A Day in Hartville

I recently spent the day in Hartville, a town located in  Stark county.  Hartville is best known for the restaurant The Hartville Kitchen and for the Hartville Flea Market.  We started out by trying to find Quail Hollow State Park.  It looks pretty big on the map, but for some reason, we couldn't find it.  Even with the GPS, we got lost.  We did find some campgrounds and a golf course, but no lake.  If we ever go back, we will have to look harder.  Our next stop was the Hartville Flea Market.  My mom and I don't really care for antiques, but it is worth checking out.  The building is huge.  It is full of booths with clothing, antiques, food, crafts, and lots more.  There is even a food court.  Outside is an farmer's market.  Lots of the food looked tempting, but it was lunchtime, and we had plans to eat at the Hartville Kitchen.

I'd eaten at the Kitchen once before years ago, but it seemed even bigger this time.  The building holds a huge restaurant, a large gift shop, and a bakery.  New restaurants can be tricky for me because I am a very picky eater and also a vegetarian.  I chose the always healthy grilled cheese sandwich and a side of mac and cheese.  My mom got some kind of chicken sandwich.  Neither of us were impressed with the food.  I suppose we are used to eating in Amish restaurants, many of which are very good, and this food just wasn't as impressive.

Next up was some shopping.  We checked out the gift shop and bakery, but left empty handed.  The gift shop is really nice, but I didn't see anything I just had to have.  We headed down the road to check out Hartville Hardware, a huge independent hardware store.  We weren't looking for anything in particular, but since we have never been in the store before, it was a good place to stop.  The store was very similar to Lowe's or Menards.

The last stop was downtown Hartville.  There are a few shops and restaurants, none of which were very interesting to me (antiques mostly).  There is a chocolate store downtown, which also sells ice cream (I do enjoy a candy store!).  By now, we have seem most of Hartville and it is time to go home.

So, if you have never been to Hartville, check it out.  Between the Flea Market, Hardware Store, downtown, and the Hartville kitchen, you will have hours of shopping ahead of you.

McKinley Monument

Six U.S. presidents were from Ohio and there are many places throughout the state that honor those men.
One of which is the McKinley Monument and Museum, located in Canton, near the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Though you can see a bit of the roof from the highway, the Monument is a bit difficult to find.  You'll know you are close when you see the beautifully manicured lawns.

I have some memories of visiting the museum as a child, but wanted to experience it again as an adult.  The monument itself if very impressive.  Tons of steps to walk up.  Many runners were going up and down the steps, while I felt successful just climbing them once.  Inside the monument are the tombs of the former president and his wife.  Along the back wall are markers for the graves for their two daughters who died as children.

After visiting the monument, it was time to check out the museum.  Tickets were $8 for adults.  The building has two main floors.  Science on the lower level and history on the top level.  There is also a planetarium, but it is only open on weekends, so we missed out on that.  The lower level is dark.  The first thing you see is a dinosaur statue.  It is pretty cool.  Around the main room are Ohio rocks and a few live animals.  Behind the main room is a room of interactive science.  My mom and I checked out almost every one and had a pretty good time.  The coolest was the wind tornado that you can put your hand in.  There was also a cool one that you touched a ball of bright light and it made sounds.

On the second floor was the historical section.  I'm not really a history buff, but it was neat to see Pres. McKinley's furniture and furniture from the era.  Normally, statues of McKinley and his wife are on display, but they were out for repair.  A large section of the upper floor is dedicated to the Street of Shops, which is a replica of a town from McKinley's time.  It was pretty neat to look in all the shops, though some of them were a little creepy.  There is also a fire pole to slide down (I was not brave enough) and a huge train set to see.  So, we were probably only in the museum for an hour, but we had a pretty good time seeing the exhibits.  It is not as impressive as some of the larger museums in Columbus or Cleveland, but it is worth checking out.