I'm a nature watcher, from way back. I like to get outside as much as I can and see what's happening. There are always birds and animals and plants to watch. There's always something different to see. Clouds, snowflakes, nothing is ever not unique in this ever-changing world. In short, there's never a moment to be bored. Life's just too fascinating and too beautiful.

I've been in Ohio for close to two years now. After a life spent in the foothills of the Pennsylvania mountains, living in flat-as-a-pancake,at least by my standards, Ohio is like stepping into a whole new world.

Of all the things I've come to know and love about Ohio, there's one that will always top the list. You can travel all over the world. You can see everything it has to offer. But for sheer, everyday beauty you'll never find anything to surpass Lake Erie sunsets. You may find a lot of things that are equally beautiful, but I'll bet you don't find anything more beautiful repeated in endless variety almost every day. Lake Erie sunsets. There's nothing like them.

The oldest, still active member of the Arizona Horse Cutting Association lives right in Athens County just minutes from Nelsonville and Burr Oak State Park. Walt Semingson has been a horseman since he was a young boy growing up on his parents' ranch in North Dakota near the Montana border. These days, in his mid 80s, he'll still climb up on a horse to show how to use it to separate a cow from a cattle herd, but it's his sons who actually run the Semingson family-owned Smoke Rise Ranch. This is a place where cowboys not only look like cowboys, they are cowboys, chaps and all.

Just a last spring, Walt treated me to his horseman's skill before his son Mark took me horseback riding. Horseback rides and lessons are part of Smoke Rise's fare. You can even stay longer to learn how to be a ranch hand yourself. If I didn't know my geography, I'd have sworn they had whisked me out west, and I've been out west.

Their pristine acres are surrounded by the Wayne National Forest and state forest property, not far from Burr Oak State Park, makes it a perfect place for a family getaway. You can camp at the ranch's campground or rent a cabin. During the weekend of March 30-April 1 at the "Pre-season Tune-up" you can learn how to herd cattle. There are other special event weekends , including rodeos, from the spring through the fall. You can also enjoy winter with a horseback ride.

We just spent a couple hours there, but I'm itching to go back for more of Walt's stories about when he trained neighbors' horses back in 1930-and how exactly his authentic working ranch ended up in Ohio in the first place.

While there are several changes that came about with the governor shift in Ohio, one thing hasn't. The Heritage Garden that was Hope Taft's brainchild still remains. Before the Tafts moved into the governor's residence, the garden was the traditional English version. Mrs. Taft envisioned a place that reflected the diversity of Ohio's native plant life found in its five physiographic regions from Lake Erie to the Appalachians to the what once once a whole lot of prairie in between.

Hope Taft took four years to get this garden in place and the Stricklands aren't changing it. I don't think they can. If it hasn't already happened, Ohio's government is protecting the garden by law so some other governor years down the road, or his wife, or her husband, can't say, "Gee, wouldn't an English garden be nice?" Or if they do say it, they're just going to have to enjoy the yellow lady slipper orchids, the white and red trilliums, the purple coneflowers, and whatever else is native to Ohio.

Because the Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden are part of our heritage, we get to see it. You don't need any proof that you are an Ohioan either. Someone from, say, Kentucky can go. What you do need to do is call ahead for a tour reservation. Tours are on Tuesdays. If you can't make it to the garden in person, the website has an interactive map where you can click on each area to see what it planted there.

Lake Glacier in Mill Creek Park is one of my absolute favorite places to visit in every season of the year, and this is the absolute best view of its serene, surrounding landscape.

When you see Fountain Square, in Cincinnati, you'd never guess it was once the site of a market for butchers. It was, though. That was before 1871. In that year, Henry Probasco was looking for a way to present the city with a memorial to his brother-in-law, Tyler Davidson. His solution was Fountain Square.

Probasco wasn't the sort of person who just pays the bills. He actively participated in selecting William Tinsley to design the square. He even traveled to the Royal Bavarian Foundry, in Munich, to commission the square's centerpiece, a massive bronze fountain. At the foundry he met Ferdinand von Miller and August von Kreling. The pair had collaborated on a design for a fountain called "The Genius of Water". The work was to be forty-three feet tall. The base would have reliefs of the many uses for water, surmounted by allegorical figures. The whole thing was to be topped with a nine-foot tall figure of a woman, the genius of water, with water pouring from her outstretched hands. We're talking nineteenth-century public sculpture at it's most characteristic. Probasco loved it, but he had a condition. Remember, he was a hands-on sort of patron of the arts. He insisted on the addition of figures of animals, one on each side, to be used as drinking fountains. The artists, lacking another client, acquiesced.

That's how Cincinnati lost it's butchers' market and gained one of its favorite landmarks, the Tyler Davidson Fountain. Since then, it's been moved around a bit and the square completely redesigned a couple times, but forty-three feet of bronze and granite exuberance remain as a memorial to Tyler Davidson and a symbol of Cincinnati.

Thanks to the forward-looking vision of Volney Rogers, in 1891 the Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, Ohio was founded, preserving a stretch of land that today is compromised 2600 acres. Mill Creek Park is the second largest metropolitan park in the United States, second only to Central Park in New York City. Not bad for a little city in Ohio!

Today some of the parks' most beautiful features are Lanterman's Mill, a pioneer's mill that once ground wheat, corn, buckwheat and oats in the 1800s, the Fellows Riverside Gardens, an eleven-acre museum to roses, tulips, herbs, chrysanthemums, evergreens, dwarf fir trees, rhododendrons, and a variety of annuals and perrenials. The gardens attract people from all over the world. The park also includes golf courses, foottrails, waterfalls, Lake Glacier, horse stables, and the Ford Nature Center, where a group of naturalists work in the park all year around.

The park is Youngstown's crowning achievement as a community, thus making it one of the man-made wonders of Ohio, created in a period when Volney Rogers could foresee the destruction of our natural wonders as Ohio was becoming industrialized, but it's also one of the many feathers in Ohio's cap. Visit the park website for more details. Better yet, make a plan to visit Mill Creek Park this summer when the gardens are in full bloom!

There is something about Ohio after it's snowed and the sun has not appeared for a few days, particularly after road dirt has had some time to get splashed around. Today, I was explaining to non-native English speakers the term, "winter blues." Actually, since the snow has just come, it's still a bit of a novelty, but still, the flower section of a grocery store looks mighty good about now.

In some Ohioans' houses, the grocery store is trumped when it comes to plants. Sharon Holtzman has 2,000 African violets growing in her basement. Holtzman is a hybridizer who comes up with new African violet types by cross breeding. She sells plants, leaves and growing mixtures of soil and nutrients. I know this because in January I dabbled in the world of African violet growers for an article I wrote. There are many people across Ohio like Sharon who are wild about violets. They are stellar folks--truly delightful and most belong to a society. Columbus has an African violet society. So does about every major city in the state. Members share growing tips with each other, gear up for their society's show (most are in the late spring or early fall), head to national conventions and basically use African violets as a way to forge great friendships.

When I was a guest at the Columbus African Violet Society meeting at the Franklin Park Conservatory, members passed around birthday cards for people to sign, played leaf bingo, welcomed guests and created a sense of group belonging. Being part of a group helps people stay healthy, both mentally and physically. It was hard not to join up myself. I did leave with an African violet leaf to propagate and some growing tips. One tip to pass along. Although the grocery store varieties are pretty, unless the violet has a name, and not like Sally or Lucy or Elvira-but a species name, you can't enter it in a society show. Only officially named violets are contenders. Sharon's all have her town, Newtown, worked in. The one in the photo is Newtown Happenstance.

For a great African violet resource, check out African Violet Magazine. The website also has a link to the African violet societies around the world, including Ohio. Scroll down until you get to Ohio's socities.

I really liked this statue that is just sitting in a random garden in the Gordon Square Cultural Arts District, in the Detroit Shoreway area. I have got to tell you, I have no idea who made it, or what it's of, but I was on my way to Gypsy Beans & Baking (because I go there. A lot), and I saw and thought it was fabulous!

photo credit: katherine galo

As a native Clevelander, I really like how immediately recognizable our landmarks are. Just like Chicagoans have the weird Picasso statue that could be anything and San Franciscans have the Golden Gate bridge, Clevelanders have the giant FREE Stamp that's just down the street from City Hall and up the street from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the middle of downtown.

The FREE stamp was originally commissioned in 1982 by Standard Oil of Ohio (now part of BP America), who hired the artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Oldenburg and van Bruggen have made lots of other similar giant commonplace objects, and so for the piece in the middle of Cleveland's city center, they chose a self-inking stamp, as if from a post office. Van Bruggen suggested the word "free" to represent liberty and independence, and to have a giant positive statement in the middle of the city. The stamp, which was originally sited in Public Square, now lays on its side in Willard Park, and after quite a few city departmental squabbles, was dedicated in 1991. It is now a giant really cool piece of pop art, and clearly recognizable to any Clevelander.

photo credit: katherine galo

Yes, it's finally snowed to the point that it looks like it counts. Sledding, cross-country skiing, down-hill skiing, the possibilities for outdoor winter fun have arrived. If it lasts, here are some places for some good sled riding if you get the chance. One possibility is to head to a metro park. At Columbus Metro Parks, Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, Blacklick Woods, Highbanks and Sharon Woods have sledding hills.

In Cleveland, check out The Chalet in Mill Stream Run Reservation for tobogganing, and for sledding there are several possibilities that range from Hinkley to Rocky River to Chagrin Falls. Within the options there are some places that have lights for night sledding.

For any of you who live in other parts of Ohio, here is a website: Ohio Sled Riding Locations. It lists 64 sled riding hills across the state. There are comments, as well as details,about a hill's steepness and location. If you have your own sled hill favorite and want to share, submit it to the website and let us know here as well.

Travel writing is one of my niches, and when I'm writing about something not exactly travel oriented, my tendency is to look for a travel angle. Currently, I'm working on a story on rare and native plants in Ohio which has led me on a little journey to southern Ohio. Here are some facts I've learned about, again, through the Ohio Division of Natural Resources (ODNR). (If you don't know this already, this is a stellar group of people passionate about Ohio's natural glory-and there's a lot in Ohio to be passionate about).

The facts:

Adams County is the one with the biggest diversity of natural plant life in the entire state. Lucas County is a close second. In Adams County, between the two state parks, Shawnee and Adams Lake, plus five state preserves: Adams Lake Prairie, Chaparral Prairie, Davis Memorial State Nature Preserve, Johnson Ridge State Nature Preserve and Whipple (Robert A.) State Nature Preserve, PLUS the two state forests, Shawnee and Brush Creek, there are plenty of places to go wandering to see what plants you can find. I've been to Shawnee State Park and stayed at the group campground. Excellent. The nature center there has award winning naturalist , Jenny Richards who is delighted to tell folks about the area and organizes events through the center.

While I was talking with the folks at ODNR I also found out that besides overseeing our state's land, the division also partners with private preserves. Here's one that popped out as a don't miss. The Highlands Nature Sanctuary is located in what is called the Arc of Appalachia that includes a five county range in the Appalachians of Ohio. You do need a permit before you go hiking, and the permit needs to be applied for at least a week ahead of when you are planning to go. The sanctuary won't make exceptions so don't think you can show up and beg. You can get the permit from the website.

If you really want to apply ahead, think about going to the Highlands Nature Sanctuary-boasting 88 gorgeous acres with at least 43 rare plants- for the 2nd Annual Wildflower Pilgrimage, April 20-22. There's information about this event plus others on the sanctuary's website as well. The above photo is from the sanctuary, and they kindly agreed to let me use it. One more thing. On the Highlands website, you can sign up for their free e-magazine. This place is an Ohio gem.

• Day 1- 18 miles
• Fairhaven to woods near Gratis (Preble Co.)
• Day 2- 28 miles
• Near Colonial Vineyards, Ridgeville
• Day 3- 27 miles
• Ridgeville to King's Mill
• (Cross Little Miami River, think of Buckleberry Ferry)
• Day 4- 25 miles
• King's Mill to Marathon
• Day 5- Rest day
• Day 6- 17 miles
• Marathon to Bethel

• Day 7- 20 miles
• Bethel to Georgetown
• Day 8- 12 miles
• Georgetown to Decatur
• Day 9- 16 miles
• Decatur to Panhandle
• Day 10- 16 miles
• Panhandle to Cedar Mills
• Day 11- 15 miles
• Cedar Mills to Otway
• Day 12- 17 miles
• Cedar Mills to Idaho
• Day 13- 18 miles
• Idaho to Scioto Trail State Park
• Day 14- 12 miles
• Scioto Trail State Park to Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (the mounds stand in for Weathertop)
• Day 15- 19 miles
• Hopewell Culture NHP to Tar Hollow State Park
• Day 16- 19 miles
• Tar Hollow to Ash Cave, Hocking Hills State Park
• Day 17- 19 miles
• Hocking Hills to Carbondale
• Day 18- 19 miles
• Carbondale to Athens
• Day 19- 19 miles
• Athens to Burr Oak State Park
• Day 20- 19 miles
• Burr Oak to Eagleport
• Day 21- 7 miles
• Eagleport to Ruralsdale
• (Muskingum River stands in for the Loudwater)
• Day 22- 6 miles
• Ruralsdale to The Wilds Wildlife Center (Muskingum Co.)
• Day 23- 6 miles
• The Wilds to Cumberland
• Day 24- 6 miles
• Cumberland to Claysville
• Day 25- 34 miles
• Claysville to Newcomerstown
• Day 26- 20 miles
• Newcomerstown to Sugarcreek
• Day 27- 18 miles
• Sugarcreek to Zoar
• (Boliver on the Tuscarawas River stands in for the site of Nazgul attack at ford. Ohio Historical Society's Zoar Village stands in for Rivendell).

Sometimes travel writers don't actually go to the places they write about, unless of course, one needs to go for an indepth look. Often articles are just a round-up of ideas, thus an actual see-it-for-yourself is not necessary. For example, several years ago I was writing a piece on the best fall foliage pieces in Ohio. The due date was in August. The research was done in July. With good research though, you find the people who actually know the places and write in a way that entices others to go there. In my case I called places like the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to see what they would suggest. Such was the case when Conkle's Hollow was included in my article round-up. Since then, I have been there which qualifies it as a place I feel confident about naming as one of Ohio's natural wonders.

Conkle's Hollow, named for the man who carved his name, W. J. Conkle and the date 1797 in the sandstone rock on the west side of the gorge is a hiker's gem that I think might get overlooked by the close by Old Man's Cave which seems to get more press. Both are in Hocking Hills. Conkle's Hollow is a state nature preserve with well-marked trails. One of them takes you around the top of the hollow. Think gorge. Since my travel piece enticed me to go there myself, I did one of the hikes. At the time our daughter was 5. If you go hiking, be careful about the trail you choose. The one that is around the top (not the one we went on) is dangerous in spots because of the sheer drop-offs.

Some features about Conkle's Hollow that made me think of it as one of Ohio's Natural Wonders.

• It's considered one of the deepest gorges in Ohio. The vertical cliffs are more than 200 feet.
• The foliage runs the gamut from wildflowers to hardwoods that are protected due to the state preserve status
• There is a legend that settlers found a petroglyph made by Indians on a gorge wall to hide the location of buried treasure. This really isn't a natural wonder element, but it makes for a cool story.

If you've gone to Old Man's Cave, Conkle's Hollow is past there. It is easy to find and worth the trip. You could actually take in both places in the same day. Even if you don't hike one of Conkle Hollow's trails you can get a good view of the gorge from the bottom. The hiking is year-round.

You can download a brochure of Conkle's Hollow from the ODNR website.

I just had no idea! I was literally just at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and I even visited the polar bears (what, it was really cold out, and I especially like to visit the polar bears on those kind of days, because then it's like I'm seeing them in their natural habitat).

Little One, the only male polar bear in residence in Cleveland, is being loaned to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden for at least two years. And why? Breeding! Yes! We are desperate for more young polar bears in Cleveland, apparently, and we certainly couldn't mate Little One to his sisters here in Cleveland. It's actually even bigger than that, because polar bears are being considered for the threatened species list. I shouldn't mock too much - I would be really saddened to see the polar bears go. But I am seriously surprised - I feel like I should run back over to the zoo and figure out if there's anything else there that I missed. Are they shipping out the tigers? The rhino? Anything?

I have to admit that "severe weather" warnings seem to be getting more common, along with warnings of "don't go out if you don't have to." I don't think it's because we have more bad weather than ever before. It's just because we hear about it a lot more in this day of instant information. If you'd like to see just how bad Ohio weather can get, and you don't scare easily, there's a good website Ohio History called Severe Weather in Ohio. It might make you a little less ready to run for the basement, thinking the latest storm isn't all that big a deal, or it might make you take the next plane out in terror. i wouldn't recommend that course, though. You can't run from Mother Nature.

The site was developed with information from a book called Thunder in the Heartland: A Chronicle of Outstanding Weather Events in Ohio, by Dr. Thomas Schmidlin and Jeanne Appelhaus Schmidlin. Brief accounts of twenty-five events are presented, with photographs and, in some cases, videos. Whoever designed the site did an excellent job. There's a weather glossary and a good page of links. If you go to Weather for You, you'll find out that, on any given day, there was a time when the weather was a lot worse. Maybe it will make shoveling the snow a little easier. Want a forecast? Just go to the National Weather Service. It's a lot faster than waiting for the news.

The site deals with tornadoes, floods, heat waves, and some mysterious eight-foot waves that hit Cleveland. Toledoans remember the day in, 1992, when twenty-eight tornadoes passed through Northwest Ohio, a record that I'm glad I missed. There is an event on the list that I remember well, even though I survived it in the next state over. January of 1977 is a month I'll never forget. The blisters on my hands from shoveling snow ten times a day for a whole month lasted till spring. I never want to see twenty-five below on a thermometer again! After that shock, it takes a lot to impress me.