounts. The thieves did try use one of our cards even before we managed to shut it down.

Did we learn anything from this experience? Oh yes! As all tough moments in life do, this one taught us a few things about travel that we thought we already knew, but that were lessons we had to relearn.

Being tired and jet lagged was part of our problem at the time of the wallet snatching. We had flown into Brussels, Belgium on an overnight flight. Instead of staying in Brussels the first day and night, we immediately hopped on a train to Paris. We’d already mapped out our entire journey from the airport in Brussels to our Air B&B condo in Paris, so we felt confident in the journey. Upon arriving in Paris, however, the train we’d planned to take to the condo was shut down for maintenance. We had to quickly pivot on our plan and design another route. The train station was crowded and crawling with thieves, apparently. We were too tired to keep our wits about us, and that made us easy targets. We also carried our luggage, so our status as travelers became obvious. In hindsight, we should’ve grabbed a taxi after realizing our original route wouldn’t work.

Out of habit, my husband put his wallet into his back pocket instead of the zippered pocket on the side of the pants he was wearing. He’d been so diligent about using the zippered pocket up to this point, but the tiredness and change of plans caused him to forget. He popped his wallet into his back pocket like he usually would. After our trip, he talked to a friend who’d also been pick-pocketed in Paris but from the front pocket of his pants. After hearing that story, my husband felt better about getting robbed.

Thieves work in teams. We realized this after the fact. On the train, we’d been surrounded by a group of men. When the train doors opened for us to exit, one of them stepped in front of my husband to distract him while another one picked his pocket. By the time we realized the theft, they were long gone on the train. We later watched these teams of thieves stake out people while they were waiting for trains. In fact, one team was staking us out again not long after the first incident. Luckily, we realized what they were doing. We decided not to board the train at the last minute, saving ourselves from further incident.

For the rest of the trip, we kept our antennas up looking for further scams. We watched lots of gaming and scamming take place all around Paris, especially at hot tourist spots like the Eiffel Tower. I kept a tight grip on my purse, especially since I was now the sole money carrier for the rest of the trip. It may seem rude, but we didn’t hesitate to push past street vendors, survey takers, and game players for the rest of our time in Europe. Most of them were thieves waiting for a chance to take our wallet and money at the first chance.

Many travel hot spots draw thieves hoping to
dupe unsuspecting tourists.

While this incident was frustrating, it won’t deter us from traveling in Europe again. We chalk it up as a learning experience and one more interesting adventure. C’est la vie, as the French say.

The Majesty of Mauna Kea

Hawaii conjures images of blue skies and aqua water, not necessarily visions of a barren landscape, volcanic rock, and breath-gripping altitudes. Mauna Kea, an active volcano and the highest spot in Hawaii at 13,976 feet, is one of the few places where snow falls throughout the year and winter clothes are recommended. This desolate location was the place my husband and I decided to visit on our “tropical” vacation.

Mauna Kea sits central to the Big Island, and from the western coast, it requires a journey along the “Saddle Road,” aptly named because it saddles two volcanoes. Windswept and covered in volcanic rock, the landscape comes straight from a science fiction or fantasy movie. Every bend in the road delivers a new sight – black lava rock left from a previous flow, tall grasses bending in the wind, a bit of cloud cover hanging low. Mysterious and creepy, it’s not a place to be stranded at night. As we journeyed through this stark region in our rented truck, it was often just the two of us meandering along without another car in sight.

Eventually, we left the Saddle Road and started a much steeper ascent up the volcano itself. Plant life became shorter and scrubbier. Trees were non-existent. Cinder cones dotted the landscape, replicas of a previous time when the Earth’s fury was on display.  With every mile we gained altitude, and our bodies reacted as we struggled for breath.

It's a good idea to stop here and acclimate to the altitude,

We stopped at the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy, a mid-level observatory and visitor center at 9,200 feet. Visitors are instructed to give their bodies time to acclimate to the altitude, and by this point could we feel it. My chest was tight, and breathing was difficult. We watched as numerous visitors didn’t pause too long; they just forged ahead up the mountain. Several foolish people continued to the top with their young children, even though the scientists at the center warned against it. The lack of oxygen is dangerous for kids whose bodies are still developing. The recommended age is 16 and older.

After a 30-minute break, we hopped back into our trusty truck and put it through a workout as we trundled along the dirt road. We learned why some people never venture to the top of Mauna Kea. The entire adventure was a steep white-knuckle drive with plenty of gravel-throwing and fish-tailing.

Standing on top of the world!

The scene at the peak was worth the journey, though. We broke through the clouds to a glorious sight. Gleaming white observatories rose high to the heavens. Sunlight streamed across the surface of the mountain and the clouds, lighting the summit like a jewel of the sky. The dirt was red and the plant life was nil. It was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever witnessed. We had the privilege of literally standing on top of the world.

The world’s largest telescope, the Keck Telescope, stood like a beacon on a hill. It’s joined by 10 other telescopes, all closed to the public, but that didn’t stop us from visiting them from the outside and talking about a million pictures.

I wish we could've gone inside the observatories, but it was still
fun to see them from the outside.

Sunset can be viewed from the summit, but we took in the colors of twilight from the visitors’ center. Once darkness arrived, the reward was a breathtaking view of the constellations. Mauna Kea is privileged enough to see the Southern Cross, a rare treat in the northern hemisphere.

Hawaii is often thought of as “the beach,” but a journey to Hawaii’s tallest spot proved that there’s more to Hawaii than sand, surfing, and sun.

Tips for driving to Mauna Kea....A four wheel drive vehicle is best, although we did see people driving in their regular cars. From the visitor's center, it is a dirt/gravel road the rest of the way to the top. If you plan to stay for sunset on top of the mountain, be aware that your drive back down will be pitch black. The altitude is REAL, and the difference from the visitors center to the top will be quite noticeable. It feels like a tight chest, dizziness, and it's very hard to breathe. The slightest exertion will leave you winded. Do NOT take children under age 16 past the visitors center. 

Travel time from the Kona area on the west coast is around 2 hours one way. From Hilo on the east coast, it's around 1 hour. Plan plenty of time and have a full gas tank. There's no gas on the Saddle Rd. Also, bring food and water because once you leave the coasts there aren't any places to get food. The visitors center sells light snacks. Wear warm clothes, bring sunglasses, and wear sturdy shoes.

The visitors center can get crowded at sunset, so get there early. On some nights astronomers will give talks on the stars and constellations, which is very informative.

Website for the Visitor Center: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/vis/

Each of the observatories had a different look and contains
a unique type of telescope.

No trees or plants, but beautiful still the same.

This is gorgeous! I loved it!

I'm on top of the world, looking out on creation...

This peak is actually the REAL top of the mountain. A sign asks visitors to not walk out to it.

This is what it looks like on the drive to the top of Mauna Kea. Nothing but rocks and dirt.

Poised and ready for nightfall and the search through the stars.

The Magic and Mystery of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Anyone who wants to explore the world’s most active volcano needs to visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Located on the east side of Hawaii, Kilauea is one of the five volcanoes that comprise the “Big Island,” and it’s been actively erupting since 1983.

The Halemau'mau Crater is a great place to see the "glow" and
occassionally small licks of lava jumping up over the crater edge.

Visitors to the park should first swing by the Kilauea Caldera which currently boasts the active Halemau’mau Crater. This crater spews so much noxious sulfuric gas that the nearby Crater Rim Road is partially closed along with portions of the Crater Rim Trail. Volcanic activity is easily seen from the safe distance of the Jaggar Museum overlook and other portions of the Crater Rim Trail. The best viewing time is at dusk and after dark because glow from lava can easily be seen. Observant visitors will notice occasional flicks of lava lifting up over the edge of the crater, as well.

Thanks to a magma chamber below, your feet will be hot by the end of
this hike!

Definitely take the must-see hike at the Kilauea Iki Crater. In 1959, this crater erupted with a lava fountain 1800 feet high. Thousands of tons of lava were sprayed on the north side of the crater with a lava lake forming that eventually measured 400 feet in depth. Today hikers can trek across the mile-wide crater and imagine the scene that took place. Beware, there’s still a magma chamber under that crater. Even sturdy hiking-booted feet will be hot by the time you reach the other side! In all, it’s a 4.5 mile hike that provides wonderful views of the park. A small strip of land separates this crater from the main Kilauea Crater.

The 400-foot-long Thurston Lava Tube is another highlight of the park. This large tube was once an underground pathway for a river of lava. Today it’s a refreshingly cool walk through the rain forest and along the cave-like tube.

The 24-mile drive from Kilauea Crater down the Chain of Craters Road deposits visitors at the coast, a drop of almost 4,000 feet in elevation. Here the Holei Sea Arch, created from lava and the mighty Pacific Ocean, is on spectacular display. This is also the starting point for a 5 to 6 mile hike out to the current lava flow viewing area. The ranger station at this site is portable so it can be moved in case lava flows too close.

The Pu'u O'o vent is the site of most of the current activity.

Currently, the bulk of the lava is flowing from the Pu’u O’o vent on the east side of Kilauea. The only way to see this vent is by helicopter. Not only do choppers fly directly over flowing lava, a trip around the mouth of the vent is included in most rides. Even at 500 feet from the ground, riders will feel the intense heat coming up from the lava field. Many of the lava fields are solid on top, but have rivers of lava running directly underneath. Small openings called skylights allow a peek into these rivers of bright red lava. For a truly adventurous ride, choose a helicopter with the doors off.

Hike or take a helicopter to see flowing lava.

To get up-close and personal with liquid lava, be prepared for a strenuous hike. As mentioned, it’s a 5 to 6 mile one-way walk over rough lava fields from the end of Chain of Craters Road. From outside the national park, it’s a 3 to 4 mile one-way hike. Hikers who attempt this journey should stop at the Kilauea Visitor Center and discuss the trip with a park ranger who will provide advice on safety and water requirements. Make no mistake, these hikes are challenging and can be dangerous.

Visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park can fly into either of the Big Island’s airports, Kona or Hilo, with Hilo being the most convenient. Accommodations can be found at the Volcano House inside the park or at nearby Volcano Village – a loose collection of cottages, bed & breakfasts, and restaurants. Visitors to the park should be ready for any type of weather, including rain. Bug spray, sunscreen, water bottles, hats, and sturdy shoes are all necessary for a successful visit. Vog, volcanic smog, is often present, and those with breathing concerns should take precautions. However, it’s worth all of the time and trouble for the chance to hike, eat, and sleep on the flank of the world’s most active volcano, the mighty Kilauea.

Links:

Paradise Helicopters: https://paradisecopters.com/ 

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: https://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm

Paradise Helicopters is one company that will fly you over flowing lava.

Many skylights allow you to see rivers of flowing lava underneath the surface.

It's a wonderful walk through the Thurston Lava Tube!

The Holei Sea Arch is found at the end of the Chain of Craters Rd.
This is also where you can start a 10-mile round trip hike to
see flowing lava.