Buzzards with Syrup
Day 1
Return of the Buzzards
Day 2
McKinley, Hoover, & Lincoln
Day 3
Lovely Lasses & Beautiful Cars
Day 4
One Museum & Two Meals
Day 5
Sap & Syrup Everywhere
Day 6
Buzzards Redux
Another pancake fueled day with two breakfasts and plenty of buzzards. Bonuses include a tree with shoes and a statue with a head.
March 19, 2011 (day 5)
After visiting several sugar houses I stopped by Ohio's oldest general
store. Today's travels were fueled by pancakes, maple syrup, and root
beer.
March 18, 2011 (day 4)
The two meals were at a ninety-five year old place in Warren and at a
church in Mentor. The one museum was the One and Only Presidential Museum.
March 17, 2011 (day 3)
I visited my second Center of the World in as many months and my second
Packard Museum in as many weeks. I started and ended St Patrick's Day with
attractive young women bringing me things to eat and drink.
March 16, 2011 (day 2)
I stopped by the President McKinley Museum and the not-the-president
Hoover Museum then drove a little Lincoln Highway.
March 15, 2011 (day 1)
I arrived at Buzzard's Roost in the dark of night and was there to witness
the 8:28 first official sighting of buzzards heralding the return of
spring. I then visited the May 4 Memorial at Kent State University.
Prelude - March 2, 2011
Be where the ides of March? If you are not familiar with the small Ohio
town and it's peculiar tradition, that's probably what you're wondering
when you read that I intend to be in Hinckley, Ohio, on March 15. If you
are familiar with Hinckley, you probably know that it isn't exactly a
town; it's a township. Hinckley Township has a fire department, a school,
a tavern, and buzzards. The buzzards are the reason I'll be there.
Hinckley doesn't always have buzzards. The birds are migratory and return every March 15. Recording the first official sighting is pretty important and draws a decent crowd. But it's hard to draw a really big crowd in the middle of the week so the first Sunday after March 15 is designated Buzzard Sunday. That's when they have the big pancake breakfast, bus tours, displays, and entertainment. This year the fifteenth is on Tuesday which makes for a pretty big spread between the two buzzard events. I could, of course, pick one and forget the other but how does one chose between two events such as these? Fortunately I was saved by the syrup.
Hinckley is in northeast Ohio where maple trees are plentiful and mid-March is tapping time. In fact, the weekends bracketing March 15 are both involved in the Ohio Maple Producers "March Maple Madness Driving Tour". That should easily fill up Buzzard Sunday eve and probably a little of Buzzard Sunday, too. There are plenty of other things in the area, such as the Packard Museum in Warren, to keep me busy in between. So I'm off to see the buzzards; the wonderful buzzards of Hinckley.