Where On Earth is Bucyrus?

We did intentionally go to Bucyrus, Ohio. No, seriously, we did mean to arrive there. It's pronounced Boo-sy-russ, by the way.

This is one town we saw online before we came over here and we thought if we were anywhere near it, we'd have a look. Everyone said, "Bucyrus? You actually want to go to Bucyrus? On purpose? There's nothing there!" These comments were followed by gut-busting laughter.

We had a great time in this little town. To get there we had to take the back roads through Ohio. The countryside is so pretty. It's flat with huge farmlands of plowed paddocks that literally go right up to the houses and towns. Ohio is full of wonderful scenery. I could have taken hundreds of photos of cute little towns and solitary farm houses that popped up in the middle of freshly planted fields. I put a couple of photos in the previous blog entry.

Actually, there's plenty to see in Bucyrus. The town is very quaint, old, and pretty.  The most obvious thing that strikes you as you enter are the beautiful murals.

To learn about this town and its murals, we went to the information centre and took the walking tour which I highly recommend. You get to see the most amazing things, as well as hearing about the town.

As well as learning all about the murels, you go through the Picking copper kettle factory which is the same as it was 130 years ago. The daughter of the original owner is still working there. I kid you not! She's an amazing woman in her 90s who dresses up and goes into work every day at the factory and still does all their accounts.

Look at the size of this hand-made copper still. The Picking factory is amazing. It is living history. Well worth taking a look.

Then we were taken down into the gloomy depths of the Bucyrus Speak Easy.

During prohibition, people used to meet below the hotels in the "speak easy" to have a drink and entertainment.

We were taken down these dingy stairs into this old musty place that is exactly as it was back then.

 The big surprise for us was that Alphonsus Capone had his own booth down here. So there it is. This is the exact booth where Al Capone used to sit and drink. The dingy store room below is where his escape tunnel out to the railway used to be. 

It still is there, but they've boarded it up.

Geoff listening to our guide talk about the old days when Al was in town.

 The boarded up tunnel that used to lead out the back onto the railway line where Al Capone had his escape trolley waiting in case the police came down for a raid.

This was one of Al Capone's escape routes. It leads up onto a back lane behind the hotel.


Everyone in the tour wanted to search through his other escape tunnel but we weren't allowed. Bummer!






How cool was that? We sat right in Al Capone's booth!

 The old streets of Bucyrus. Mostly as it was back in Al Capone's day.

This was the other amazing murel in Bucyrus is this tribute to all the fallen soldiers from all the wars.

Looks like Geoff's standing before a statue, doesn't it. That is a flat wall. It's just a painting.

If you look closely, you'll see that all the faces are of different soldiers. The artist had all the people of Bucyrus who'd lost family members in any of the wars to bring photos of them to him. He then painted all those faces into his murel. It is awe inspiring to look at it.

The Circle E ranch just out of Bucyrus has long horn cattle and bison.

How's that for a set of horns?

This is the young buffalo bull. He's shedding his thick winter hair, getting ready for the hot summer ahead.

So, next time someone asks us why we'd ever want to go to Bucyrus, we'll jump up and say: "Hell, yeah! We love it!"
 

Port Clinton Ahoy!

From Flint we drove down through Michigan and into Ohio. It was great watching the change in the terrain from hilly and marshy to flat farmland. We loved the vast open spaces.

 There are huge farms out here. Acres and acres of ploughed and planted fields of corn and wheat mostly.


We were amused at how they ploughed and planted right up to the edges of roads, houses, even towns.

This is real farming America. All the farms were so neat and tidy, it was amazing.

We'd drive for miles and suddenly there'd be a quaint old farm house and barns. 

A typical farm house in Ohio. 

A lot of Americans said "Don't go to Ohio, it's flat and uninteresting." We found it really pretty. Flat farmland has its own beauty.



We continued on until afternoon and decided to stop at a pretty little place called Port Clinton right on Lake Erie. We stayed in a B&B here and really enjoyed it.

Pretty Port Clinton on Lake Erie, Ohio.

You guys getting envious yet? Look at that gorgeous weather!! 

 Shit! I've got to lose some weight. Far out! Anyway, that's me at the lighthouse at Port Clinton.

Geoff looking out to... not sea, but lake.

I couldn't resist it. I took my shoes off and paddled in the rock pools around the front of the lighthouse.

I've had my feet in Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan and now, Lake Erie. Michigan was by far the coldest.

You probably can't make out what these are, but they're fossils. 






There were fossils in the rocks everywhere.

Can you believe this view? This is where we stayed for the night.

Check this out. This is what Lake Erie looks and sounds like....

In the morning we took off for Bucyrus. Everyone laughed. What the hell would we want to go to Bucyrus for? There's nothing there! Nobody goes to Bucyrus. Well... we did.