Maple syrup festivals: Hit one now through May

by Jamie Rhein on

Depending upon where you live, when the temperatures are just right, it’s maple syrup time. In Ohio, maple syrup events are scattered across the state from the beginning of March until May. In Canada and elsewhere, there are maple events a plenty. Each offers something different, although syrup and syrup making is the main highlight. I’ve been to four of them. Each time I go to one of these festivals, thoughts of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Little House in the Big Woods come to mind.

The last festival I went to was last Saturday when we headed to Malabar Farms, former home of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and environmentalist Louis Bromfield. There we found a draft horse drawn wagon ride up a maple tree-lined-road to the sugar shack and a taste of the good stuff. On the way up the dirt road to Pugh Cabin, the site of the festival, we passed by metal bucket after metal bucket hung from the trees collecting sap–a sign of the season.

The farm, now a state park, is an easy drive about halfway between Cleveland and Cincinnati. This particular festival ties in the history of maple syrup making from Native Americans to modern day. While inside the sugar shack syrup is made with a more modern approach, nearby, set back in the woods along a trail, the sap is cooked down in a hollowed out log by hot rocks continually transferred from a fire to the sap like the Native Americans first cooked it. Down the trail from that station, there’s the pioneer version of maple syrup making using huge cast iron kettles hung over the flames. Wooden signs affixed to trees tell about the history of syrup and provide various facts.

This festival includes a tractor ride to where the draft horses head up the road. For anyone who wants to take maple products home, there’s a shop near the sugar shack, and also in the visitor’s center where other Malabar Farm products are sold and the hop on the tractor location..

We made a feast of the day by eating lunch at the Malabar Farm Restaurant that features food made from the farm’s produce and meats whenever possible. In an ode to maple syrup, I ate the maple syrup crème brûlée for dessert and enjoyed the crunch of the hardened syrup that formed a crust over the creaminess.

Although, most of the maple sap gathering process is explained through signage at Malabar Farms, at Slate Run MetroPark and Slate Run farm near Canal Winchester, Ohio, about thirty minutes from Columbus, park employees dressed in period garb take visitors on a walk through the sugar bush tour to see how a tree is actually tapped.

After the sugar bush, the next stop is Slate Run Farm, a living history working farm set in the 1880s where during maple syrup season, sap is cooked over a fire the way Ohio settlers did it. Inside the kitchen, women dressed in period attire lead visitors–mostly children, through a baking experience where they can taste maple products and be part of making food themselves.

In the southern part of Ohio at Hueston Woods, another Ohio State Park, the Maple Syrup Festival is also happening this weekend. This is a lovely area for hiking as well.

In the northern part of Ohio, Geauga County is one place that goes all out for maple syrup season. In Burton, there’s the pancake breakfast each Saturday in March. The finale is the Maple Festival April 30–May 3. Starting this weekend, there’s the March Maple Madness Driving Tour in Northeast Ohio, a self-driving venture that swings by twenty maple syrup producers in seven counties.

Along with Malabar Farms, there are other Ohio Department of Natural Resources maple festival events.

Here are 10 other maple syrup festivals and maple syrup production sites in other parts of the U.S. and Canada.

Man sues strip club for getting whacked in the face with a boot

by Jamie Rhein on

What is it about Ohio? During Jay Leno’s monologue last night, he quipped about a man who is suing a strip club in Akron for getting hit in the face with a stripper’s boot when it flew off her foot during a high kick.

That’s more weird than the story I heard on Saturday Night Live last September about Sarah Palin’s face being mowed into a corn maze in northern Ohio.

Here’s what happened in Akron, according to this report on Ohio.com. When the man’s cousin from out of town came for a visit, the bright idea of heading to a strip club for a good time came up. So off they went, perching themselves on chairs close to the stage.

Unfortunately, when “Tiara” did her high kick, her boot flew off, smacking Yusuf Evans in the nose, bending it a manner that it shouldn’t have been bent. Because the boot was a platform-style boot, it did extra damage. Now Evans says he has a hard time breathing out of one nostril. It gets clogged, you see. He’s asking for more than $25,000 compensation for his woes.

To avoid getting hit in the face with a stripper’s boot, here are three suggestions for what to see in Akron if one has an out of town guest. You can see a stripper club anywhere, but these three places are one-of-a-kind.

  • At Harry London Quality Chocolates you can tour the factory and sample chocolates. That might satisfy another type of craving since there are 500 different varieties.
  • Learn about another type of rubber at the Goodyear World of Rubber Museum. Akron is the “Rubber Capital of the World,” after all.
  • Dr. Bob’s Home–Dr. Bob Smith founded Alcoholic’s Anonymous. His home is now a museum. Some people who go here say they feel calm.

National Pie Day: Where to enjoy a slice

by Jamie Rhein on

Today is National Pie Day. Back in 2007, I wrote a post about pies worth driving to. Last month I found another worthy drive to pie place. The Doughbox Bakery at Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio is the type of place that attracts a steady stream of pie and other baked goods traffic, even in winter. The raspberry pie I took home provided several slices of heaven.

Once when my husband was hitchhiking across the U.S., one of the people who gave him a ride woke him up in Collegdale, Tennessee. Pointing towards the McGee Food Corporation buildings, he said, “That there is the home of Little Debbie Snack Cakes.” Little Debbie fruit pies are another option for celebrating pie. The latest flavor is lemon.

Pies have had the place of honor of several Gadling posts. Here are others to help you find a pie near you–or pick a flavor.

Speed cameras and red light cameras: Good or bad?

by Jamie Rhein on

There are various thoughts about the effectiveness and fairness of speed trap or red light cameras. Some find them invasive. Some say, hey, if you don’t break the law, there’s nothing to worry about. The cameras aren’t something you can argue with easily, so perhaps that’s the beef with them. If you get caught, in general, you pay.

Here’s a case in point: About two years ago there was a photo of our car at a traffic light that arrived in the mail. Yep, either my husband or I were turning from 5th Street onto 4th Avenue in Columbus, Ohio and were snagged by the red-light camera. Neither of us are the type who speed through yellow lights, but on this day, either we turned into that person, or we had pulled into the intersection waiting to make the turn left once traffic passed. It was rush hour. While one of us was in the intersection, the light turned red.

Neither of us are claiming blame since we really can’t remember who was driving the car. Honest. Regardless, we sent in the money and I’m extra careful at that intersection. Not, that I’m not careful at any intersection, but I have it in my head to not take any chances at THAT intersection in particular.

Columbus installed these cameras to make certain intersections safer. Frankly, there are a couple that I think could use one. Some say that they are just revenue boosters for the city.

That’s what some are saying in Arizona, as well, according to this article. Although in Arizona, it’s the speed cameras that are causing a bit of an uproar. In Arizona, speed cameras are along certain sections of highway. Motorists aren’t happy because they say the camera makes people suddenly slow down too much when they see one. That makes it dangerous for everyone else.

In Ohio, that happens along I-71 whenever people see a police car in an emergency vehicle turn around lane. This is more of a scenario on the stretch from Mansfield to Cleveland, if you happen to be traveling on I-71. I see the police cars as friendly reminders. The speed trap in this photo was taken in Alaska.

If Arizona drivers are anything like those on the highways in Ohio, I can see why some might complain about speeders. It’s like being in the Indy 500 sometimes.

If the speed cameras give out tickets when a person is just going a few miles over the speed limit, I can see why that might make people a bit miffed. Who hasn’t gone over the speed limit when trying to pass a particularly slow car, or out of boredom on long stretches of road when the foot feels a bit heavy? Yes, I do know there’s a certain item called “cruise control.”

Also, there’s a difference between going a few miles over the speed limit and twenty. Perhaps that’s the trouble. In Arizona speeding costs a motorist $185. That is steep if you are only five miles above the limit. Because so many people are complaining, the cameras on state highways and state roads might be taken away, although maybe not for two years. The contractor who installed them needs to be paid.

If you’re in Arizona, keep your eye out for the cameras. They’re watching you. They’re also watching you along highways in other parts of the world. The complaints about them there are the same. This photo shows a speed camera in Brasilia.

By the way, the photo of our red light mishap didn’t show who was driving, and the video that I was directed to where I could see the incident didn’t show the traffic light. It also didn’t show if whoever was driving was stopped at the intersection before proceeding. Both of these are common complaints about what is wrong with some red light and speed camera systems.

Traffic Enforcement Camera at Wikipedia presents extensive details about the issues and statistics regarding accident reduction that are attributed to both camera types.

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Matt Harding of video “Dancing” named Traveler of the Year

by Jamie Rhein on

My favorite video of all times is Matt Harding’s Dancing. Every time I’m at a friend’s house and someone is on the Internet, I say, “Hey, there’s something you have to see.” The last time that happened was two days ago in Ottawa, Ohio, the town whose flood I wrote about last January.

Janelle Nanosen at Intelligent Travel offered up Harding’s video yesterday as worthy of end of the year attention. Considering that I had just visited Harding’s website, and it’s such a feel good look at the world’s people, here it is again.

Janelle mentions that Harding was given kudos by World Hum as Traveler of the Year. Of course he was, and rightfully so. As my friend, Tom Barlow at Wallet Pop said when he first saw it, “People in Hollywood spend millions of dollars trying to create the feeling that this guy was able to do in just four minutes.”

As we move into 2009, here’s hoping your travels bring you this feeling every day of the year. Wouldn’t that be great?