Tag Archives: Athens

McHappy’s Lives Up To The Name

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If you have a sweet tooth and find yourself in southeastern Ohio there’s a fabulous place to get your fix. McHappy’s Donuts is the place to be. They’ve been around since 1972 and have the best. donuts. ever.

I try to avoid sweets. However, once in a while, I take myself to a movie at the Athena Cinema in uptown Athens and stop here for a treat on my way out of town. Fresh donuts and rich hot chocolate are a great combination late at night. I haven’t done that in several months so I might be due for a visit.

McHappy’s has locations in Athens, Belpre, Marietta and Parkersburg, W. Va. Their Belpre location is open 24 hours. Give ’em a try!

Southeast Ohio History Center

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Ohio museum

A recent rainy day left me at loose ends. It’s hard to be an outdoorsy chick when the rain sets in. So I set out to a couple of local places that I’ve long wanted to visit but never had time to see.

On that list was the Southeast Ohio History Center in Athens. Located in a 1916 church on the National Register of Historic Places, the History Center is lovely just for its architecture. The sanctuary is pretty and is actually still used as a church every Sunday.

The upstairs is now a genealogy library and part of the downstairs is gallery and gift shop space. Some of the exhibits are permanent while others rotate. The most fascinating was about the former Athens Lunatic Asylum, known locally as the Ridges. The grounds were designed to resemble a park with ponds and trails, flowers and trees that doctors hoped would assist patients in recovering their mental health. With its own dairy, livestock and vegetable gardens, the place was self contained and provided patients opportunities to help run the place.

Despite the idyllic surroundings, some truly terrible things went on here. It was an asylum after all. It operated from 1874 to 1993 and there are some truly fascinating stories from this place. The History Center did a nice job telling some of those stories and even included some contemporary photos of the Ridges that were made by local amateur photographer Kenner Bush. Oh, and there were a couple of references to people from my home in Vinton County (you can read about them in the pictures below).

You’ll also find here an exhibit on local bricks, an amazing collection of photographs, an exhibit on World War I and some other fun things. There’s not much for kiddos but there’s a lot for a grown ups, especially the history buffs among us.

I didn’t take my camera out in the rain so I have no outside pictures and just a few phone pics but you get the idea.

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Want to learn more? Get the details from their website. 

Adventure Saturday

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Some people qualify adventure as something daring, grand and maybe even dangerous. Ziplining, rock climbing and traveling the reaches of the earth come to mind. But I think adventure can be a lot of things to different people. For me the best adventures are born from spotenaity and can be very close to home. Finding that unique piece in an antique mall or stumbling into a beautiful scene are just as adventerous to me as anything.

In fact, last week I posted a cool tv commercial that drives home the belief that adventure is as close as your own back yard.

This weekend Mr. Wonderful and I hopped into the car and headed out to Athens, home to our alma mater and to some of our favorite haunts. We spent well over an hour browsing Haffa’s Records – we’re like kids in a candy store there. I did find some bargains there including season 4 of The Big Bang Theory on dvd for just $5. Love it!

And we dined at Casa Nueva because that’s what we do in Athens. There are tons of restraurants to choose from but we’ve never been to most of them because Casa is just too great to miss.

Since I declared this “Say Yes Saturday” we went wherever the wind blew us, taking in thrift stores and unusual sights along the way.

A nice walk uptown before school starts next week was just what the doctor ordered. I miss being a pedestrian and Athens is a great walking town, especially when most of the students are gone. Living in the country I tend to drive a lot so it’s fun to park the car and do everything on foot.  We even relived some fun memories walking campus, taking pictures and admiring the beautiful old buildings on the College Green.

Here are a few shots from the day.

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The picture of the steps leading down to Ellis Hall isn’t so great but it’s significant. As an English major I can’t tell you how many times I ran up and down those steps between Ellis and Alden Library. Good times. Especially on snowy, icy days.

We ended the evening with a little movie viewing with a pizza and oreos on the couch. This day was the perfect balance of fun and rest and I can’t help but wonder why we don’t do this more often. As an aside, I have found that you are with the right person when you forget to look at the clock, when it doesn’t matter you don’t have a lot of money to play with, and when you can think of no place else you would rather be.

Maybe that’s the best adventure of all.