Last Saturday, it was a cool, crisp late morning into the early afternoon and we attended the “Haunted Newark: A Ghostly Walking Tour” hosted by Doug Stout, Local History Coordinator for the Licking County Library in Newark, Ohio. Our tour group met in the Downtown Newark Library foyer and proceeded to follow our welcoming host. Our first stop was the Licking County Players Theatre and additional stops included Veterans Park, the old YMCA, and more before reaching our last stop, which was the old First National Bank. At one point, we got to walk through the recently and most impressively renovated Arcade and around the Newark Courthouse Square along our tour path.

At each haunted site destination, Doug shared about the haunted history of downtown Newark with captivating stories, photos, and information. There are more tours scheduled and the last one is scheduled for Friday, October 31st at 5:00 pm. We highly recommend this free, most enjoyable and exploratory historically spooky tour!

Last weekend, in effort to complete our Passport to Licking County that we purchased from the Licking County Historical Society at the beginning of the summer, we visited two covered bridges amidst beautiful settings in Frazeysburg, Ohio, some historical sites in Newark like the Cedar Hill Cemetery and a church on Mt. Vernon Rd., which wasn’t too far from the Ye Olde Mill in Utica, Ohio.  We took advantage of our proximity and stopped for lunch; we ordered two cheeseburgers with a side of watermelon and I could not pass up the opportunity to get my favorite: Wild Black Cherry ice cream- two scoops!  This ice cream has the perfect consistency and is packed just right with delicious cherries. 

We enjoyed our meal alfresco near the mill we heard and watched turning, which was built in 1817.  Cloggers were setting up to entertain outside while people dined, but we did not get to stay to experience their show as we had one stop left on our passport.  To end our time traveling around Licking County, we shopped here and there at some staple stores.

The next day, we headed to Alexandria to visit one of our favorite greenhouses, Baker’s Acres.  We really enjoyed seeing their beautiful and full mums as well as all of their unique tropical plants and of course, the fun Halloween décor weaved in among their plants makes for a fun stroll through the grounds.  Along the way, we ate lunch for the first time at the Coffee Vault in the heart of Alexandria.  We don’t know if they make their own bagels, but the asiago bagels certainly tasted like they were freshly baked.  Yes, indeed, our BLT bagel sandwiches were tasty and our iced shaken espressos with brown sugar and oat milk were the best we have ever had!  This is a quality little coffee and sandwich shop with scrumptious freshly baked double chocolate chip cookies; we give it five stars! 

Lastly, we traveled further south to pick out our pumpkins and gourds at Dupler’s Pumpkin Land on Jacksontown Rd. in Newark, Ohio.  It is in a beautiful wooded setting, which includes a historical farm house built in 1823.  We chose two classic pumpkins, a black little pumpkin with two orange eyes reminding us of Mothman, and a handful of unique gourds.  Wagons are provided for use to help make the load lighter; we chose a Radio Flyer to gather our Autumn selections.  Photo ups are set up for people to enjoy during their visit and there are even some EMUs on the property that people can choose to purchase pellets to feed.  The sunlight hit the EMUs eyes just right and the reflection gave a gorgeous amber glow, which was such a surprising and beautiful sight!  I tried to capture this in a photo, but was not able to do so.  We really appreciate this place and family business and try to visit every year when fall comes to town.    

We celebrated our recent wedding anniversary at the Kanji Japanese Steakhouse located in Heath, Ohio.  We opted to sit at the Hibachi grill and selected the chicken and steak Hibachi dinner entrées.  Mushroom soup and a house salad with yummy-yummy sauce served as starters, followed by the Hibachi Chef working his entertaining and magical skills on the built-in grill by cooking us up our meat along with mushrooms, zucchini, bean sprouts, onions, and carrots and two shrimp appetizers.  The chef offered for me to taste the fried rice that he was fixing for most of the other people at our table and it was tasty as well.  The Chef also provided us with delicious ginger sauce and more yummy-yummy sauce.

Jokingly, the Chef shared that it was his first day, so I responded by saying, “Are we in trouble?”, and the server quietly shared that the chef has actually been working there for ten years.  It was all in good fun: the chef threw balls of rice at those of us who wanted to try to catch the rice in our mouths; I was the only one- I think it is because I took my sunglasses off to focus.  Lol!  Near the end of the cooking time, he pretended to squirt soy sauce at my face and it was just a brown rope coming out of the bottle.  The talented Hibachi Chef also threw up an egg still in its shell and it landed on the top of his hat.  Later, he tipped his head down, which caused the egg to fall out of his hat and the egg landed and cracked open directly on the side corner of his spatula blade causing the egg and yoke to conveniently spill onto the grill. It was a fun dining experience and we plan to ask for the same Hibachi Chef on our next visit.    

Last Saturday, we stopped at the Canal Market District in Newark, Ohio to check out Mary Mary’s Crafts since we saw on their Facebook page that MMC was a vendor listed for the day (I have purchased items from them in the past). They offer beautiful and fun hand painted and sewn items, as well as crocheted hats; we found some items for ourselves, as well as Christmas gifts for family members. We also stopped at a clay sculpture artist’s station, Mouse Craft (www.mousecraftstore.com), and were very impressed with her little mice and fox characters. In addition, her Nativity scene was so precious and unique: Joseph had a hammer and a measuring tool hanging around his waist, in representation of him being a carpenter. I hope to purchase the seasonal wall art picturing an outdoor scene within a circle formation that she designs at some point too. My plan is to rotate the wall art with the changing of each of the four seasons after purchasing all of them! For example, the summer wall art had a tree with birds, flowers, and other wildlife incorporated.

After enjoying our quick visit with the two vendors at the CMD in Newark, we headed to the Prairie Peddler Festival in Butler, Ohio, where over 200 vendors spread throughout the grounds, many immersed in the woods, which created a most pleasant experience. We went to the Prairie Peddler Festival for the first time last year and wanted to return this year since we had so much fun! We found even more items to purchase this year! This time, we selected many handmade primitive stuffed dolls: The Hunchback of Notre Dame and a ghost mouse/rat carrying a Jack-O’-Lantern from Keep Us In Stitches, Humpty Dumpty from Rebecca K. Babcock, a skinny scarecrow from Aunt Mary’s Garden + Crafts, and a hanging Mothman from Becky Belau, “The Krafty Lady”. We also took home many treasures as Christmas gifts for our family, which we cannot reveal here (HA!). One item we purchased that struck us with its uniqueness and we were educated on by the vendor, KJ at Spearhead Farms, LLC, was a carved out votive candle holder made out of tufa, a porous rock (a type of limestone) formed by calcium carbonate deposits from supersaturated water, with a base of slate cut in the round. The vendor’s additional works were cool too; he sculpted mushrooms from small to very large-in-size. Some of our additional wonderful finds were a thunder drum made from a detailed carved gourd, leather, and wire from Rebecca K. Babcock, a wooden hanging Oct. 31 pumpkin head “doll-like” ornament from Becky Belau, “The Krafty Lady”, and a kitchen towel, which reads, “Home is Where My Dog Is” with a big paw print included on the design from Teri’s got Fur?!. A vendor of whom we are trying to locate her name, designed a snowman we purchased as a gift for someone- such unique and special quality work! We also got to chat with another vendor, of whom we are trying to locate their name, who sold us primitive dolls, such as Dracula, Wolf Man, and Frankenstein, from last year. The same vendor also runs a booth at the Berlin Craft Mall in Berlin, Ohio, which we visited last year as well.
All of these talented artistic vendors truly enabled us to have a fun day in small town Ohio and in Ohio’s countryside full of rolling hills!

At the end of August on a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon, we visited the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, Ohio. Our first destination walk through was the Himalayan Mountains section followed by the Tropical Rainforest and Desert; it was hot and we felt as if we were actually in those areas! Many of the Himalayan plants were unique, and we found them most striking. The various palms, cacti and succulents in these sections were fun to see as well. Next, we went outside to a courtyard full of topiary animal sculptures made of flowers, plants, and natural elements: the Garden Safari. The lion and tiger were our favorites. We were interested in seeing the Bonsais and the natural flow of the path lead us to them. Impressively, a Buttonwood Bonsai tree lives there and its approximate age is 373 years! A Fig Bonsai tree also resides there at the approximate age of 45 years. Bonsai trees are also located on the outer edges of the Conservatory fully outside and a Crape Myrtle stood out to us with its flowering beauty.

We cannot leave out commenting on the beautiful artwork interwoven throughout our tour. The Conservatory’s Chihuly Collection is permanent and it is the largest of its kind in a botanical garden. Eighteen glass art installations by Dale Chihuly may be found throughout the inside spaces of the Conservatory. The colorful glass art truly adds pops of color to the spaces and provides a complimentary artistic reflection to the natural elements.

The Conservatory’s Café was a nice surprise, as we took a break to recharge from the heat of the sun. We discovered that almost all of the food is made in-house and their hummus with whole-wheat chips, veggies, and mixed nuts along with a savory scone consisting of corn, chipotle, and cheddar cheese provided the perfect snack for us to share. The gift shop next door was a pleasant experience as well with the two small outdoor courtyard areas full of plants, pots, and some outdoor decor on display. Inside, we found a clearance section where everything was 50% off and we selected a large candle holder made from a birch wood branch with a star carved on either side to take home with us as a memento.

Just outside the Palm House, on the Grand Mallway, the Paul Busse Garden Railway is on display through January 7, 2024. We enjoyed the immersion for a while in this mesmerizing miniature world of Fairytale Land and Wild West Town to animal and wooden building structure themed models, which included “Who Lives Here” and “European Travels” as we wandered through it. There are an impressive 51 botanical models made from all natural plant materials. There are nine model trains, which keep moving along the track overhead and on the track below, if you miss seeing a train go by, you are sure to get to see another soon. We ourselves hope to travel back for a visit to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in the spring to experience the butterfly exhibit!

From common to unique and rare, Groovy Plants Ranch offers a broad spectrum of plants and garden decorations. Our first visit happened to be during their “Handmade Hoedown” weekend, which included live music and drink trucks on site. Local artist vendors were set up throughout the property. We especially enjoyed looking at some stained glass, Wrappin Osborne’s pottery planter pots and wood with epoxy wall art that mostly had a nature theme, as well as another artist’s works: planter pots made out of cement and rocks. The metal art was also fun to browse; the road runner was my favorite, but cacti, flowers, and armadillos were also portrayed and sculpted using metal.

A mini wooden Bigfoot plant decorative stake was our selected purchase from a vendor and a “Crown of Thorns” cactus, air plant, and Cholla cactus wood (to use as a container for the air plant) were our picks to take home from Groovy Plants Ranch. The property is well organized and beautifully aesthetically arranged for visitors to feel as though they are in a faraway land of natural beauty and fun artistic pots and garden decor that pops with color. A sense of whimsy is also created with the VW van and airplane strategically placed in the broadest range between greenhouses and near the edge of a natural wooded area. While waiting for checkout, we discovered a very old cactus priced at $400 and enjoyed listening to the music. We were especially impressed with the overall atmosphere, reasonable prices, variety, and soil planting stations for those who also purchased a pot. Many places don’t have bonsai trees available, and Groovy Plants Ranch has several healthy bonsai available at a fair price. We plan to purchase one on our next visit!

Just a short drive away and along our way home, we had a nice meal (meatloaf and chicken tenders, biscuits, fried okra, chicken dumplings, and freshly squeezed lemonade) at Cracker Barrel in Sunbury, Ohio, and discovered some cool coffee mugs we purchased as future gifts for our relatives. Browsing around the store after the delicious meal was a pleasure. As a side note, Cracker Barrel really has some beautiful clothing options along with their adorable decorations and tasty old-time favorite candies and gum.

Still in Sunbury, our shopping continued at the Tanger Outlets. Puma, Cole Haan Outlet, and an independent mom-and-pop shop called Humble Heart (home decor) were some of our favorite shopping experiences at Tanger, but Fragrance Outlet stole the show by providing an exciting fragrance experience while we tried various perfumes and colognes and found a couple that we both really liked: Ralph Lauren’s “Safari” for men and Deauville Eau de Parfum Spray for women. It’s difficult to find “Safari”, but Fragrance Outlet had it at a price that was just as rare. We also learned about two fragrances that we plan to purchase at some point now as well. What fun!

Located in Hartford, Ohio, “The Biggest Little Fair in the World” is always a fun time with family, friends, and strangers. The Hartford Fair is full of all the country fair feels, animals, activities, competitions, surroundings, and food. Rough trucks is a hoot of a time and my personal favorite event, or one might prefer the demolition derby or animal shows. Or, maybe some simply enjoy all the tasty goodies and fair rides. Check out the 2023 schedule: https://www.hartfordfair.com/2023 schedule.

I decided to stop at Troyer’s Marketplace in Johnstown on my way home after my recent time at the fair. An Amish-style cuisine is offered with freshly baked goods like cookies, cakes, and pies. I picked up two club sandwiches, Walnut Creek Queso potato chips, and a blackberry pie. I also chose some blue raspberry shark gummies to snack on while driving home. Everything was scrumptious!

On Saturday, June 24, we attended The Great Granville Garage Sale, which benefits the Licking County Coalition for Housing. On the way, our first stop was at the Raccoon International Golf Club grounds, where Sister Salvage & Soles had plenty of items available for purchase under their canopy and tent and spread nicely along the lawn near the parking lot upon arrival. We picked up two fencing swords and a fencing helmet for a fair price after friendly negotiations. We enjoyed talking with one of the owners, who has an infectious excitement for all things salvage. Afterward, we quickly strolled through the Granville Farmers’ Market, which appeared vast, but we were in a hurry to get to “The Great Granville Garage Sale”.

Adagio Teas annouces their new Chai Tea category!

Centenary United Methodist Church was our first stop in the GGGS lineup. It was quite the treasure chest of a room full of unique items and one cannot find a better deal when no prices are marked and the “donations only” motto is set. All of the money at this fundraiser was going toward supporting their youth group on a mission trip. We found a plethora of wonderful items like glassware, books, a bowling ball, jewelry, and Holiday items; we look forward to stopping here again next year! Just across the street on the lawn of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, we found loads of fantastic deals on fine china and 1950’s Melmac sets at the Licking County Coalition for Housing canopy tent. How cool was it that everything we purchased there went directly to LCCH?! Of course, we stopped at Alfie’s Granville for a delicious lunch alfresco in their pleasant courtyard. We ordered Mr. Tea and The Alex sandwiches, beat salad with fetta, parsley, and pecans, rosemary lemonade, and a Blondie for dessert. Directly after lunch, we took a stroll through the garage sales in the neighborhood and if the sellers had LCCH jars at their tables, the profits went to LCCH.

At this point, our car was fully loaded with our “new to us” items, we were not able to make it to Raccoon Valley Park and some other locations on the GGGS map. However, we did stop in at the Sister Salvage & Soles shop on our drive heading out of Granville. Antiques and shoes abound in this airy shop located with doors raised up allowing one to feel like time is being spent simply hanging on the porch getting to peruse old stuff. The atmosphere and friendly owners provide for a delightful atmosphere. What a great time on a Saturday afternoon in Granville, Ohio!