When my company, The Village Network, announced that it was going to hold an Employee Appreciation Dinner and Dance on Valentine’s weekend (February 11, 2017) and that we could get a discount on our room at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield, Ohio, I jumped at the chance. My husband, Bobby, agreed it would be a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. However, I couldn’t just go to the hotel and event and be satisfied. No, not me! I thought we could make a whole day of it. The plan was to do something earlier in the day, check into the hotel, take a little nap and then get ready for the dinner/dance. After that, we could enjoy ourselves completely and not have to worry about driving home late at night. The challenge was figuring out what we could do during the day that would take us near Mansfield.
Everything fell into place when I remembered a conversation we had with another couple, John and Jackie Drake. They had shared one of their excursions to the Mohican Lodge for breakfast. The lodge’s restaurant overlooks a lake, giving the diners a gorgeous view of God’s creation. I suggested that we go there for breakfast on Saturday. After that we could head over to Mansfield and check out the Mansfield Memorial Museum.
The day didn’t start out like I had expected. We didn’t get out of the house as early as we thought we would. (We had gotten home late from delivering Owney to his Uncle Shaun and Aunt Randi’s house where he would be spending the weekend. Owney loves his Uncle Shaun. You read about how much here.) So, because of our late night, we got a late start on our day. I figured that we could go to the lodge for lunch and still have a chance to see the museum. I entered what I thought was the lodge’s address into the GPS and we were off.
The lodge is a good hour from our home, so that gave Bobby a chance to get more information about the museum in Mansfield. We had attempted to reach them on Friday night, but the phone just rang. On Saturday the answering machine picked up. It was then that we discovered the Memorial Museum wouldn’t actual open for the 2017 season until April (or maybe March) depending on the weather. Undaunted, we decided that we could still have lunch at the lodge and then figure out what to do afterwards to kill time until we could check in. I was a little disappointed, but I reminded myself that some of our best times are the ones where our plans don’t work out like we … uh … planned.
The day was beautiful, even if a little overcast, but it made for an easy ride to Loudonville, where our GPS was taking us. When we reached the destination on the GPS, it turned out that Mohican State Park is different from the Mohican State Park Lodge. I wasn’t completely convinced of this until we drove through the part of the park that had camping spots and cabins and even a tubing launch area on the river (I assume that is used for warmer weather), but no lodge.
We came back out to the main road. It was then that we saw the sign that pointed to the right that said “Lodge.” We took the right and then at the next road, we took another right. The next sign indicating the direction to the Lodge also indicated it was 10 miles away. That was definitely unexpected and disappointing. We were both getting a little hungry. However, what were we to do? So we kept driving. And then, that is when our day took a dramatic turn for the better. There was a sign that pointed down a road toward the Gorge Overlook and Covered Bridge. I didn’t know there was a gorge overlook or covered bridge! Well, obviously, we had to make the turn.
We went to the Gorge Overlook first. It is breathtaking. We walked down a set of stone stairs to a stone overlook. The view was gorgeous! True to myself, I did wonder out loud about how pretty the view would be in the fall. There were trees as far as the eye could see. I just imagined them being clothed in yellow and orange and red leaves. Even still, in the middle of winter, the view was amazing. There are two different overlook areas. They are within walking distance of each other, so we just had to park once. The one requires you walk down steps, the other does not. I assume this is so people who cannot navigate stairs still can enjoy the view.
After several panoramic pictures of the area, Bobby and I headed to the Covered Bridge. It was a bit of a drive from the Gorge Overlook, which was surprising to me, but well worth the time. The bridge is over the river. During this time the river is quite high, I assume because of the rain and snow we had earlier in the week. The bridge has walkways on both sides, so pedestrians/hikers can cross the river without worrying about automobile traffic. I marveled at the sound of the river as it rushed along its way. I could see how just hanging out by a river on a warm day might be a nice way to pass the time.
We stayed and took some pictures. Had we been wearing more appropriate shoes, I might have even convinced Bobby to walk to the falls and dam. But then again, it was getting late and I was getting hungrier!
We traveled the remaining 5 miles to the Mohican State Park Lodge. We walked in and I knew already I liked the place. (Don’t worry, I’ll tell you why, but in another post — this one is getting a little long!)
When we finished eating, we just hung out in an area of the the lower level on these incredibly comfortable couches. Bobby and I checked Facebook and emails and just chilled. Around 2 p.m. we decided to head for the hotel, with a pit stop at Steak and Shake. (I was full, but there’s always room for ice cream!)
Everything else went as planned. We napped, we got ready, we enjoyed fellowship and food with some of my favorite coworkers. We danced and had a really great time. On the way home on Sunday, we both agreed that it had been a great weekend. Not how we had expected it to go, but oh, so much better than anything we could have planned.
