We went there so you wouldn’t have to
- EmptyNesterVibes
- Sep 11
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 11
You win some, you lose some, as they say.
Before dropping our son off at college two weeks ago, we thought it would be a good idea to book a weekend away right after to get our minds off the empty nest. We opened our Cozi app to check our bucket list for cool things to do within a few hours of home that we could also easily do from a Friday night to a Sunday.
So that’s how the Southern Ohio Wolf Sanctuary rose to the top. To understand why, you would have to know about Eric’s alter ego, Cutter Savage, who was born from two she-wolves, as the legend goes. This wolf sanctuary has been on Cutter’s…err, I mean Eric’s, list for a long time. This place is located in Southeastern Ohio in a small town called Chesapeake. The closest ‘big’ town is considered Ashland. So we booked a hotel --not at our usual Hampton Inn, which we have come to know and love over the years--but at a Wingate by Wyndham purely because it was $200 cheaper a night. Yeah, you read that right. Now I ask, ‘How could a Hampton Inn in small town American be more than $300 a night?’ Oh, how we missed you Hampton Inn. But we digress.
We bought wish list items to donate to the sanctuary, packed our bags, put the hotel address in our GPS and sped off. Once we got on the highway, I immediately questioned why we were going north when said sanctuary was southeast. That’s the precise moment when we realized that the Ashland near Chesapeake was Ashland, KENTUCKY! Meanwhile, the Wingate we booked was in Ashland, OHIO. Needless to say, this trip was already not off to a good start and we were only 2 exits up the highway from home. So North we went.
The wish list supplies would have to wait, and so would Cutter Savage. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement, but in the name of fun and flexibility, we forged on to North Central Ohio where things went even further south, pardon the pun.
Our Ashland Ohio observations
· The town closes down at 9. Seriously, we went to listen to a band after dinner and they was already packing up at 9. We grabbed a beer anyway and that’s when we were told the restaurant closed at 10. At 10, they took the outdoor bench cushions right out from under our hineys. Don’t let the door kick you on the way out!
· There are no Ubers or Lyfts. I wonder what the DUI rate is in a place like that. Another reason why the nights ended early. Gotta be safe.
· There are only a handful of, ok, maybe 10, restaurants--including a Bob Evans, B-Dubs and Chipotle.
Shout-outs
All that aside, Ashland wasn’t a complete bust. We want to give a shout-out to several places that made the trip memorable.
· Uniontown Brewery: The industrial vibes of this building converted from an old furniture store really lent itself to a nice brewery and restaurant ambiance. And their slider menu was delicious for a Friday night meal after a long drive. The meatball, the crispy chicken and the Italian were crowd pleasers. And their house-made berry margarita was a hit, too, as were their beers. The Hemingway Hefeweizen was the clear winner.
· South Street Grille: While this place took the cushions out from under us, the venue is really fantastic. They have a patio that rocks. It’s airy, spacious, comfortable…and there is a huge stage at the top of the hill for bands to riff out. Not only did we stop in for a beer on Friday night, we ate lunch there on Saturday. We had salads that were just right for a peaceful, warm Saturday afternoon out.
· Center Street: Right in the center of Ashland, there lies a historic street lined with mansions built at the turn of the 20th century in almost every architectural style you could imagine. From Colonial Revival to Victorian, Usonian wannabes to Spanish Revival, this street had it going on. We parked the car, walked the street and tried to read as much as we could from the historical society website about each home as we passed by. New flash though, the historical site needs an intern who can fix their site as the myriad of images no longer appear and they empty spaces cover a lot of the text. Bummer we couldn’t read all the details about each home as a result.
· Grandpa’s Cheesebarn. It’s a destination, and we never pass cheese up. It’s one of our mottos--don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like cheese. But, almost $100 later, we did walk out with salted ricotta, smoked bacon cheddar and a kind of cheese you sauté then eat with tomato sauce as an appetizer. We also snuck in some Fiesta Tortilla Soup and a bacon cheddar dip. The place still operates on old time cash registers. A must-do.
· The Lincoln Highway brochure. This will be the only shout-out I am giving the Wingate hotel. Sorry, not sorry. I found a brochure about the Lincoln Highway in a tucked away room at this hotel. Curiosity is a good thing. Turns out, this was our ticket out of Ashland and onto our Sunday adventure.
Sunday was for The Lincoln Highway
To say this tour saved the weekend would be putting it mildly. The brochure indicated there used to be a highway that stretched from New York to California that went smack dab through the heart of Ohio in the early 1900s--The Lincoln Highway. Named after the late president, word had it that you could see remnants of the midwestern parts of this highway around Ashland. So we set out to find these markers. We could not believe what we found. Follow the tour here:
· Wooster: Sandwiched in between a small neighborhood and a trailer home on Sylvan Drive near Wooster, there was a 100-ft section of brick pavers that seemingly stopped in front of a large forest. Our minds were blown. How many thousands of Model T’s traveled this road before us?
· Massillon: In front of the Massillon Museum you can find a Lincoln Highway marker. This was the pre-cursor to the green metal ones we see every mile on American highways today.
· Canton: This stretch of brick pavers was hard to find so we’re giving you the correct deets here. The pavers start at the intersection of Baywood Street and Robertsville Avenue and it’s in Robertson, OH. Don’t be fooled by any other such directions. Anyway, we drove along the 2-3 mile stretch passing by several farms and country homes. We imagined driving along these bumpy bricks with 1920 Ford suspension. Our hineys hurt just thinking about it. If that wasn’t cool enough, as we were about to turn onto the real highway to hit our next destination, we haphazardly came across another patch that had been covered by asphalt at one point.
· Hanoverton (Spread Eagle Tavern): While this wasn’t directly on the Lincoln Highway we found out when we arrived, it did have massive historic significance. This very tavern was part of “Brick Way,” a small series of brick buildings housing hidden underground tunnels that shuttled hundreds of slaves to freedom--a stop on the Underground Railroad. This tavern now operates as a full-service restaurant and bed and breakfast. The ambiance was classy and the food was highfalutin. We highly recommend this stop. Interested in more trips to uncover the history of the Underground Railroad? Read this blog.
What we learned
· If you are going to visit a town on a state border, double check the state your hotel is in.
· Check multiple restaurant websites or call to find out when they close. This will give you a good idea of the “sleepiness rating” of the city.
· Open the Uber app and check a few hypothetical routes where you are going to be to see how quickly you can find a driver. If one doesn’t come for more than 30 minutes or it can’t find a driver, that is a huge indicator this could be an Uber dead zone. Of course, if this isn’t your bag of tea, cool.
To round it out, this trip wasn’t a complete bust, but you bet your bippy that I redeemed myself on the way home to Cincinnati by booking a tour at the Red Wolf Sanctuary in Rising Sun, IN…and guess what? We are NOT staying overnight.
In case you missed our other trip blogs, here are some places we consider ‘wins’:
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