Fun things to do in Ohio

Located on the shores of Lake Erie, Crane Creek State Park offers a vast freshwater marsh and spacious sandy beach for enjoyment. This coastal environment is home to more than 300 species of birds. Herons, waterfowl, warblers, gulls and bald eagle make this park one of the best birdwatching areas in the country.

General Public Admission:
Adults: $20.00
Seniors (60+): $14.00
Children ages 9-12: $11.00
Children 8 & under: FREE

Hours of Operation:
10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. daily (open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays) Summer Hours:
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Museum is also open until 9 p.m. on Saturdays Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Discount:
Show your AAA card for a discount at the ticket counter.

If you are interested in military air craft you will find four galleries full here. The museum is free and several videos and an Imax show are available. The Imax charges a fee. You can spend several hours here if you are interested in the topic.

Middle Bass Island is a relaxing Lake Erie island for a long weekend getaway. Once you board the ferry to the Island (about 1 hour ride) your cares begin to melt instantly away. When you arrive at the ferry dock you will be right at the former Lonz Winery facility, which is now a State Park owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. If you have your own boat, you can motor right into the the State Park's marina. The State Park is quite expansive for an island and has tent camping, but the old Lonz Winery structures are not yet open to the public. Hopefully someday.

There are a couple restaurants on the Island, my favorite being JF Walleyes. There are also a couple additional nature preserves scattered about. The Island is beautiful and relaxing. I highly recommend renting a small cottage for a weekend of relaxing, fishing and nature watching.

Opened in 1964 by the Franklin County Historical Society, COSI Columbus is one of the top science centers in the nation. (COSI is an acronym for Center of Science and Industry). COSI Columbus offers programs and experiences that teach science through hands-on discovery with over 300 interactive exhibits.

The museum was orginally located on East Broad Street in downtown Columbus. In 1999, it moved to its present location on the west bank of the Scioto River. The museum's current building was the former Central High School. Additions to the building were constructed on the school's former football field.

The museum features interactive, discovery-based, and themed exhibit areas that include the Ocean, Space, Gadgets, Life, Little Kidspace, Progress, the outdoor Big Science Park, and WOSU@COSI which teaches about broadcasting.

In addition to the exhibits, the museum puts on the Electrostatic Generator Show which is a live show about electricity, and shows films in the seven-story Extreme Screen theater. Visitors can purchase souvenirs in the Science2GO! retail store, and get something to eat in the Atomicafe restaurant.

The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is a children's museum that focuses on science. It contains permanent hands-on exhibits and live animals that are native to Ohio. It is the only institution in Dayton that is a combined zoo, aquarium, planetarium, and science center.

The museum was founded in 1999 by the Dayton Society of Natural History as a museum to instill in children a lifelong love of learning and appreciation of the world around them. It bills itself as a place where play and learning come together. The museum was named to honor Oscar Boonshoft, one of the museum's most ardent supporters.

The museum features permanent interactive exhibits where people of all ages can learn, including the Hall of the Universe which features interactive exhibits about the solar system. The Oscar Boonshoft Science Central teaches about general principles of science in fun ways. The Meade Tree House teaches about environmental preservation, and allows children to use binoculars to watch birds from the tree house's windows. The Bieser Discovery Center has thousands of natural-history objects that children can handle, such as animal skeletons, shells, and fossils. It also features live snakes, hissing cockroaches, and tarantulas. The Charles E. Exley, Jr. Wild Ohio Zoo has about 100 mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians native to Ohio. Many had been found injured and were rehabilitated, but could not be returned to the wild. The most popular animals are a bobcat, coyote, and river otters. Science On a Sphere is a suspended globe that is capable of displaying visualizations of the Earth and space, air traffic aroung the world, and animal migrations. Explorers Crossing contains a make-believe grocery store, courthouse, veterinary clinic, and recycling center where children can role play and interact with objects to learn about the activities associated with each setting. Nesiur the Mummy features a real mummy from Egypt and various other objects from Africa. Glowing Geology is a hands-on geology exhibit that features rocks that glow under ultraviolet light. And finally, The Tidal Pool contains salt-water creatures such as star fish, sea anemonies, and sea cucumbers.

The museum also features the Caryl D. Philips Space Theater, a planetarium, and two galleries for temporary exhibits.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park refers to its productions as "Great theater in a great theater." The playhouse has a ten-month season of plays, and offers acting classes and programs for children. It contains two theaters, the 626-seat Marx Theater which hosts six major productions of three to four weeks each, and the 225-seat Thompson Shelterhouse Theater which hosts four to five productions of two-and-a-half weeks each.

The playhouse was founded in 1959 by college student Gerald Covell. It was one of the first regional theaters in the United States. Since then, it has achieved a regional and national reputation for bringing prominent plays to Cincinnati. The playhouse has hosted the national premier of Tennessee Williams' The Notebook of Trigorin, and the world premiers of Coyote on a Fence and Ace.

In 2004, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park won a Tony Award for "Best Regional Theater", and in 2007 it won its second Tony Award for "Best Revival of a Musical".

The theater is also home of the nationally renowned Rosenthal Award winners for new playwrights.

The Columbus City Hall houses the office of the mayor, the city council, and the offices of various other city officials and departments. It replaced an earlier building on a different site that was torn down in the mid-1920s to make way for the Ohio Theatre.

The Columbus City Hall is noted for its statue of Christopher Columbus, the explorer after whom the city is named. It was sculpted by Italian sculptor Edoardo Alfieri, and was donated to the people of Columbus in 1955 by the people of Genoa, Italy. Genoa was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, and is one the sister cities of Columbus.