Dayton Off The Beaten Path

The Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum is off the beaten path a bit. It's in Wapakoneta, which is about 45-50 miles north of Dayton.

Ohio has produced 23 astronauts, and as this museum suggests, Ohioans are proud of this fact and also that Dayton is the birthplace of aviation. This museum explores both.

This museum has a lot of cool stuff to see, such as spacesuits, videos, a moon rock, space artifacts, simulators, and memorabilia from Neil Armstrong. There's also a room lined with mirrors that simulates the vastness of space.

Dayton and the surrounding area has well over a hundred miles of paved, dedicated bikeways running north and south along the Great Miami River from downtown Dayton, also east into Greene County to Xenia, and north and south along the Little Miami River.
If you are staying at the Marriott it is practically outside your door, and you can rent bicycles at Gaansari on Brown St. Be aware in the spring, however, parts of the trail can be submerged under high water.

Dayton and the surrounding area has an extensive dedicated paved bikeway - over a hundred miles along the Great Miami River north and south of downtown, east to Xenia and north and south along the Little Miami River between Springfield and Cincinnati.

Just because you went to college somewhere and partied your ass off, does not mean that you had an experience anywhere NEAR the UD Ghetto party experience.

Now, I'm not saying that you didn't have your share of wild times, but if you're in Dayton any Thursday, Friday, Saturday....hell.... any night of the week please drive through the ghetto to see what I mean.

If you aren't familiar with the UD campus at all, the University of Dayton bought up all of the residential housing surrounding the academic buildings. These are houses just like the one you live in... streets and streets of them. Now imagine each house filled with anywhere from 4-8 college students with a thirst for beer. This is the Ghetto and it's located a mere 2 miles from the closest keg distributor. It all adds up to fun, I'll tell you that much.

At other colleges and universities only frats and sororities can throw house parties and maybe you weren't cool enough to get into those. At UD EVERYONE has a house and just about every party in the ghetto is an open one. Just waltz on in with a smile on your face, go for a big plastic cup and head for the keg. UDers will almost always welcome you with a smile and a beer.

If you are 18-29 you might want to hop on into a party to see what its like. If you are 30 and above, perhaps you would just want to drive through the ghetto to see the action on the streets. If you are an alumni of any age. Get to the ghetto and partake of the BEAST.

Absolute best party nights in the ghetto:
Halloween
St. Patrick's Day
Last day of finals
Christmas on Campus
Homecoming

Streets in the Ghetto:
Brown
College Park
Lawnview
Kiefaber
Stonemill
Lowes
Trinity
Woodland
K
Evanston
Irving
Chambers

1. Take in a rugby match.
Rugby is a subculture in the US, most locals don't even know about it. The Dayton Area Rugby club welcomes players and fans from all over the world.

2. Local festivals.
Summer is festival season for Dayton and the surrounding communities. Everything from international festivals, like the World Affair, Greek, Italian, and Lebanese festivals, to the Saurkraut, Strawberry, and Walnut festivals. Music, culture, and crafts.

3. Dayton Dragons
Minor league baseball is a nice way to spend a warm summer evening. Weekend games end with a laser show at the neighboring Riverscape park.

4. Walk/ride along the river.
We have a few bike trails and a great county park system.

Carillion Historical Park.The Park is a 65-acre outdoor museum with 23 exhibit buildings and structures, and is the site of the 57-bell Deeds Carillon, Ohio's largest. The highlight of the collections is the 1905 Wright Flyer III, the world's first practical airplane, and a National Historic Landmark. The airplane and Wright Hall are components of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

1000 Carillon Blvd.
Dayton, Ohio 45409
Phone: (937) 293-2841

Tuesday-Saturday
9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Sunday
12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Open Monday
Holidays ONLY
12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m

Adults: $5.00
Children (3-17): $ 3.00

Seniors: $4.00
Members and children
under 3 are FREE

The main attraction of this park is a working 1880's farm. Besides this it has a small lake and a stable where you can rent horses.

This is a large park in North Dayton that features a little of everything. There is a 5 mile bike trail, a small lake, canoe landing and a horse stable.