Pymatuning State Park to Dillon State Park, Ohio

On from Allegeny State Park in New York to Pymatuning State Park in Jamestown, Pennsylvania.
On this reservoir there is one park in Pennsylvania and across the reservoir are two more campgrounds in Ohio.

We met a very nice couple from the area who knew a lot about the Pennsylvania state parks and also about other parks in Ohio to Florida.  He used to be a tour bus driver, like Uncle Carl.
You meet a lot of interesting people on the road with a lot of interesting stories and backgrounds. That makes this a good time to recommend to you some of the blogs listed to the right side.  For example, if you go to visit Jimbo's blog and also Ed and Carol's blog , you can scroll down through their latest postings and see some great pictures of the Albuquerque Balloon Festival a week or so ago.  They were a part of a number of Lazy Daze people who gathered in a perfect spot close to and sometimes right under the balloons.

From Pymatuning we travel to Salt Fork State Park in Ohio.  It is basically west of Wheeling, West Virginia close to Cambridge , Ohio.  This the largest Ohio State Park on Salt Fork Reservoir , an unusually shaped body of water.  It is relatively narrow , but quite long and winding. 

There are a large number of rental cabins all around the reservoir with two good sized marinas and other boat facilities.  As you might expect, there are a large number of pontoon boats docked here, but also various fishing boats.  Not much sign of the larger yachts we saw in New York.

Like a number of other states, Ohio has a beautiful lodge within the state park that offers much to the business man and vacationer alike. 

The lodge has a full offering dining room as well as a snack bar and a coffee shop and a lounge.

Not only those , but also full sized outdoor and indoor swimming pools.

As we were walking through, there were at least two business meetings taking place in conference rooms.

We give credit to Ohio for maintaining this property. Besides all of the wonderful campgrounds and campsites for RVers and horse campers, there are well maintained hiking trails, marinas, and a beach, and an 18 hole golf course.  Boaters can even camp on their boats.

In addition they completely renovated this 1840 stone house built on the property.

When they said stone house, we were expecting a brick style house, but you note these are quite large stones.

Unfortunately, we were here on a day  that the Stone House was closed.

But from outside we were able to see how the interior has also been refinished and refurnished to 19th century period style.

This all looks very warm and comfortable for a stone house.

The view from the hill behind the house gives you an idea of the access to Salt Fork Reservoir.  On the left is the original root cellar.  The right side addition is recent

From Salt Fork, we travel to Amish country , basically north and west of Salt Fork. 

We had been to this section of Ohio years ago, but this time we stopped at a few different places.

Previously, we had visited Walnut Creek and Berlin for different Amish restaurants and local cheese and wood products.

This time we stop at Yoder's Amish Farm and take a tour.  The building on the right was the orginal built around 1860.  In the old tradition, it has no amenities inside.  The stove is wood fired.

The house on the left is newer and has propane and other amenities, but still no connection to outside electricity.

Travel in Amish country means watching for buggies along the way.

The Amish barn interpreter indicated that the buggy horses are usually former race trotting horses bought at auction.

For field work, the Amish like to use Belgian work horses. 

The small house garden provides some nicely fresh greens of lettuce and cabbage among other offerings.

The Amish believe in separation from the outside world.  This means keeping modern amenities outside the house.  Yes, that is an outhouse.

Also, younger people take note that there is no television, cell phone, phone, car, refrigerator, computer, or other modern devices.

Young people play games and read. They learn three languages--Low German, High German, and English. 

We also learned that the strict Amish are those that have no electricity and use the buggies and horse teams.
The Mennonites will use electricity and some other modern tools as well as drive autos.

Jan and I are happy to purchase some great cookies, bread , and brownies made by Leah in the Amish kitchen

Drivers in this area are prepared to slow down for the buggy traffic.  Ohio has the largest Amish population, followed by Pennsylvania and Indiana.

There are many great cheese factories in Amish country.  This visit we stop at Pearl Valley Cheese in Fresno, Ohio.  This is a fourth generation cheese factory. About 25,000 pounds of cheese are made daily from milk supplied from 100 dairy farmers in eastern Ohio.

Our purchases include their own American cheese, lacy baby Swiss, marble, and a great salami cheese.

 
At day's end, we find ourselves in the center of Ohio , close to Columbus , at Dillon State Park. 

Deer in our back yard and lots of young families.  We are happy to see that camping is still quite popular with young families--all here with tents,tent trailers, and larger tag-alongs and fifth wheels.

Columbus is home to Ohio State football.  And this is homecoming weekend!  It's always interesting to see the fan support for the local teams wherever we might be camping.  So far, we would have to give points to Tennessee Volunteer fans and LSU (Louisiana)fans.  But don't quote me on that!!