Well, I must be a
Buckeye. I as born in
Cleveland, raised in
Akron educated in
Dayton and now I live in
Columbus.
Personally, I think Ohio is cool. Not so cool as Mill Valley, California perhaps, but you don't need a million bucks to buy a house here. The state is lush, with plenty of mountains and trees to the south, a western flt plan, lots of good farmland, Lake Erie that most maligned of the Great Lakes. There isn't a single Ohio city so large that you can't be in the country within forty five minutes, yet the cities are culturally interesting.
Think not?
The Cleveland Art Institute is famed as one of the world's great art museums. There are larger museums, but everything on display in the Cleveland is a total masterpiece. The Cleveland Orchestra might be the best symphony orchestra on Earth. Yes, that includes Berlin, Chicago and the New York Philharmonic. The Cleveland music scene is justly famed, and for more than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pick up a Scene Magazine and you'll find bands playing everywhere. Look for the Mr. Stress Blues Band and you'll see why Mr. Stress got mentioned in a Pretenders song. Jacobs Field might be the finest ballpark on earth, and the Indians don't suck anymore. Yes, Cleveland Rocks!
Mid Ohio Sports Car Course is simply one of the finest road racing circuits located on the planet, and internationally known. Want to know who's raced there? Bobby Rahal, Mario Andretti, Mark Donohue, Jackie Stewart, Dennis Hulme, Bruce McLaren, Peter Revson, Nigel Mansell, Dan Gurney, AJ Foyt, Phil Hill, Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve and a whole lot more of racing's greatest drivers. Mid Ohio is home of the the SCCA Runoffs, Over 600 SCCA drivers compete for the right to be balled national champion.. The Runoffs is the best week of racing anyone could hope for. If you're a circle track fan who likes doing it in the dirt, you have to have heard of Eldora Speedway, where guys like Scott Bloomquist duke it out on the dirt.
Dayton boasts the United States Air Force Museum which may be the finest aviation museum on Earth. The collection is huge, and almost entirely on display With acres under roof, the Air Force Museum dwarfs the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Go to the Oregon district for a good ale and some cool music, or visit the Canal Street Tavern for the finest in national folk and acoustic music in friendly atmosphere.
Columbus is the capital, and has a collection of restaurants capable of sating the pickiest eater. The local theater scene is considered by some theater people to rival that of New York because it is more willing to take risks. Ohio State provides the sport, and in Columbus you're near everything.
In Akron you can check out Stan Hywet and relive Tudor splendor, or check out a burger at Whitey's Chrissie Hynde, Devo and Rare Earth all came out of Akrons music scene, where jazz is featured.
If I win a powerball jackpot, I'll move to Mill Valley, California. But for anything less I stay here, a cosmopolitan state normal people can actually afford to live in.