OHIO----June 1, 2012

The weatherman was right,,,,,it poured all night and rained all day today.  We decided to find things to see indoors.  Headed out to Hartville Hardware and Flea Market.  The flea market sure wasn't like back home,,,,this place had beautiful things.  They had produce, a meat market, cafe and all vendors with unique things.  There was a man there who made beautiful Corn Hol boards.  All the ones he had were already sold and couldn't make us one until next week, so we bought the bean bags and decals to put on the boards and Jesse will make them when we get home.....poor guy, I keep adding projects on for him to do.  Then we went over to the hardware store.  Well I have never seen a hardware store like this.  It was huge.  So big in fact that they have built a full house inside the middle of it.  The place was beautiful.  We went in and toured the house,,,,,it was gorgeous.  Then we walked around the rest of the store and just when I thought we were done, off we went to the lumberyard part of the store.  This lumberyard is a drive through yard and all lumber is stored indoors,,,,nothing is outdoors.  Drive in, load up, and drive out.  What a huge place.  Jesse was in heaven.

house in middle of Hartville Hardware Store

drive in, load up, drive out (lumberyard indoors)

After this we went for a ride to the Amish part of Ohio and went to see another store that made houseware ornaments and all kinds of signs that are engraved.  The retail store overlooks the factory and had big windows so you could watch the people working on different CNC machinery and doing different functions. It was interesting.


Then we went to our last store of the day.  Lehman's Mercantile is a store that caters to the Amish community.  This place was unbelievable.  We saw things here that we have never seen anywhere else.  They had kitchen appliances with todays newest technology with yesterdays looks.  One of the refrigerators cost $7000.00.







We had a great day despite the lousy weather.  This is our last day in Ohio.  Tomorrow we will move on to Flushing, Michigan to visit friends from Florida.  Having a great time, as usual.






5 days (May 28-June 2, 2012) spent at Countryside Campground in Mogadore, Oh.  Lovely area.  Would definitely come back again.  Lots to see and do and didn't get enough time to do as much hiking as we would have liked.  Would like to come back (with our bicycles to do the tow path)  and spend a couple of weeks here hiking and biking.  Campground is small but adequate...owners are very nice.  Used 2 days Passport America,,,the rest was full pay.  Would probably try to find a better campground in the surrounding area.