Ohio Shout-Out

[Kathi]

My memories of growing up in southwestern Ohio are of rivers, not lakes so I vote for the "Ohio River Valley". Where I grew up west of Cincinnati there were 3 rivers, the Great Miami, the Whitewater and the Ohio River within a 5-10 mile radius of my house.

We water skied and sailed on the Ohio. We could take a ferry boat across the Ohio into Ky. and go to Indiana to canoe on the Whitewater. In order to drive east into Cincinnati we drove along and crossed the Great Miami. For a night out we took river boats to view the scenery at night or ate at restaurants along the Ohio. On Labor Day fireworks are brought up the river and set off between the bridges that connected Cincinnati with Ky.

When I moved into Cincinnati I rode my bike along the Little Miami on the Loveland (Little Miami) bike trail. On the Ky side we rode along the Ohio.

IMHO, Northern Ohio groups better with the Great Lakes while Southern and Southwestern Ohio groups better with the Ohio Valley, ie, Ky, Indiana.

[BurrOakBobcat]

Maybe Ohio's historic associations-- its Western Reserve and being in the old Northwest Territory-- place it in the midwest.

Enjoy TOSRV, Oak Leaf! Hope you enjoy tailwinds both ways

[iowagrad]

I was born and raised in Cleveland. I moved to the midwest (Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin) for college and my post-collegiate life. To me, northeast Ohio is definitely not the midwest, nor is it the Ohio River Valley; but I can easily classify other parts of Ohio as such. Many of my midwestern friends, after having been to Cleveland, refuse to categorize it as midwest - they think we're grungy easterners. It's hard to characterize because it touches so many regions - the midwest, Appalachia, the Ohio River Valley, the Great Lakes. I guess Ohioans are kind of like the mutts at the pound - no one really knows how to describe us, but we sure are loveable.