Hit the Beach in the Winter

Beach and frozen waves

Looking east.  Lighthouse in far background.  People in photo walking on frozen
waves.  The crest of the waves faces the lake, not the beach .

Zoom view of Headlands Beach Lighthouse.

For many, hitting the beach means hot balmy temperatures, lots of sun, warm waters and lots of sand.  But they can be just as interesting in the dead of winter.

One of the more popular beaches in along Ohio's north coast is Headlands Beach near Grand River, OH.  Although I've not been to all of Lake Erie's beaches, this one seems to be one of the more pretty ones.  

A trip here on President's Day in 2015 found lots of snow, frozen waves (see middle picture) and plenty of room on a normally crowded beach.

The lighthouse, one of the focal points of the beach area is particularly interesting and pretty with the snow covered sand and water between the picture point and the target.

Three Creeks Park

The Central Ohio area is blessed with our Metro Parks system.

Last night we visited a portion of Three Creeks Parks in SE Franklin County.

The area of the park we visited was more open than most parks are. And I've always had mixed emotions about open field park land, except where things like ball diamonds or volleyball nets are located. For one reason, these areas are scorchers in the summer when the sun is blazing. Wooded areas provide relief from the sun and sometimes even the heat.

Below are some shots taken with a camera phone while at the park. Enjoy!

Rhett Butler's Birthplace and More

Not too far from home is the birthplace of the leading male character of the movie "Gone with the Wind", Rhett Butler. Out of that character, he was better known as Clark Gable.

So, on a snowy late Sunday afternoon we headed east to visit the place where Rhett Butler was really born. (Sorry the photos are a bit dark as they were taken after the sun had set. We got a late start and wasn't able to take advantage of the daylight.)

Gable was born in the small eastern Ohio town of Cadiz, Ohio in 1901. It is assumed he was given the name William Clark Gable, as many "official" records contain disputed information.

The home in the picture is a replica of the home Gable was born in, however the house is situated on the original lot. It's reported that the original home was torn down in the early 1960's.

The stone monument was one of the first steps to recognize one of the towns most famous previous residents. It was erected in 1986 on the site of Gable's birth.

The reconstructed birth house was dedicated in January, 1998. It supposedly is an exact replica of the home including many pieces of period furniture and loaded with memorabilia of Gable's career, including a Cadillac once owned by Gable.

Cadiz also was home to another person of great fame.

John Armor Bingham, while not born in Cadiz, also lived in the village. Bingham's claim to fame was severing as one of three prosecutors of the co-conspirators of Abraham Lincoln's assignation. The trial concluded with 8 convictions and made history when Mary Surratt was the first woman in the United States to be executed for a crime.

Bingham was also involved as a prosecutor in the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson and an architect of the 14th Amendment.

Cadiz, Ohio is located at the intersection of US 22 and US 250 in Eastern, Ohio

Old Mans Cave in the Winter

Just below this article, I wrote about a recent trip to Old Man's Cave in the Hocking Hills. I commented on the beauty that we experienced and the enjoyment of the trip.

A year ago last winter (January to be specific), we took a similar trip right after a spell of very cold temperatures.

The area was again beautiful, but just in a different way. It's too bad I couldn't replicate the exact places the pictures were taken to allow for comparison.

Anyhow, enjoy the views.

The Big Bucket

The Big Bucket belonged once to one of the largest earth moving machines in the world.

The Big Muskie was dedicated in 1969. She roamed the Southeastern Ohio strip mining fields for the next 21 years until the Ohio coal boom turned to bust. During her productive life, she moved more than 608 million tons of overburden. Built for American Electic Power by Bucyrus Erie at a cost of 25 million, it took three years to complete the fabrication, assembly and delivery of the machine.




After no longer being needed, efforts to find a permanent place for the machine failed to come to fruition and the machine was dismantled by AEP.

The remaining piece of The Big Muskie, her bucket, came to a final resting place, just east of McConnelsville and just to the west of Caldwell.

Standing in the bucket is Diana and our daughter in law Abby.

The bucket itself weighs 230 tons and could hold 220 cubic yards of earth.

A park was built to commerate the giant machine and the people who worked the coal fields of the region.

The big bucket is located:

Big Muskie's Bucket

Address:State Route 78, McConnelsville, OH

Directions:I-77 exit 25 (Caldwell). Head west on SR 78 -- a winding, hilly, two-lane road -- 16 miles to the Bucket in Miners Memorial Park.

Hours:Daylight hours.

The President Was Born At Gas Station?

For 18 years, I lived in Delaware County just a few miles from the county seat, Delaware, Ohio.

Delaware's most favorite son became a President of the United States. In one of our most odd elections, Rutherford B. Hayes was selected by Congress to be the President after losing the popular vote by almost 300,000 ballots.

All that memorializes President Hayes boyhood home is the marker in the photo sitting in front of a BP gasoline station on East William Street just east of the main downtown intersection in Delaware.

After growing up, Hayes spent most of his adult time at his Speigal Grove home in Fremont, Ohio not far from Lake Erie.

The monument is located in downtown Delaware, Ohio on East William Street (US Route 36) just east of Sandusky Street.

Capital City Niagra

One of the prettier scenes in Columbus is Hayden Falls.

Located where Hayden Run empties into the Scioto River, this waterfall was running at full force after the rains and storms of Mothers Day.

It's one of Central Ohio's little known secrets. During my visit there Sunday, I was the only person looking over the beauty until I was just getting ready to leave.

Although the drop is not huge, about 25 feet is what I've read in other places, it still makes for a beautiful shot of Central Ohio scenery.
The falls is also pretty during the winter when the water freezes. The normal water flow is not as ambitious as these photos represent. Although the area is much more dangerous due to other surfaces being icy from splashing or other typical freezing and thawing.

Hayden Falls is located on Hayden Run Road, just west of US Route 33 (Riverside Drive) and just west of Dublin Road in Columbus.