Our journey began heading West into Ohio. We have actually taken this road before, but this time, we had new places to explore. It was not an absolute flawless day as the mapping program we used at home for the directions and estimated times was way off and the trip took us much longer than we had expected. Not to worry, to be honest, other than we were just off schedule. It did affect our evening plans, but no one seemed that mad at us.
Our first stop took us to the Columbia Cement Factory in Zanesville, Ohio. This was once a huge complex that has been mostly torn down. Out first attempt took us through some seriously off road trails. Thank goodness we had my husband's car because it took us over tree trucks, through seriously deep puddles, up steep hills and all around. We slid, we swerve, we spun out, even got stuck once. Only bad thing was a broken tail pipe which had to be fixed later in the day, but all was awesome. We got oh so close tot he point hat would have taken us over and through the back entry, but the road, if you even want to call it that, was so wet and muddy, we just could not make it up the steep hill. We reluctantly turned around and tried the next way. Of course, this way was blocked to vehicles, however, my feet were ready to go so I hiked through some serious brush, up and down man made piles of dirt, jumped over some serious flood puddles and got as close to the structure as possible without going in water. It was quite impressive. I took some shots and ran back as it started to rain. Once it dried out a little, we are going to return..
However, we were not through with the area. We ventured another fifteen minutes or so to Roseville, and sought out the old prison there. Some of the facility is being used for another establishment, but the guard tower and main jail house are still standing. We were able to go right in to the guard house and climb up the steel steps. It was insanely cool.
Across the street was the jailhouse. There was a huge lock on the door and we were unable to do anything but look in. We walked around the area and got a feel of the different buildings. However, as we left, something caught my eye up in the woods. There was another building, wide open and not gated or locked and another guard tower up in the hillside. we hiked up and got a great view of the backs of the buildings and the inside of what remained of the guard tower. We all had a great time climbing up the steps, jumping over toppled trees and trying to get up the steps around the trees that had grown through the rungs. It was great fun. But alas, the rain really came down as we darted to the truck. No, it was not epic, but after approximately 10 hours, we just just got home, Little Girl sound asleep, pants and shoes muddied, and our heads full of cool sites, belly aching laughs, some 80's Bangles music and an even greater appreciation of the roadtrip.
Our first stop took us to the Columbia Cement Factory in Zanesville, Ohio. This was once a huge complex that has been mostly torn down. Out first attempt took us through some seriously off road trails. Thank goodness we had my husband's car because it took us over tree trucks, through seriously deep puddles, up steep hills and all around. We slid, we swerve, we spun out, even got stuck once. Only bad thing was a broken tail pipe which had to be fixed later in the day, but all was awesome. We got oh so close tot he point hat would have taken us over and through the back entry, but the road, if you even want to call it that, was so wet and muddy, we just could not make it up the steep hill. We reluctantly turned around and tried the next way. Of course, this way was blocked to vehicles, however, my feet were ready to go so I hiked through some serious brush, up and down man made piles of dirt, jumped over some serious flood puddles and got as close to the structure as possible without going in water. It was quite impressive. I took some shots and ran back as it started to rain. Once it dried out a little, we are going to return..
However, we were not through with the area. We ventured another fifteen minutes or so to Roseville, and sought out the old prison there. Some of the facility is being used for another establishment, but the guard tower and main jail house are still standing. We were able to go right in to the guard house and climb up the steel steps. It was insanely cool.
Across the street was the jailhouse. There was a huge lock on the door and we were unable to do anything but look in. We walked around the area and got a feel of the different buildings. However, as we left, something caught my eye up in the woods. There was another building, wide open and not gated or locked and another guard tower up in the hillside. we hiked up and got a great view of the backs of the buildings and the inside of what remained of the guard tower. We all had a great time climbing up the steps, jumping over toppled trees and trying to get up the steps around the trees that had grown through the rungs. It was great fun. But alas, the rain really came down as we darted to the truck. No, it was not epic, but after approximately 10 hours, we just just got home, Little Girl sound asleep, pants and shoes muddied, and our heads full of cool sites, belly aching laughs, some 80's Bangles music and an even greater appreciation of the roadtrip.