Finding It Here
Day 1
A Gray Start
Day 2
Gray Plus
Day 3
Christmas Day
Postlude - December 27, 2016
I stopped at my daughter's on the way home yesterday but neither the stop
nor the drive produced anything that cries for publication. I declare the
2016 Christmas Escape Run complete at three days.
This was the first trip with a new computer. I think things went reasonably well considering that this also meant new software or new installs of old software. I've been made aware of difficulty in reading the Christmas day page. I try to do something a little special for that day by using an image for the background and allowing other content to be scrolled over it. New software required a new procedure and my first try produced a background that was too dark. It has been reworked.
December 25, 2016 (day 3)
I countered a lack of plans by filling the day with a variety of ghosts.
December 24, 2016 (day 2)
A little rain was added to the gray as I drove along a rim then went to
roost in a lodge beside it.
December 23, 2016 (day 1)
It was dry but chilly and gray as I started my 2016 Christmas Escape Run.
Prelude - December 20, 2016
I'm doing the state park lodge thing again this year. I had a relatively
short Christmas Escape Run in mind and sought to copy the state park
Christmas stays I've had in West Virginia and Indiana in the recent past.
I did some online looking for spots in Kentucky and Pennsylvania but
didn't see anything promising. In Ohio, Burr Oak, just a few hours from my
home, offered a Christmas Day buffet and had rooms available. I booked
one.
A couple of days after I made my reservation I realized that the park is next to what some Ohioans call the Rim of the World. Then, as I started putting this page together, I noticed a true coincidence. I drove part of California's Rim of the World Highway in 2005 and I was there again in November. About a month after that 2005 visit, I drove Ohio's Rim of the World and now, just a month after my second time at the western Rim of the World Highway, I'm returning to Ohio's version.
Rim of the World Highway seems to be some sort of official designation for a goodly bit of CA-18 and it appears on maps along with the number. Its Ohio counterpart is essentially a nickname used for a section of OH-78. As I said after driving it in 2005, "I don't think many will confuse it with the Rim of the World Highway in California.". Nonetheless it is quite twisty with some very long views and Car and Driver has called OH-78 "one of the most scenic highways nationwide". It's a fun and attractive drive and nothing to be ashamed of.
Like the names for my 2013 West Virginia and 2015 Indiana trips, Wild and Wonderful Christmas and It's a Wanderful Life respectively, the name for this year's Christmas Escape Run comes from a state tourism slogan. The new "Ohio, find it here." slogan was announced just over a year ago,. I'll be looking.