Matthew Caracciolo's Blog, page 2

Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve

It can be difficult to time the perfect fall hike in Ohio. The trees can be noncommittal about changing their leaves. The presumably perfect weekend for peak colors can come with rain and wind. So when a free weekend presents itself in October and the sun is out, you just kind of roll the dice and hope for the best with a hike.

That’s just what we did on a free Saturday. The trees around I-270 in Columbus were beginning to look striking with their reds and oranges so we packed our bags and eagerly drove the hour or so to Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve, only to be puzzled when we arrived by the park’s verdant greenery. We enjoyed exploring the park’s tunnels and canal ruins, but our fall hike was not as perfectly timed as last year’s hike in Hocking Hills.

Blackhand Gorge

Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve is located 12 miles east of Newark, OH, right around where the great plains stop and the Appalachian foothills start. While there are several miles of hiking trails through the woods, the main attraction is the wide, paved bike path that runs through the gorge. This 4-mile stretch of the Licking River winds through sandstone cliffs and thick woods, but the bike path makes this an easy hiking alternative for those unable to handle rough terrain. The name ‘Blackhand’ originates from a black, hand-shaped petroglyph that appeared on a cliffside in the gorge, possibly pointing to a nearby mound or flint quarry. In good pioneer sense, it was obliterated in 1828 to make way for the Ohio and Erie Canal without any regard to the area’s existing culture and we have lost the petroglyph forever.

The canal wouldn’t be the only thing to cross through the gorge, though, and the park features an unusual amount of disused infrastructure. In 1850, workers began laying track in Blackhand Gorge for the Central Ohio Railroad. They blasted through 700 feet of sandstone to create the ‘Deep Cut’ which the railroad would run through. Trains came through the gorge all the way until the 50’s when a new dam forced the railroad to reroute elsewhere.

[image error]The “Deep Cut”

 

Later, in the early 20th century, an electric interurban train running between Granville and Newark was extended to Zanesville through Blackhand Gorge. After struggles blasting a tunnel through solid rock, the train began running through the gorge in 1903. Due to cars becoming a thing, the train’s popularity was short-lived. The final interurban train came through the gorge in 1929. However, the tunnel remains and is waiting to be an Instagram star.

[image error]The Electric Interurban tunnel
The Ohio and Erie Canal

You probably don’t equate Ohio with ruins, but there’s no other way to describe the old locks of the Ohio and Erie Canal that linger around the region. Drivers on Route 16 headed to Coshocton will see several locks sitting alongside the road, covered in moss and weeds. One of the canal’s locks sits in the park, allowing for an up close and personal view. It’s no Machu Picchu, but the spirit is the same: explorers hiking through the woods are rewarded with a piece of history left to nature. The canal bed can be pretty weedy, but late enough in the season should allow for some easier exploration without fear of poison ivy. Full disclosure: the picture below is from our previous trip to Blackhand Gorge, when we missed the colors almost entirely on a mid-November run.

[image error]Ruins of the Ohio and Erie Canal
Some tips at Blackhand Gorge

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Sorry for the crappy picture of the park map, but it’s helpful to know where all these things are:

The main parking lot is along Toboso Road on the far right. There’s a bathroom, but it’s not very nice. This is the main place to access the bike path.
The “Deep Cut” is along the bike path, designated by ‘F’
The interurban tunnel and canal lock are both on the half mile trail north of the river. You can walk to the trail head from the main parking lot by crossing the bridge, or you can park next to the river on either side. It’s not a long distance either way. This hiking trail is not paved like the bike path, but is pretty flat.

One nice thing about Blackhand Gorge is that it seems to be off the beaten path, even for Ohioans. When we went two Saturdays ago, the sun was out, the temperature was hovering around 60, and there wasn’t an Ohio State game that afternoon. These are all ingredients for a packed park, yet there were no crowds.

As it turns out, we squeezed another hike in the following weekend. The morning’s clouds gave way to blue skies and perfect fall weather. We were treated to some vivid yellows at a favorite of ours: Highbanks Metro Park.

[image error]Autumn leaves at Highbanks Metro Park

Where do you go for autumn leaves?

An Afternoon in Ohio City, Cleveland

It’s been a hectic summer around here, with wet basements and car problems and doting grandparents visiting their grandson. When a free weekend presented itself we decided to get out of town and head to Cleveland.

But you’ve heard stories. Cleveland is, like, not a great place right? It’s the ‘mistake on the lake’ or some such. And the Browns gonna Browns. Well, I am here to report to you that Cleveland is indeed an excellent place to visit. The city has the museums, architecture, and other cultural amenities befitting what at one time was the fifth largest city in the United States. Also, they filmed several of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe here, so there’s that. We spent an entire afternoon just exploring the historic neighborhood known as Ohio City.

At one point its own town, Ohio City was annexed by Cleveland in the 19th century and has seen its share of rises and falls to match the region. Today, W. 25th Street bustles with an array of enticing restaurants, much of the best beer in the state (and there’s a lot of good beer around here) flows from name brand breweries, and the West Side Market seems to have hardly skipped a beat over the years as people flock to buy meat and produce.

[image error]West Side Market

Yes, the Cleveland West Side Market seems a good place to start. Cleveland’s oldest public market has a history dating back to 1840, though the current building opened in 1912. The stalls maintain the European flavor of the families that began the market–the Polish, the Hungarians, the Germans, and so forth. Indeed, some stalls have been passed down through families since the opening of the building itself. The old world charm seeps through the atmosphere by way of vendors haggling with shoppers, by the endless meats and cheeses behind glass, and by the somewhat Byzantine ceiling watching from above. Unlike my beloved North Market in Columbus, the West Side Market is not so much a food hall as it is an actual market where the neighborhood comes to buy actual produce. You can certainly make a meal out of what you find, but you’re more likely going to cobble something together from several stalls rather than buy one meal at one place. This is just fine with me. We enjoyed meandering past the vendors to see what was on offer and ended up patronizing five or six different places. We bought a smorgasbord: a roast beef pasty, a spinach and feta hand pie, German potato salad, lemon and cilantro hummus, pita bread, a pumpkin kibbeh, blueberries, raspberries, and an array of nutty desserts. We bought so much, in fact, that we had plenty to last us for dinner as well. And we really didn’t spend that much money, considering everything we bought. If you’re a nibbler, or noncommittal about lunch choices, the West Side Market is built for you. Outside between the main building and the arcade (where much of the fruit and vegetables are sold), we bullied an older couple into sharing their bench and devoured our culinary trip around the world.

[image error]A smorgasbord from the West Side Market

One knock on the market: hardly anyone sells beverages. They’re around, but we kind of sat down without a drink and by the end of our lunch we were ready for something to wash it all down. Lucky for us, Great Lakes Brewing Company is right across the street. A full-service restaurant in its own right, the brewery is one of the most popular in Ohio. A Dortmunder Gold never led anyone astray and can be found in many a bar through the state. We sipped our choices al fresco while a live band played music down the street.

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Down the street, a former coworker of mine runs Tabletop Board Game Cafe. When we lived in South Korea teaching English, my wife and I fell in love with a board game cafe in our city of Daegu and wished that more would open in the United States. It was our pleasure to discover that the trend was gaining popularity in the States as well. Tabletop opened around that time. Walking in, we were delighted that some of our favorites were on the shelves along with hundreds we’d never even heard of. The staff is available to help you learn a new game, but we went with a few that we love but haven’t played in a long time. Also, even though we’d already had plenty to eat and drink, we couldn’t say no to some smoothies.

[image error]Tabletop Board Game Cafe

The Boy finished his milk and cookies and became grumpy watching his parents have fun without him, so we called it a day in Ohio City and headed back to our hotel closer to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Like Columbus’ Short North or Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine, Ohio City is probably considered the ‘premiere’ neighborhood of the city if you ask tour guides. Unlike those two neighborhoods, however, I never got the sense that Ohio City was putting up a front, that maybe I wasn’t cool enough to walk around its sidewalks because of all the trendy, fashionable shops full of trendy, fashionable people. Instead, everything fell into a working class, come-as-you-are vibe. I really dug it.

There is plenty else to recommend Cleveland besides Ohio City. There’s a world class (and free) art museum. Downtown has some great architecture. They’ll have to wait for another weekend trip and another post.

Bonus picture of The Boy at Edgewater Park’s Cleveland sign, a few miles from Ohio City.

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The 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing: The Armstrong Air and Space Museum and the Plea for (real) Patriotism

I’m going to get up on my soapbox for a second. It’s a small one, I’m not sure I like it, and I’ll probably return it for a full refund, but I’m on it now so listen up.

Saturday July 20, 2019 was the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. The Apollo 11 mission sending Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the surface of the moon (with lonely Michael Collins orbiting above) was what historians call a ‘Big Deal’ for mankind, and is by all accounts a proud day for the world. It’s an especially proud day for the United States, as Americans can rightly beat their chests and say their country was the first to send people to the moon. USA! USA!

However, in the week leading up to the Apollo moon landing anniversary, I wasn’t feeling especially proud of my country. I was deeply disheartened by the xenophobic tweets President Trump sent about ‘The Squad’–four congresswomen of color–telling them to go back to the countries they came from. For those keeping score, three of the four in ‘The Squad’ were born in the United States and all are citizens. I was even more saddened to hear about the ‘send her back’ chants a few days later at a Trump rally referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar, which I’m pretty sure is the most overtly racist and xenophobic thing to have happened in the United States in my lifetime. And I was even MORE saddened to hear that after our President did nothing to rebuke this sort of behavior, his popularity increased in the polls. It doesn’t even matter if Trump knew what he was saying was racist or not. “This is a good direction for the country,” said a disturbingly large percentage of the population. Or at least they said ‘I am complicit in this.” I don’t care if you disagree with The Squad’s politics, or if you think they hate America (they probably don’t. Just saying). Telling American citizens to ‘go back where you came from’ isn’t patriotic. This is un-American, and you’re allowed to call it out even if it’s coming from your team.

One of the things I talk about in The Waygook Book: A Foreigner’s Guide to South Korea is the difficulty of coming back to your home country and finding out everyone has become divisive and vindictive, that no one agrees on anything. No one agreed on anything when we left the U.S., but now everyone you disagree with is not only wrong, but bad. I thought I could leave the country for a couple years, that you all had it together. Clearly, you needed me because this is not the United States I was taught about, that my parents raised me in, that I believe in now. This is something different. This is something scary. And I’m not for it. These events put me at the nadir of my patriotism.

I desperately needed a salve for my patriotic woes. I needed to be reminded of a time when Americans came together with the world and celebrated something extraordinary. So with that in mind, I took my family to Wapakoneta, OH, birthplace of Neil Armstrong and home of the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. The town pulled out all the stops to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and I wanted to be a part of it, part of a reminder of something bigger than identity politics.

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum

It was going to be a sweltering day, but by the time we arrived at 10:00am runners were just finishing their Run to the Moon race near the museum entrance. Vendors had set up their food trucks, science displays, and inflatable spaceship bounce houses for the day. Already there was a line about 20 people long out the front door of the museum, the inside already crowded. It was nice to see that I wasn’t the only one who felt the magnitude of the occasion warranted a visit to Neil’s hometown. 

[image error]Armstrong Air and Space Museum entrance

There were so many people, in fact, that for about the first half of the museum we stood in a line that snaked through the exhibits. The first thing you see as you walk in is a commemorative wall of all the astronauts from Ohio, which is an impressive list including Armstrong, John Glenn, and Jim Lovell. While the museum focuses on Neil Armstrong’s career, it also tells a narrative of where the American space program was at the time, the significance of the Apollo moon landing, and where the space program has gone since. Highlights include some of Neil Armstrong’s space suits, a moon rock, and the actual Gemini VIII spacecraft that Armstrong piloted prior to this Apollo mission. 

[image error]Neil Armstrong’s suit from the Gemini program

Back outside, the line–and the heat–had increased significantly, though there was no sign of delaying anything because of the temperature. A strong breeze made the day manageable and we browsed the science exhibits for kids, the merch capitalizing on the day, and the rides. Volunteers handed out watermelon wedges so I nabbed a few and we grabbed some shade under a pine tree. From this vantage point, I breathed in the proud and hopeful atmosphere of the day (and the humidity). Visitors poured in with their NASA shirts. Kids ran around clutching their stuffed Saturn V rockets like teddy bears. It was a pilgrimage site, full of people who had traveled to celebrate the wonders of the universe, the dedication and persistence of scientists and brave astronauts, and the humble roots of the first human to step foot on the moon. It was a comforting reminder that we in the 21st century still allow ourselves to be awed by significant events bigger than ourselves despite the 24-hour news cycle.

At no point was this atmosphere more on display than at the stage set up outside, which showed a live feed of a Soyuz launch in Kazakhstan on its screens. Aboard was a multinational crew headed to the International Space Station. Though the launch date was reportedly coincidental, the relevance of the launch was not lost on anyone: marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing that was a direct result of a heated space race was an international crew–an American, a Russian, and an Italian–heading to the International Space Station in the name of cooperative science. Indeed, space travel is more often a cooperative affair than not these days.

[image error]Live feed of a Soyuz launch

Interpreting the live feed was astronaut Sunita Williams, another Ohioan, who provided information about the goings-on inside the spacecraft and other launch details. Some minutes after the initial launch, she began to take questions from the audience. A man raised his hand and accepted the microphone with his smartphone pointed at the stage. He was from India, he explained, and his son was watching live via his phone. Together, they enjoyed watching Williams’ YouTube videos. “The moon landing is important not just to the United States, but to all of us,” he continued. “What words of encouragement can you offer the young people of the world who want to be scientists?”

[image error]Astronaut Sunita Williams (left) answers questions from the audience

Sunita replied with something along the lines of “there’s a lot resting on you” to the kids, that future moon or Mars missions will likely be manned by today’s youth. Honestly, her answer was less important to me than the moment itself. Here was a man from the other side of the world in Wapakoneta, OH to celebrate a day that belonged to the world, and he wanted to share that moment with a live astronaut with his son. And on the screen was a rocket hurtling toward the International Space Station. I got a little emotional. 

Throughout the day, I thought of the unifying nature of the event. I thought about how proud I was to be an Ohioan, to be an American, how awesome it is I get to live in this country where people from Wapakoneta can be the first person to walk on the moon. I got nostalgic. We all like nostalgia these days. Surely Apollo 11 is a symbol of a simpler, more unified time in our country, right? 

Right?

A quick recap of 1969

The Stonewall riots launch the wider civil rights movement for LGBT folks
Protests, some peaceful, some not, continue to speak out against the Vietnam War across the country
The first draft lottery since WWII summons Americans to fight in Vietnam
The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland is literally on fire
The Manson Family is murdering people in California
Hurricane Camille kills 248 in Mississippi

That all came after 1968, which in one year saw the Tet Offensive, the assassinations of both Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F. Kennedy, civil rights riots, violent protests at the Democratic National Convention, and ongoing student protests against the Vietnam War. 1970 doesn’t look much better with the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and subsequent student protests that lead to the National Guard shooting students at Kent State University.

1969 hardly looks any better than 2019. So what are we to do? Wait for another Apollo 11-like event to bring us together, albeit momentarily? What could be our Apollo 11? I really don’t know.

In the meantime, I have a couple humble suggestions:

Stop it with the political memes. Stahhhp! You’ve got one in the hopper, I know you do. Take your finger off the mouse and move on. Don’t share it.
If your TV is currently tuned to a cable news network, kindly change the channel. 
Go outside. Say hi to the neighbors. See how they’re doing. Find common ground with them. Football, the Avengers, whatever. There are so many TV shows, so much culture to consume, that there are precious few unifying cultural entities these days. Nothing is perfect, but consider setting aside your reservations about one or more of these major common denominators and joining the conversation.
If the neighbors say something you disagree with politically, assume they are a good person who has a different life experience from you. Brainstorm how they arrived at their opinion and why it’s different from yours.
Tuck that information aside and tell your neighbors to have a great day.
Consider that your political party does not own a monopoly on patriotism, that there is more than one way to love America.
Make sure your patriotism is inclusive of all Americans.
Now watch a funny movie. I recommend Dumb and Dumber.

You’re not going to listen to me. You’re going to share a meme on Facebook in five minutes that confirms what you already believe. You’re going to flip back to Fox News or CNN. You’re going to assume the worst of the opposite political party. It’s easy. It feels good. But it’s harmful to the United States of America. Patriotism shouldn’t be harmful. Patriotism should improve your community. Patriotism is community.

Back to Wapakoneta

The Armstrong Air and Space Museum is small and priced accordingly at $10. If you’re driving on I-75 in need of a pit stop, the museum is right off the highway and makes for a fascinating stretch break on a long road trip. There are plenty of fast food joints around as well (we had lunch at that all-American greasy spoon, Waffle House). There are a couple other good points of interest while you’re in town.

Neil Armstrong’s house

You can’t go inside, but it’s a good-looking house right on the corner proudly bearing an Ohio and American flag. Middle America at its most picturesque. 

[image error]Neil Armstrong’s House
The Temple of Tolerance

Resident Jim Bowsher built a labyrinthine rock garden in his backyard for…reasons. Because why not? We pulled up to the house, which from the front looks like exactly the kind of house you run past, covered in vines and memorabilia as it is. The city website says to call to confirm, but Jim’s phone went straight to voicemail with a message that we were welcome to walk to the back, that Jim was off making the world a better place. We walked through the overgrown driveway and opened the creaky gate to a weird wonderland of universalist spirituality. Stacks of rocks here, bust of Abraham Lincoln there. I recommend going with a partner: despite its tranquil name, the Temple of Tolerance gives off something of a serial killer vibe with its hodge podge decorations and shaded twists and turns. Or it could’ve been the heavy metal music coming from the neighbors. Keep heading toward the back, though, and you reach the actual temple itself, a much more open and impressive sculpture that smacks of ruins in the jungle. I’m not sure what it all means, but it means something and you should definitely see it. There’s a donation box on the front stoop of the house, but you’re not obliged to pay anything.

[image error]Temple of Tolerance
Final Remarks

It’s the spirit of this blog that one of the best methods of fighting against racist, xenophobic thoughts is travel. The more people you meet out there, the more you realize they’re a lot like people around here and that no one has all the answers. I’ll leave you with a quote from Mark Twain:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Now where’s the receipt for that soapbox?

Things To Do in Bethany Beach, Delaware

For the 4th of July, I spent a week relaxing on the beach in Delaware, which is a sentence I never thought I’d say. I was only marginally aware Delaware had beaches. I was only marginally aware of Delaware.

Delaware, in fact, has several beaches and they fit wonderfully into the greater Delmarva peninsula tourism ecosystem. Our beach of choice, by virtue of my mom’s coworker who graciously hosted our whole family at her beach house, was Bethany Beach, Delaware. There are bigger, louder, wider beaches in the world than Bethany Beach, but that’s precisely the point. It’s a calmer, slower kind of place for a calmer, slower kind of vacation. You’re not going to find MTV spring breakers. There’s one resort of mentionable size. Everyone else stays at small hotels and beach houses or drives in for a day trip from the Washington, D.C area. If you’re looking for a place to relax, this is the place.

[image error]A young groundskeeper tends to his castle as the tide comes in.

First things first, the beach. This is not quite a soft, powdery, squeak-when-you-step kind of sand. It’s the run-of-the-mill, slightly rocky stuff typical of the American Atlantic coast. There’s plenty of space to claim a spot, bask in the sun, and listen to the surf coming in, but the water rams into a steep drop-off and pulls back with a strong undertow. The waves that week were good for boogie-boarding but not for relaxing in the water, though it calms significantly about 20 feet out (already too deep to touch the bottom). For my money, this beach is more useful for its quieter atmosphere and laze-about opportunities than spending hours in the water. Still, it is a beach and it’s always satisfying to listen to the waves, catch glimpses of dolphins in the distance, and take in the sea breeze. A small boardwalk marks the border between the beach and shops selling t-shirts, sandals, and various icy desserts. I appreciated this shop’s signpost recognizing my hometown of Columbus.

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Downtown Bethany Beach stretches for about a block and a half down Garfield Parkway and dead-ends into the ocean. It’s a good place to stroll and convince yourself that you’re on vacation and calories don’t exist. The house we stayed at was only a block from the main strip, so we convinced ourselves of this often. Over the course of the week we plundered the low-rise, pastel-colored buildings for a tub of Fisher’s Popcorn, ice cream sandwiches, fried clam strips, slushies, and coffee. The strip is also a good place to find what you need for the beach. Bethany Beach Books has a good selection of beach reads. We didn’t bring beach towels so I bought some cheap ones at a five and dime.

[image error]Fried clam strips. Fried seafood is my jam.

If you’re like me, there’s only so much time you can spend at the beach. By the end of the second day, I was itching to go and do something. And there are things to do in Bethany Beach, or at least nearby. About 30 minutes south is Ocean City, Maryland which features more of the trappings you expect to see in major resort towns: amusement rides, big hotels, a candy store on every block. We drove through that mess to visit the wild horses of Assateague Island National Seashore.

No one is exactly sure where the Assateague Island horses came from. A romantic myth is that they are the descendants of horses that survived a shipwreck and settled on the island. There is no record of this ever happening, so the most likely story is that farmers in the 17th century hauled their domesticated horses to the barrier island to avoid taxes on livestock and maybe forgot one or two at a time. These horses then battled the elements of a sun drenched, semi-marine habitat to revert back to their instincts and build a herd. At any rate, there are about 150 of them on the island and they are the stars of the National Seashore. Not to be confused with nice ponies with kids on their back at the fair, these are surly, abrasive beasts that visitors are warned numerous times to give a wide berth. Pretty, though.

I suggest stopping in at the Assateague Island Visitor Center to fill up your water bottles and ask the rangers for advice on where to find the horses. You can go to the state park for free, or pay for a day pass to the National Seashore. The state park is quite small, and you’ve already driven that far, so you might as well pay for the day pass.

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The horses kept their distance the day we visited. This is the closest we came to any, though throughout the week I heard stories of horses coming up to cars. It was quite hot, so I’m sure the horses stayed in the water for a reason.

It was extremely hot and muggy, in fact, so we kept our time outside to a minimum. There are three small loop trails in the park: Life of the Forest, Life of the Marsh, and Life of the Dunes. We did some or all of all three, though I think I took twenty steps into Life of the Dunes and decided there wasn’t nearly enough shade to warrant a sandy hike into nothing. The Life of the Marsh was the most fascinating as a boardwalk hoists you over a saltwater marsh and allows you to spot crabs, fish, and other critters. The scenery ain’t bad either, with a coastal forest greeting the marsh and the ocean in the background. If I return to the park, I intend to take advantage of the kayak rentals. Camping is also an option.

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Assateague Island is south of Bethany Beach. North is the much larger Rehoboth Beach, home of the Dogfish Head Brewery restaurant (the actual brewery is located in nearby Milton). Dogfish Head is a rapidly growing craft brewery that ships across the country, so we thought it a worthy stop while we were in the area. My wife, my sister, my sister-in-law, and myself made the drive up, only 20 minutes or so from Bethany Beach, and scribbled our choices for our flights of beer. The brewery is well-known for its IPA’s and somewhat unusual ingredients. I’m more of a straight shooter when it comes to beer, so when my flight arrived, my beers were nearly all the same color. I didn’t intend such a monochromatic selection, but that’s what I ended up with. We sipped our beers (I didn’t love any of mine, to be honest, but my sister-in-law had some exciting stouts on her flight) and made light of the lethargic youth bringing folks their food. We pulled over our waiter, a much more lively dude, and let him in on the joke. If you’re reading this, lethargic youth, a smile never hurt anyone in the hospitality business. The rest of the family missed us, so we finished our beers and headed back to the house.

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In short, we filled our time on the Delmarva peninsula with beach, belligerent horses, and beer, and Bethany Beach makes a relaxing, central location to enjoy all the area has to offer.

Have you been to Bethany Beach? What did I miss?

Bonus patriotic picture of The Boy at his first Independence Day parade.

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Monroe, MI and River Raisin National Battlefield Park

It’s finally that most quintessential of American summer holidays: Independence Day week. If you’re road-tripping through Michigan on I-75 and in need of a better excuse than fast food to get out of the car, consider Monroe, Michigan and River Raisin National Battlefield Park.

There are only four National Battlefield Parks in the United States and only one of them–River Raisin–relates to the War of 1812. It’s a largely forgotten battle in a largely forgotten war that is only remembered, if at all, for when the British burned down Washington D.C. and when Andrew Jackson gave them the what for in New Orleans after the war had officially (but not practically) ended. Three minutes off I-75 will put you at the small visitor center where you can learn a thing or two about this surprisingly important occasion.

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The basic gist of the battle is thus: It’s January 1813 and the Americans take a settlement then known as Frenchtown only to be pulverized days later by a rejuvenated British and American Indian force. Of the roughly 1,000 American soldiers in the engagement, only 33 escape death or capture. Still, the battle isn’t important so much for the military narrative so much as it is for the aftermath. The day after the battle, the town was the scene of a particularly gruesome massacre where a force of Indians returned and killed dozens of wounded, defenseless American soldiers. News spread throughout the country of the events at Frenchtown. “Remember the Raisin!” was the “Remember the Alamo!” of the War of 1812, rallying the country to fight the good fight against the British. It also made Americans particularly vindictive against Native Americans and convinced most that they should be removed. As with most early American wars, the real losers were the Indians. The war would be the beginning of the end for many tribes in the Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana area as their lands would subsequently be absorbed and their people shoved West.

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I won’t lie to you. There’s not a lot to ‘see’ at River Raisin National Battlefield Park. There aren’t remnants of ramparts, stately memorials, or anything like that. There’s the visitor center, a re-creation of a cannon, and some paths that meander into the meadows and woods beyond where you can take 10 seconds to think “so this is where all that happened.” There’s a nice picnic area, and if you plan your stop just right, there may be reenactments and demonstrations. I coincidentally stopped by on one of the scheduled ‘Black Powder Days’ where re-enactors fire the cannon, shoot muskets, and do other cool things. You probably don’t need to spend more than 30 minutes here, but it’s an educational, interesting place to stretch your legs and go ‘huh.’ Maybe you’ll go ‘huh’ at McDonald’s, but not for any good reasons.

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I bring this place up not just for what it is but for what it will be. The park has been awarded millions in grant money to start a $100 million River Raisin Heritage Corridor which will feature a new visitor center, a restoration of the historic Frenchtown settlement, a waterfront development, and a greenway along the river. Construction is slated to begin on the visitor center this summer and when completed, the corridor is expected to make an economic impact of $30 million a year. That’s some big numbers for a small city.

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Speaking of the city, strolling through downtown Monroe isn’t a bad way to stretch your legs either. Its old brick buildings and enticing shops and restaurants are only a couple minutes from the Battlefield. Book Nook is a browse-worthy bookstore. Grab some Mexican food and a beer across the street at Amaya’s. You can peek at River Raisin and think for a second that this may have been the international boundary between the United States and Canada had British and Canadian officials had their way back in the day. And then be on your way on I-75.

Have you been to Monroe, Michigan? What did you think?

Walking and Dessert in Historic Charleston, SC

Historic Charleston, South Carolina is one of my favorite places in the United States. For someone who lives in a city that is barely 200 years old (and doesn’t look a day past 50), I am amazed by Charleston’s historic preservation and charm every time I return. After all, there are about 350 years of Charleston history to pull from. The city has the benefit of having not been destroyed by any world wars or catastrophic natural disasters, though not without trying. Through the colonial period, American Revolution, Antebellum era, Civil War, Reconstruction, and the modern age, Charleston has collected and maintained an assortment of preserved buildings not easily matched in North America.

With family in the Charleston area, I tend to only make it down there in the sweltering summer or during the slightly-too-chilly holidays. April, as it turns out, is the best time to go. We took an afternoon to wander, with no agenda or pressing engagements. Really, this is the best way to do it, like you would in Venice or Hanoi. Let your feet take you where they will. The weather for our afternoon stroll was in the 70’s with a warm sun and a consistent, refreshing breeze. It makes a big difference, believe me. August in South Carolina doesn’t mess around.

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The immediate area around the Charleston City Market is quite busy but we managed to find a free parking spot on the street a couple blocks away. The market is a good starting point to your walk, or ending point if you don’t want to haul your inevitable purchases for the rest of the day. At any rate, it’s the center of gravity in old Charleston and a must-stop for shoppers looking for clothes, paintings, jewelry, or any number of other things that you don’t really need but are compelled to buy just the same. Much of what is on sale is locally made. Although the history of Charleston’s central market dates back to the 1690’s, the current market was constructed starting in the 1790’s after the family of Revolutionary War general Charles Cotesworth Pinckney donated a strip of reclaimed marsh. They weren’t doing anything else with it, I guess.

[image error]Our first dessert stop of the day was a block away from the market at Carmella’s at the corner of Cumberland and Bay. The hardest choice I had to make all day was also at Carmella’s. Cylindrical cakes? Plate-sized cookies? Cannoli? Gelato? It all looked fabulous. We went with the gelato. Limoncello, to be precise. While the desserts at Carmella’s run on the expensive side, they don’t skimp on the portion sizes of anything. $6 of gelato was certainly enough for my wife and I to share. I also opted for an iced coffee. The open-faced front of the cafe let in the prevailing afternoon breeze as we enjoyed our dessert. It was a divine 30 minutes.

Charleston, for those without a frame of reference, is a coastal city smack dab in the middle of where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean. Therefore, it is a city surrounded by water. Southeast of the market and Carmella’s is Waterfront Park, an excellent place to soak in the sun, the sea, and the seagulls. So many seagulls. And pelicans, which are fun to watch dive for fish. I usually see the dorsal fins of dolphins not too far out in the water, but I was not so lucky this time around.

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The park has a famous ‘pineapple fountain’ that kids, or not kids, can dip their toes in or crawl under. Highly recommended on a hot day, though it will likely be crowded.

[image error]The central shopping and dining districts of Charleston are surrounded by historic houses from the colonial period on through the Antebellum South, the owners of which must stick to a strict code of preservation after they pay millions to live there. If I had several million dollars laying around, I would highly consider it. Many of the houses have layer upon layer of history surrounding their premises. On one street you can pass the house of a Declaration of Independence signer as well as the house of a Confederate general responsible for the capture of Fort Sumter, which for those who remember middle school history is where the American Civil War began. Walking through the old neighborhoods is a reminder of the often controversial role Charleston has played throughout American history. Plantations dotted the surrounding countryside. Thousands of slaves were sold. There’s still a Calhoun Street, named after famous statesman John C. Calhoun who notably called slavery ‘a positive good.’ Not a good look. But the city moves on, and it’s important to remember that these historic occurrences didn’t happen in a void, that the Charleston from 100 years ago felt the ramifications of Charleston 100 years prior, just as the Charleston of today does. The homes, businesses, and estates of these historic figures, heroes and villains both, are still here for us to not only enjoy aesthetically but learn from.

[image error][image error]A stunning and less controversial landmark within these quiet residential streets is Rainbow Row, the longest stretch of Georgian row houses in the United States. It’s easily one of the most photographed spots in Charleston and worth a few minutes to find the perfect angle. Here’s my attempt:

[image error]By this point, we’d been walking for several hours and were ready to head back toward the car. After passing Hyman’s seafood restaurant for a second time (and grabbing a sample hush puppy also for the second time) we landed in Peace Pie, a hole-in-the-wall shop selling ice cream cookie sandwiches. We split an Elvis ice cream sandwich with chocolate ice cream, banana, and peanut butter. A-plus, Elvis.

[image error]That was enough dessert for the day for us, but originally we had planned on stopping in Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which if you remember from the Columbus Food Adventures post, is my city of Columbus’ best export. It was kind of a long walk, and Peace Pie was closer, so gourmet ice cream sandwiches won out. Next time, Jeni.

Have a favorite dessert place or historical landmark in Charleston that I missed? I’m sure you do. There is so much to mention. Tell me where I should go next time!

Columbus Food Adventures: The Short North

A few weeks ago I published a post about the trendy Short North neighborhood in Columbus. I listed off a number of places I would have patronized had I come to spend money. This past weekend, I brought money.

Specifically, I paid money to Columbus Food Adventures to take my wife and I to some of the best Short North restaurants. Our birthdays, two weeks apart, were a good excuse to splurge and be tourists in our own city for an afternoon.

Columbus Food Adventures currently offers 11 different tours centered either around a neighborhood or culinary theme (such as a taco truck tour that sounds awesome). I chose the Short North because I wanted to do a walking tour, and the Short North is one of the best places in Columbus to walk.

North Market

[image error]We met our guide at North Market, my favorite place in Columbus. With a history going back to 1876, North Market is the place to find anything from Belgian waffles to Himalayan dumplings. It’s at once an incubator for new restaurant concepts and a destination for established local hits. If you leave hungry, it’s your fault.

Our tour began with several stops within the market, the first being Hot Chicken Takeover. As much a social enterprise as a Nashville-style chicken restaurant, Hot Chicken Takeover hires primarily people who were formerly incarcerated or homeless to serve up some killer chicken, mac and cheese, and cole slaw. Also on the menu is Miss B’s Banana Pudding: somewhere on my list of Top 10 Things Matt Has Ever Eaten. While I didn’t have the pudding that day, the chicken was the perfect way to start the tour.

After we finished our hot chicken, our guide took us back to the main floor of the market to sample some Cave Aged Cayenne Cheddar from Black Radish Creamery, savory Bavarian pretzel twists from Brezel, and the aforementioned Himalayan dumplings, or ‘momo’s, from Momo Ghar. We perused the North Market Spices shop before leaving the market for High Street.

 

High Street

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Short North restaurants run the gamut from divey to shabby chic to just plain chic. After passing the deconstructivist Greater Columbus Convention Center, our first stop on High Street was the decidedly chic The Guild House, one of a number of Cameron Mitchell establishments in the Short North. The Guild House is exactly the kind of place I never would have stepped foot in outside of this tour. It’s expensive, and its recipes might be considered ‘bougie’ depending on your tastes (what is micro cilantro? Why not just cilantro?). Still, the chicken sweet potato hash they placed in front of us was excellent.

More my speed was the Short North Pint House, with the biergarten design and an impressive and diverse line up of draft beer on tap. This is the kind of place you could find families, groups of close friends, or tourists enjoying themselves (the Penguins were playing the Blue Jackets later that day, so there were several Pittsburgh jerseys in the mix). Our tour included generous helpings of three or four of their appetizers including beer cheese and pretzels, short rib nachos, and fries. I washed it all down with a Rhinegeist Cheetah lager, and all was right with the world.

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Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

[image error]Our final stop on our Columbus Food Adventure was for dessert at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Perhaps no place captures the entrepreneurial and local spirit of the Columbus culinary scene better than Jeni’s. Started in the North Market in 2002, Jeni’s uses primarily local sources to invent slightly edgy ice cream flavors that you wouldn’t necessarily have thought of yourself. My favorite? Brown Butter Almond Brittle, but there’s also the likes of Goat Cheese with Red Cherries, Bangkok Peanut, and Gooey Butter Cake. Invoking the tour’s spirit of trying new things, I opted for two flavors I don’t typically get: Cream Puff and Coffee with Cream and Sugar. Delightful, waffle cone chip and all.

There are now over 30 Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams shops across the United States and they ship across the world. Honestly, it’s probably Columbus’ best export. Years ago, for a hot minute, I worked in their main kitchen filling pints and hand writing labels. They’ve moved up in the world since then.

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Parting Thoughts

At about $60 a pop, tours with Columbus Food Adventures are definitely in the “once in a great while” category for us. Still, we both really enjoyed our time and thought the tour was a good value. The amount of food you end up eating is probably about one and a half to two meals worth spread across three hours. Our guide was knowledgeable and shared historical context and information about the buildings and restaurants we passed. We also had the chance to speak with representatives from nearly all the stops. It’s not exactly a shocker that by slowing down and talking to people you gain a greater appreciation for a place or its products. The tour was a good reminder, and helped me gain more appreciation for my city. I already appreciated it, but now I appreciate it more.

More Pictures From the Day

Teaching English Abroad: Why You Should Become a ‘Waygook’

In celebration of the release of my first book “The Waygook Book: A Foreigner’s Guide to South Korea” from Monday Creek Publishing, I wanted to share a blog post on a topic that’s very dear to my heart: teaching English in a foreign country. Simply put–teaching English abroad is one of the easiest and most exciting ways to become a ‘waygook saram,’ or ‘foreigner’ in Korean. As a foreigner, you will have the opportunity to learn more about the world and, just as importantly, learn more about yourself. This blog would not exist without the two years my wife and I spent teaching English in Korea through English Program in Korea, or EPIK, a government-run system designed to place native English speakers in public schools throughout the country. Let me tell you why.

[image error]Before we left for South Korea, I had been outside the country twice: once to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls (OK, I walked across the border for an hour a second time) and once to the Holy Land with a church group. I knew very little about Korean culture, cuisine, or politics. What’s more, what I knew about anywhere Not America came from entertainment or what other people told me. I was not a worldly person or seasoned traveler in any sense of the term. I was certainly out of my element the moment we stepped off the plane at Incheon International Airport to begin our lives as Native English Teachers.

But then, you start piling up vocabulary words. You try different foods and know what to order, or what not to order, next time. You memorize bus routes. You remember faces and, hopefully, the names and personalities that go with them. You become familiar with procedures and learn what to expect. You find the right apps on your phone to help you out. You find friends to help with the rest. Suddenly, what was new is now normal.

While in South Korea, we traveled extensively within the country as well as in the region. With each trip, even if it was somewhere completely new, I found myself more at ease with being in an unfamiliar place. You just learn to figure out where to start, you know? You figure out how to read signs or subway maps and not get flustered by them, how to order tickets, how the local currency works. I remember thinking, soon after arriving from the airport, as we were walking through crowded sidewalks in Hong Kong that at one point in my life I would have been completely overwhelmed with being somewhere so different from home. As it was, I had traveled enough to not be so afraid of new places.

As unattractive as this sounds, the hardship of living overseas is usually where the most rewarding growth happens. It’s in the frustration of taking the wrong bus that you discover a new part of town. It’s in the inconvenience of a new policy at school that you learn to let the little things go. It’s in the embarrassment of not knowing the local language well enough that you learn to recognize small kindnesses from your colleagues and return them in favor. You learn to live with less and expect more from yourself.

As an English teacher in South Korea, you get to do all this while having fun in the classroom. You get to invent games, dream up English camp themes, and sing songs (if you’re an elementary school teacher like I was). It’s rewarding to see kids take a liking to English. They have to learn it anyway, so you might was well make it fun.

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These days, I’m back at home and in my element. I don’t have the time or resources to travel like I did while I was in South Korea. That doesn’t mean I stop looking for new things–new cuisines to try, new parks to hike, new cities to explore. I’m at liberty to learn more about my fellow man here at home just as I was overseas, but it’s a skill that is sharpened when living where they don’t speak your language.

Still not convinced?

Why Consider Teaching English Abroad

It’s about the most structured way there is to travel and earn money at the same time.
You will make contacts from around the world, which if you play your cards right, will turn into free places to stay later down the road when you’re traveling.
By watching how another country operates, you will either gain new appreciation or criticism for your home country. Or, you’ll just see another way things work. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, so I’ve heard.
Your comfort zone will expand, and that will help you anywhere.
Learning a new language is sexy, and there’s no better way to learn a new language than being forced to use one out of necessity.
As a minority that doesn’t speak the language, you are going to feel small and insignificant. This is a good experience to have under your belt for humility and empathy reasons.

 

Why Consider Teaching English in Korea Specifically

The EPIK program and other similar government-run programs are well-organized and trustworthy.
South Korea is a safe first step outside of the country. There is very little crime, it’s easy to get around, and the level of English is getting better every year.
South Korea is well-positioned for further travel within Asia and Oceania.
Contracts typically include a free apartment, health insurance, and ample vacation time, making it easy to save money to travel, pay student loans, or whatever else you do with money.
Eating out, going to sporting events, and other activities are typically cheaper in South Korea than in Western countries.
Hangul, the Korean alphabet, is very easy to learn.

 

For the best reason to become a ‘waygook’ and teach English abroad, look no further than the quote that inspired the title of my blog–a quote from Mark Twain:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

If this statement were true 150 years ago, imagine how true it is today.

Learn more about The Waygook Book: A Foreigner’s Guide to South Korea here.

The Short North: Coffee, Construction, and a New Book

After years of work, my debut book The Waygook Book: A Foreigner’s Guide to South Korea is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Yay! It’s a travelogue/memoir about my wife and I teaching English in Daegu, South Korea for two years. Readers visit different sites in the country and region (and New Zealand!), learn about Korean history and culture, and laugh at me making dumb mistakes as a fish out of water. A good deal of free time lately has been spent canvassing Central Ohio with poster advertisements for the book. I purposely set aside the nicest day of the winter to walk Columbus’ Short North neighborhood.

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It’s becoming all the rage for a food or travel writer from the coast to visit Columbus and write an article describing their shock that we’re not all sitting around a 7-Eleven curb eating saltines for fun. Their shock typically comes from the Short North, a trendy neighborhood of galleries, coffee shops, and restaurants just north of downtown. This is the buzziest, hippiest part of town right now. I’m definitely not cool or rich enough to live there. Even if you’re not coming to spend money, though, it’s worth a stroll to window shop, people watch, or both.

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I parked where I always do when I come to the Short North–off of Goodale Park. The elephant fountain is a playful nod to the Sells Brothers Circus (one of the brothers owned a house along the park and I definitely want to go in. There used to be circus animals inside). The sidewalks were slushy as an unusually warm sun melted off the snow from the polar vortex. One Line Coffee and Prologue Bookshop–both joyously busy on a Sunday afternoon–agreed to let me drop off some ads. Roaming Goat Coffee was no less bumping with people chatting at the bar or buried in their laptops looking busy. I bought my java for the day for one last stamp on my Columbus Coffee Trail passport and a free T-Shirt redeemable at the Experience Columbus Visitor Center. Killing two birds. The last two holiday seasons, Roaming Goat has displayed festive snowflakes on their windows made by my wife. You should see them.

 

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The Short North is already quite dense, but it is getting denser as developers grab whatever surface parking lots remain. Apartments, office space, co-working spaces, brewpubs, hotels–it’s all going in. As such, the poor Short North folks have had to withstand an onslaught of construction. Never to miss an opportunity to make something not fun, fun, the Short North Alliance enlisted students at the Columbus College of Art and Design to decorate the construction blocks pervasive along High St. The art is so eye-catching and bright, one almost wishes the blocks would stick around after the construction.

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Keeping to a budget, my only purchase in the Short North that day was my Roaming Goat coffee. Rest assured, if my pockets were fuller, I would have probably spent money at the following places:

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams

Their Brown Butter Almond Brittle is the best ice cream in America. There, I said it.

Kingmakers Board Game Parlour

A giant shelf of games and some good beer. That’s a night right there.

All the food

Brassica for Mediterranean. Marcella’s for Italian. Melt for grilled cheese. There are too many places to mention for good food.

Still not convinced? The New York Times listed Columbus as one of the top 52 places in the world to visit in 2019. The Short North plays a large part of that honor.

Have you been to the Short North? What did you think?

Chicago’s Lakeview Neighborhood: A Foodcation Morning

It’s been a minute since my family and I left Ohio, so we took a quick weekend trip to Chicago to visit some friends and family. I have a love/hate relationship with the city. We lived there for three years and struggled to gain any traction, and so I equate Chicago with struggle. Anytime I visit, I remember how much I don’t miss the traffic, the claustrophobia of being in the middle of a giant city, or the expense of doing just about anything. However, there are more than a few restaurants I miss dearly. My wife and I have dreamed up ‘foodcation’ itineraries covering all the food we missed. Sometimes, a vacation really only needs to center around food. On Sunday morning before our long drive back to Columbus, we hit up some favorite haunts in our old neighborhood of Lakeview.

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Lakeview, on the north side of town, has just about any kind of restaurant you could want. Our first stop was at 5411 Empanadas, an Argentinian cafe that serves delectable baked empanadas. We were the first customers of the day, arriving precisely at 11:00am. I’d been dreaming of their Bacon, Date and Goat Cheese empanada for years since I’d last visited the cafe. The density and rich texture were exactly how I’d remembered.

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I knew better than to try to get a table at Ann Sather, a Swedish breakfast joint, at 11am on a Sunday. The restaurant was packed with families, large groups of friends, and couples waiting for a table. Instead, I went in to pick up a half dozen of their gooey cinnamon rolls. The rolls are the most popular item on the menu and they come with many of the entrees as a side. Ann Sather knows what they’re about; they have to-go boxes and bags of cinnamon rolls ready for people like me who elbow their way through the waiting throng just to grab some rolls and then scram. We would enjoy them back in Ohio.

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For lunch, we met some old friends for classic deep-dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s. When we lived in Chicago, we typically only ate deep-dish when visitors came. Now we were the visitors making the locals eat deep-dish with us. We ordered two pies: pepperoni and the ‘Lou,’ a veggie-filled, garlicky pie.

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This ‘foodcation’s timing was fortuitous. My debut book The Waygook Book: A Foreigner’s Guide to South Korea will be available on Amazon starting December 4. The story begins with my desperation to leave Chicago, and our decision to leave the United States entirely to teach English in South Korea. I never looked back when we drove our U-Haul south to Ohio. I was ready to put Chicago behind me. Now, just a few weeks before the book’s debut, I find myself building travel plans only to eat my way through Chicago. It’s amazing how some things come full circle, how time and a more forgiving attitude let you look at a place differently. Without the stress of trying to live there, I can enjoy Chicago for what it is: a quintessentially American city with a super-impressive skyline and some of the best food in the world.

Read more about The Waygook Book: A Foreigner’s Guide to South Korea here!