Deep Fried Garlic Mashed Potatoes On A Stick - Ohio, USA

I’m really fortunate in that I’ve had some unique opportunities become available to be hosted by people as I have travelled around the world.  Sometimes, there are places that are of interest which simply aren’t very accessible given the style of travelling that I am doing. You may remember back a few months ago when I had the opportunity to be hosted by a German family who live in a small town, staying with my friend Thessi. Well in the United States, I had one of these opportunities come up, having a friend who lives in small town north-west Ohio. At first I thought it wasn’t going to be feasible to fit into my itinerary but then I guess it sunk in that this was the kind of opportunity which I simply needed to make fit into my itinerary. With some tweaking and forcing my time, I made it work, and I am so grateful that I did.

Cleveland, Ohio

Downtown Cleveland

After my night at Newark Airport (which I outlined in my last entry) I had a flight the next morning to Cleveland, Ohio. This was pretty much for the sake of killing a night because my host family wasn’t going to be available that day due to another engagement. There isn’t a youth hostel in Cleveland so this presented the opportunity to book into a nice hotel and splurge.  I honestly only spent a couple of hours wandering around Cleveland, I was so exhausted from the night before. I can’t claim to have really had any groundbreaking or insightful experience there. I took a bunch of photos of cool looking things, enjoyed a delicious dinner of a specialty pizza and then sprawled out watching The Big Bang Theory and the Olympics in the hotel room.

The journey to Napoleon, Ohio

I got the Megabus from Cleveland to Toledo, which is about 45 minutes from where Lanie’s family live. It was actually pretty action packed for a bus ride of only a couple of hours. We were delayed in Cleveland when the bus driver discovered a passenger in the upstairs portion who was drinking alcohol – which is strictly against the law, so the driver had to call the police and we had to wait for them to arrive and for them to offload the passenger. The bus was on a longer route, I’m not sure where it started but I know it was finishing in Detroit, and between Cleveland and Toledo there was a twenty minute service stop at a rest stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The bus driver, being humorous, announced, “We will be here for twenty minutes.I am the only bus that comes through here. If you miss the bus – don’t worry, I will be back tomorrow. Maybe. I stop at different rest stops. I might not be back for two weeks. But they are open 24 hours a day.”

Lanie and her parents picked me up from the random stop in Toledo – Megabus labelled it as the ‘Southwyck Shopping Center’ but Lanie had pre-warned me that there is no shopping center and that it would just be the side of the road/a parking lot – lucky I had this warning because had I not been told this, I would’ve been mighty confused as to whether I was at the right place!

When first impressions are all that matter

Lanie and her family, from the moment that I met them, struck me as being some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. The initial first impression flowed through, being backed up with their kindness and generosity throughout my whole stay. I don’t know if I just have good taste in friends, or if it truly is one of those things where the region you’re from in the USA has a direct correlation to your disposition. Lanie’s dad is one of those people who has led a really interesting life, travelling for work, having interesting friends and stories from his ‘youth’ involving hiking and drinking adventures and all sorts. Lanie’s mum grew up in Napoleion, so is the embodiment of small town born, bred and has never moved away. It was a really interesting mix and at the same time, served to fuel lots of different conversation.

The perfect timing of staying with a host family

At this point in my travels, I was feeling rather exhausted. It isn’t being a tourist in itself that is exhausting for me – rather, it is the mere nature of extended budget travel, being responsible for yourself entirely and completely and existing in a world without your own space. I can remember in Montreal, feeling overwhelmed by the sense that I was ready to go home, with over three weeks remaining of my trip. What pushed me through was the knowledge that I would be staying with friends for over two weeks of the remaining time. It’s the little things about staying in a home environment that are delightfully enjoyable, and my stay in Ohio came at a time where I hadn’t stayed with anyone since being with my friend in Ostrava.

It’s nice being able to wander around in your pyjamas, to eat breakfast when you like rather than when the hostel prescribes. I only really watch television whilst with a friend, very rarely utilising television facilities in a hostel unless they are airing some sort of movie. Moreover, it’s nice having someone else who cares about your wellbeing – someone to ask you, while they’re at the fridge, if you’d like a refill – those sorts of little gestures that are perfectly normal but which you don’t experience often while travelling alone.

Real America, not Tourist America

The sign in front of a parking lot and a video rental store

I was staying in Napoleon for four nights. I’d already assured Lanie tht I wouldn’t get bored, that I didn’t mind that there wasn’t much to do – I was honestly really excited about the notion of sleeping and catching up on my blog and simply being able to hang out without the obligation to constantly be ‘doing’ something. However despite this, Lanie and her family kept apologising for the lack of action in their part of America. The irony of their apologies is that in so many ways I will look back on my time in Ohio as being a trip highlight of my time in the United States. I’ve done the big cities – by the time that I’ve finished this trip, on my list of cities I can tick off in the USA, I have Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Albuquerque, Milwaukee, Austin, Orlando, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Boston. These are all larger cities, even the smaller of the group is a city.

However the USA isn’t just comprised of big cities, the USA is comprised of countless counties and smaller towns. There are so many people who need to drive 45 minutes or more to get to a town with a Starbucks or a movie theatre. Where they live represents a genuine subset of American culture, one which I enjoyed being able to get to know intimately, albeit briefly. I can't describe their home town as being 'hip' or as being 'happening' but it is real, and living in it are real people who don't need to have fancy monuments or world renowned restaurants to be forward thinking, lovely human beings.

I think one of the best ways to understand a culture is to just talk to people, and for me, Lanie’s family were just beyond fascinating – they apologise for the boredom without realising how fascinating they are within themselves, without doing anything other than just talking and being themselves.

The random experiences

Lanie and her parents were really keen on the idea of facilitating for me to have the random American ‘experiences’ that I desired – sadly, a lot of them revolving around food! Things where you’re having normal conversation and I reveal, “I’ve never had a proper s’more.” Next thing you know, we’re out buying the ingredients to make sure that before I leave, they get to ensure I have this experience. And it was a perfect excuse to simultaneously fulfil another wish - I commented that I had only ever been to a Walmart in Los Angeles, and so off to Walmart we went.

Walmart is such an awesome cultural experience – seriously! The grocery section alone has me filled with gasps. The stereotypes about the USA and food exist for a reason, and a trip to Walmart is the kind of thing that really emphasises that. You have more options in terms of flavours and variety within a particular product, and more brand options. There was a section in the cold goods area that kept packets of hot dogs. I was struck by how huge the section was, and so I counted it out, it was laid out in columns and rows – there were nineteen columns going across, and then six rows from top to bottom, all housing different brands, flavours and varieties of hot dogs. You can buy practically anything in the USA in a pre-made format.

In addition to food, in our perusal to find skewers (for the s’mores) we departed the grocery area and I found myself face to face with a glass cabinet filled with guns for purchase – just down from the camping equipment, including Disney princess camping equipment. Gun laws are very different in Australia so for me, this is something very confronting.

One evening with our s'mores ingredients, we spent a couple of hours enjoying the gorgeous view from their balcony and then got to work on our delicious s'more treats. Typically, Walmart had a zillion varieties of hot dogs but the one thing that we needed (marshmallows) in a 'normal' size only came in this massive size, so the s'mores didn't quite work out as planned!

Such a serene view, perfect for a summer evening on the balcony

Would you like some chocolate or cracker with your marshmallow?

Cute Animals and Deep Fried Fun

In an effort to ensure that I didn’t get completely bored/was able to appreciate that there is more to Ohio then their small town, Lanie’s dad offered to rearrange a work day so we could take a day trip somewhere. After umming and ahhing and much indecisiveness (telling someone like me ‘it’s up to you’ is never a good idea!) we settled upon heading to Columbus for the Ohio State Fair.

The State Fair was  fun day out – if you really examined the program and were prepared to work your day around it, you could have a whole day of entertainment from local bands (both of the pop/country style and the orchestra style), comedy acts, magic shows, parades and other various demonstrations. We had two key things that we’d pinpointed from the program in our prior research as being of interest – the pig races, and an Aussie animal show. Yes, that’s right, the Ohio State Fair had a collection of Australian animals and a presentation about them.

So random but very entertaining!

The American presenter who opened with "Good day, mate." #fail

I’d been pre-warned of what to expect at a Midwest state fair from a nutritional perspective but seeing it was something else again. If it has grease or if it can be deep fried – you will find it there. Grease in the form of things like cheese steaks and giant mutated turkey legs. And when I say if it ‘can’ be deep fried – well, in Ohio, just about anything can be deep fried!

Really - you can get ANYTHING deep fried, and as a bonus, on a stick!

Lanie had a deep fried Snickers bar and I had a deep fried sampler, with bite sized pieces of deep fried butter, Oreo, cheesecake, cookie dough and a fifth one I cannot remember. It was surprisingly delicious, but I could feel my body yelling at me for feeding it so much trash in one day!

Warning: cat napper on the prowl!

If you invite me to stay in your home and you have a cat, you should pretty much expect that regardless of your cat's disposition, I will adopt it as my own for the duration of my stay.  Lanie's cat Fez became my new best friend - although, it's questionable whether I was his best friend!

Fez the cat.

Gratitude that lasts a lifetime

I am forever grateful for the generosity, kindness and companionship I got from staying with Lanie and her family. There are people in this world who will invite you into their home and give you somewhere to stay, and these people alone are wonderful and amazing. But then there’s this other category of people who go above and beyond the call of duty and who demonstrate such amazing hospitality, warmth, generosity and love.

I can only hope that one day I am able to somehow repay them in some way. So mum, I know you’re reading – if Lanie’s parents ever decide to bring the family on a vacation to Australia, I insist upon being able to take them in somehow, and if that means it’s in your house because I’m in a tiny apartment, then so be it!