OHIO BUS TRIP – 2007
by Nettie Kauffman & Esther Stitzel

Berks County Grange spent six days traveling in the state of Ohio in June. Our trips are always relaxing, fun, and there is plenty of fellowship flowing amongst the participants.

Our travels started out on Monday, June 18 from the Ontelaunee Grange hall. We were greeted by a pleasant and enjoyable bus driver, Vance Stewart, who provided the group with a smooth and safe journey during the week on a comfortable bus from Elite Coaches in Ephrata.

We traveled 355 miles to our first destination in New Philadelphia, Ohio. After checking into our hotel, we had time to explore the area. Many of us walked to a huge antique/craft mall located a couple blocks from the hotel. We won’t mention any names, but there were quite a few who found some bargains. This was the first of many shopping sprees some of us went on! In the evening, we traveled to Dover, Ohio for a private tour and dinner at Warther’s Carvings. We enjoyed a wine tasting party prior to the tour and dinner. Our tour included the story of how Ernest Warther created carvings from ebony, ivory and walnut into trains (down to the exact replicas). His collection is one-of-a-kind and has been appraised by the Smithsonian Institution as a “priceless work of art.”

The second day of our tour found us in the Amish Country of Ohio. Carol Glessner, our tour guide, provided the group with facts regarding this Amish community. We visited Heini’s Cheese Chalet and saw how the many varieties of cheeses are made, and stopped at Kauffman’s Amish Bakery for a sampling of some of their baked goods which are made on-site. Once again, a number of the travelers went on shopping sprees! We also visited an Amish family business where candles are made and a leather shop (another shopping spree).

Our afternoon was spent touring the Rolling Ridge Ranch. This ranch featured more than 350 animals from around the world and as we toured through 80 acres of gently sloping pastureland we experienced animals from six continents. We were given “feed buckets” for our guided tour on covered wagons and were allowed to feed the exotic animals on this Amish owned farm. This adventure left many of us laughing, being poked at by the ostriches, splattered with mud (anyway, some of them thought it was mud!), and there was plenty of picture-taking for memories of this excursion.

We all settled back for some travel time (a lot of them took their afternoon naps!). We took an afternoon tour of an embroidery manufacturing plant, the 5 B’s. We saw computer-driven embroidery machines at work with more than 700 sewing heads. A tour that was fascinating to watch as embroidery details were put on T-shirts, caps, sweatshirts, jackets, etc. This company embroiders for retailers such as Wal-mart, J.C. Penney, Sears, and Gap. Once again, a retail outlet store where another shopping spree took place by some of us!

Our travels after the tour took us onto Columbus, Ohio where we enjoyed dinner of German cuisine and were entertained by a musician who played German Om Pa Pa Music. The overnight’s stay this evening gave the group time to socialize and play cards.

Wednesday morning we traveled to the Krema Nut Factory in Grandview, Ohio. Here we learned that Mr. Rogers Neighborhood filmed a segment on how peanut butter was made. We learned of the different types of Peanuts, and about Cashews, Brazil Nuts, etc. We did get to see how peanut butter is made and had some samples. This peanut butter has no preservatives. Once again, there was a gift shop and, another shopping spree!

We departed from the nut factory and went on to tour the American Whistle Factory. We saw how America’s only metal whistle factory produces these items and also how they get the little balls into its whistles. These whistles are sold to police departments, used by NFL referees as well as the United States Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines. At the end of this tour, each of us received a whistle to take home (no, they were not allowed to blow their whistles on the bus, or they would be walking!).

Traveling again in the afternoon took us to the next destination of Port Clinton, on the northern coast of Ohio along Lake Erie. Our only downfall of this stay was there were bugs, bugs, and more bugs. These bugs come out only during a certain time of the year (and it just so happened that it was during our visit in this area). The natives of that area told us that these bugs have a great life... they hatch, fly, have sex, and then die! Too bad, this all had to occur while we were there! Anyway, our stay in the Port Clinton area provided us with some adventures that were enjoyed by the group. Our dinner this evening was preceded by a wine tasting event.

Our Thursday tour included a jet boat ride across Lake Erie to Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island. While on the island, we had a tour train ride, toured Heinemann’s Winery, and some of the members saw Crystal Cave. We returned back to Port Clinton and toured through Marblehead which houses the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Great Lakes.

Friday we arrived in Vermilion, Ohio and had a guided tour of this area. There also was a boat cruise down the lagoon to view the homes that dominate this historic waterfront. We then traveled to Akron, Ohio and stayed at the Quaker Square Crowne Plaza. This hotel is made out of used silos. We did find out that the hotel was sold to the University of Akron and will be used as dormitories in the future. The evening dinner was relaxing and the entertainment provided after our meal was a good happening for the end of the day, we learned about the Six Ages of Woman! We laughed, and laughed, and then laughed some more.
Saturday morning we had a guided tour of the city of Akron and then visited the Stan Hywet Hall. This is a fabulous mansion that was built by the co-founder of Goodyear tire and Rubber Company.

It was while we were at the Stan Hywet Hall that our group was met by a fellow Granger from Berks County who moved to Ohio. Robin (Mease) Fabo, surprised many in the group and enjoyed meeting with the group from Berks County.

We concluded our trip with a final dinner in Lewisburg, PA and fond memories of the 2007 County Bus Trip.