Hey Gang,
As some of you may know I took off to
Newark, Ohio for a meeting this past weekend. What kind of meeting?
Can’t say much other than it has to do with an upcoming decision
that will be announced shortly.
Newark is about a 140 miles from where
I live so no way was I going just for a meeting. And let me tell
you, it was a very pleasant escape. Ruth came along and kept
remarking how beautiful everything was and how wide the land is. We
saw so much it was fabulous.
Our meeting was hold at the Cherry
Valley Lodge just outside of Newark. During our lunch break I headed
to Granville. We had a decent breakfast at the Aladdin restaurant
that has been there for years. The place looked it. Driving through
we saw a church with a crowd of people out front. Some were dressed
in period clothes of the 1800’s. We took a walk and found out they
were having a reenactment of the abolitionist movement. The man
playing the part of Fredrick Douglas looked eerily like him.
After the meeting we headed right back
to Granville to finish our walking tour. The village is beautiful
with many historic houses and churches. It is home to Denison
College. I took numerous photos of the many churches. The one that
really caught my attention was the United Church of Granville.
Outside of the church was a man just sitting. I approached him and
we had a nice conversation. His name was Ron and the janitor of the
church. He said come on I’ll let you look inside. I would sum it
up this way, gorgeous and wow. Thanks Ron.
It was time for supper so we bought
groceries and headed to Infirmary Mound Park. Supposedly the park at
one time was an old age home where the elderly were put and made to
work on the farm. HUH? That’s what someone told us.
When supper was done I cruised through
Newark looking for a cruise in to park the GoGo Bus, no luck. Then I
drove around in circles looking for a donut shop. Are donut shops
along with bakeries almost a thing of the past also? Have the big
corporate chains even killed this? I did stop at a gas mart and a
convenience store to satisfy my craving but at a buck a donut and one
that wasn’t fresh just NO WAY! I ended up at Krogers and bought
cereal.
I parked the Bus back at the Cherry
Valley Lodge and slept in their lot over night. Our wake time was
10:45 and it was off to church. I wanted to go to the United Church
of Granville the one Ron showed us around but when I read their
brochure it scared me. It read more like a pamphlet for a social
political party and one that was FAR LEFT leaning. It says they
embrace the LGBT community. Their website even
says historic church, progressive
people. And my website says no way.
We still hurried
up to Granville to find a more suitable church. I parked on the main
street and I almost caused a traffic jam. Two cars stopped to look at
the Bus right in the middle of the street. One lady even got out of
her car to talk to me. Gwyneth was her name. She attends 3
churches, a Baptist, a Quaker and the First Presbyterian, all in the
little village. She said the
First Presbyterian Church is still holding service to go
there. This was the church that held the reenactment of the slavery
debate. It is a HUGE church not as ornate but still very historical
looking. The observation I made was this…. These churches are very
traditional looking, still use and organ, hymnbooks, a choir but they
are progressive with one for homosexual rights and this one with two
woman pastors.
I was invited to say for coffee and ice
cream, which I did. Friendly people. We then took off following the
same route we took to get here. It was night and wanted to see in
the day what we missed.
Our first stop out side of Newark was a
vintage car dealer, Phil Stalling Classic Cars. It looked like a
used car dealer from years gone by. His lot and store is filled with
vintage iron. Incredible.
Still on the same route we stopped at
the Ye Olde Mill – Velvet Ice Cream. The mill is where Velvet Ice
Cream is made. They have a pond, nice pavilions to hold picnics,
some trails, and of course the ice cream shop and gift store.
They even show you how they make ice cream. Wonderful.
From there we entered the town of
Utica. It still has a Ben Franklin.
Of course I had to stop for
memories sake. Nice older store with small town charm. Almost right
next door is the Watts Restaurant that has been there for over a
hundred years still with the original family. I loved the homey
decor. And women down here still wear dresses. Even a few of the
waitresses did. Though I do wish the owner wouldn't of talked so
loudly about his surgery, it was gross listening to it while we ate.
I recommend the fried chicken, as their
menu says fresh chicken slowly simmered, then battered with my
grandmother's recipe and deep fried golden brown. Also
try their homemade egg noodles made fresh each morning.
Our
last
two stops were at little Shreve Lake and from there it was onward home
stopping briefly in Seville to show Ruth the grave marker of the Bates
who were the GIANTS of Seville.
Gotta
GoGo
Carey
