Ohio has it’s perks for travel-lovers.  It’s approximately halfway between Chicago and NY.  Ohioans are within easy driving distance to places like Washington D.C., Toronto, Philadelphia, Grand Rapids, St. Louis, Nashville, Colombia and Memphis.

Living in Columbus, Ohio, smack dab in the middle of the state, means we are centrally-located enough to drive to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Kentucky and get back again in one day.  That’s really pretty remarkable.

I hear discouraging remarks from people about living in Ohio for many reasons including these common complaints:

It’s flat.

There’s nothing to do.

It’s boring.

There are no mountains.

There is no ocean.

It’s too hot.

It’s too cold.

I wouldn’t argue with the fact that it is mostly flat and there are no mountains or ocean.  However, I wouldn’t say it’s boring or there’s nothing to do.  I would also argue that there are so many amazing places so close by to explore.

With the amazingness of podcasts and audio books, you can be entertained while you drive to some place awesome.  So you have a full days’ worth of travel and entertainment.  Can you really say that’s boring?  Maybe boredom has something to do with you, and not with the state itself.  I’m going to quote Betty Draper from Mad Men when her son told her he was bored: “Only boring people are bored.”  So maybe Ohio isn’t boring.  You are.

All joking and insults aside, two of my most commonly-read articles on here are Places within 4 hours of Columbus, Ohio.

I’ve also written a series of other posts on hikes in Ohio and city guides for day trips from Columbus.  I’ve compiled a list of places I’ve written about on Google Maps, and included the blog post link for each location.  So if you click on the marker, under the description will have the blog post that corresponds with the place.

This is an evolving list because I’m always exploring new places.  This list just includes places I’ve visited, written about and can vouch for.

I’ve also compiled a list of Places within 8 hours from Columbus, Ohio.  There are some places just over 4 hours, many around the 6 hour mark, and then some around 8 hours.  Some of these would be great overnights, or weekend trips.

I hope this inspires you Ohioans to go on a trip somewhere.  There are a lot of beautiful places close by!  As I’m looking at these maps, I’m realizing how much I still haven’t explored!  I need to get to the west of Ohio and see what’s over there!  I can’t believe I’ve never been to St. Louis, Memphis or Missouri.  I need to change that.

So just remember, “only boring people are boring.”  Make the most of living in this centrally-located state.