#6. Lenten Fish Frys

One of my favorite things to do during Lent is attend a local fish fry. For those of you who may not know, Lent is the time leading up to Easter, where one of the things Catholics to do prepare for Easter is give up meat on Fridays. As a sometimes-vegetarian, this isn't too hard for me, especially when the alternative is spending around $8 for a lovely plate of fish, a baked potato, coleslaw and macaroni and cheese!

Fish frys are also great, because you can attend them and just about any Catholic church, and it's fun to go around to the different ones nearby, and see how they all compare. There are always a wide range of friendly people to chat with while enjoying your fish, and going to different places every Friday ensures a fun new group of fish enthusiasts to converse with.

When I lived in (heavily Catholic) Cincinnati, the newspaper would publish a list of all the 'best' fish frys, and how they compared in categories such as price, all you can eat vs. one serving, and the variety of sides offered. In this town, it's all on me to decide where I should go each week, and who has the best value for money. Trust me, I don't mind a bit!

#5. The Toledo Museum of Art

Ohio is home to many great art museums. Perhaps in future editions of 'Fun things to do in Ohio' I will feature them, but for now, I bring you, the Toledo Museum of Art. TMA has a pretty cool exhibit going on right now, about the Libbey family and how they started the museum. Two mummies are on display in this exhibit, as well as some really nice drawings, and one of Monet's famous water lily paintings.

One of the best things about the art museum is that it is FREE (thank you Libbey's and other rich people for creating a huge endowment, and present-day people who generously donate). The sun was out, and it was a beautiful winter day, so walking across the street to the new Glass Pavillion was enjoyable as well.

The Glass Pavilion houses the huge collection of glass works, as well as a studio where we watched the artists at work. My dear friends Bunny and Stan got married there as well. It is a gorgeous space!

It's right across the street from the main part of the museum, and the nice lady at the parking lot ($3), gave us a coupon to park at the GP for free, since we'd already paid her, but it was so nice, it wasn't a big deal to walk. Here they are at work, firing up the molten glass:

All in all, it was a fabulous afternoon. The art museum also has lots of evening activities to check out, including Toledo Symphony performances, art classes for all ages and First Friday events. My husband and I went on our second real date to the art museum, five years ago, and let me tell you, it deserves more of our time than once every five years. We'll be returning again soon!

#4. Go on vacation somewhere else

One of my favorite things about living in Ohio is it makes me appreciate travel so much more. Just think how nice it would be to visit somewhere warm, say Florida, when it's 70 degrees there, and 30 and snowing here. You get to relax, sunbathe a bit, and enjoy yourself, and then come home where you don't have to worry about those pesky little hurricanes.

My good friend, Michelle, happens to be on such a vacation right now, and has asked several people, including myself, to guest blog in her absence. You can check out my exciting entry here.

Enjoy! :)

#3. Harness alternative energy

This wind farm is one of my favorite things about Northwest Ohio. I think it's so great that we are using something we have plenty of (wind!) in an environmentally friendly way, to provide energy to homes in our area. When we moved into our house, our neighbors warned us not to buy a glass patio table, unless we wanted to clean up smashed glass. A couple of trash days later, after retreiving our trash can and recycling bin from where they had blown down the street, we realized they weren't kidding! The wind turbines are amazingly quiet as well. As I stood outside to take a few pictures, the traffic of the small, quiet country road was louder. Yay Bowling Green, for being so progressive! Can I get one of these for my backyard?