Bright Image Photography's Traveling Mama was traveling the Ohio River Byway again. This time from Athens, Ohio to Gallipolis.
Trips always have a starting point and an ending, but what happens in the middle--that is purely up to us.
My trip to Gallipolis turned out to be much different than I had planned. All that beautiful micromanaging flew out the window and well let me say it led to a very beautiful day trip. In this two part series we will be featuring not one river town but two.
The Road less traveled
I loaded up my traveling partner, Nyx, who I will introduce in a minute, on August 30, 2023. The weather was sticky but not hot. We packed her water, snacks, harness and all my photography gear, kissed the husband goodbye and away we went. The day started out with a fight between the sun and the clouds but as you will see, the sun did win out most of the time.
The Ohio River Byway covers 452 miles of Ohio but in order for me to get onto the main parts I detour through the college town of Athens Ohio. I left our house and grabbed the old 33 south highway (road sign said 33a) and took it down to meet the new 33 south near Darwin, Ohio. This road had beautiful fields filled with the late blooms of summer and we passed through some pretty farm and horse country.
The best part of doing what I do is choosing who I will travel with. This week, I want to introduce to you my sweet girl, Nyx. She is a rescued Lab mix and we have had her for over 2 1/2 years. She may look like a senior dog but she acts like a puppy.
Nyx loves to go wherever I go. As we jumped onto the regular 33 south, Nyx and I began to think about doughnuts.(Nyx is always thinking about the next meal) At 10 a.m. on a road trip adventure, who doesn't think about fresh made soft, sugary, deliciousness? As we pull into town we head to Pine street. Here you will find a cute doughnut shop, Daylight Donuts, that operates only from 6 am to 2pm Weds - Saturday. They are part of a small chain of donut shops that can be found from Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia.
You can't miss the big black building as you come up to it. It was entertaining to watch Nyx pop her head up and look out her window when I pulled into the driveway. She could smell the goodness too.
I walked into the bakery and the cases were full of so many good choices. I had to ask the kind person serving me to help with my decision because if it was left up to me I would eat one of every kind. They had strawberry and cream bear claws, glazed doughnuts, apple fritter doughnuts, and so many more to choose from.
The apple fritter doughnut I tried in the car was amazing. Crunchy, sugary outer layer, soft and tender inside, with small chunks of apples throughout. I hate when a doughnut advertises a filling but it doesn't deliver. These did not disappoint at all. Soon after my doughnut, I set the bag aside and drove over to route 141 west, looking for good views of the Ohio River. I enjoyed traveling around this small town. It had water access on 141 west with a private boat club and a greenhouse. I was tempted to stop at the greenhouse but with Nyx in the car I decided she might get too hot. So we continued up the hill and around the corner and there before us was a beautiful open area where I could pull the car off and take some picture.
This is the last picture I have of my beautiful doughnuts!! I did the number one no/no when traveling with a four legged companion. I left her alone. It took just a brief second for Nyx to jump up to the front seat, knock over my coffee cup and gobble those 2 remaining doughnuts. She didn't even rip the bag. She just chomped, chomped and gone. I can honestly say, Keith has never stolen my doughnuts!! Maybe I need to rethink travel companions! LOL!!
Needless to say she had no shame. I found her sitting in the front seat licking the remaining sugar glaze from her lips and looking at me like she was a queen. She even burped along the road to Gallipolis city park.
As we traveled to the park, regretting my choices and mourning the loss of my donuts; I began to wonder what sent people here? Why this part of Ohio first? So I spent some time at home looking at the history of this little town and this is what I learned.
This beautiful river town is the third oldest European settlement. It was established in 1790 by the Scioto Company. It was first started for French Royalist to escape the Revolution. According to the Britannica these people were deceived even before they left France. Not only did they escape with their lives, travel to the new world across treacherous oceans, through Indian territory, but once here, the land papers they thought they had purchased were just worthless pieces of paper. Eventually the company did buy land legally and some French were able to call this part of Ohio home. They called their little town "The City of The Gauls" or translated in Latin= Gala -Gauls and polis - city. There are signs along route 7 that commemorate this beautiful river city as being "The Old French Settlement." Throughout town you see touches of history and on my next visit I want to see some of the old downtown area.
For this visit, Nyx and I stayed to exploring parks and looking for River views. We parked at the river recreation area. Here there are lots of boat ramps and places for people to walk up to the city park. The sun was out and Nyx and I enjoyed walking along the river watching the barges. We also met two men capturing minnows.
They used an umbrella net and threw it into the shallows of the river. Minnows are used mainly in fishing as bait to capture other fish. The white box on the bucket is the aeration system that allows the little fish to breathe. They allowed me to photograph them as they walked down the river collecting their catch. They also demonstrated how the net system worked.
They were nice enough to allow me to include there pictures in this blog and I am grateful for the knowledge they shared. The Ohio River is still a huge resource in our state, not only for industry but also recreational use such as fishing, boating and swimming. It was fun to walk around Gallipolis and see the families sitting on the swing benches that over look the recreational area and river. Sternwheelers still travel down the Ohio River making occasional stops in Gallipolis and other river towns. It was nice to be reminded that even today this water way has a huge impact on the communities it runs through.
The next part of our journey continues in the next blog. I wanted to fly the drone but my insecurities and self doubt talked me out of it. So I changed my plans and started a whole new itinerary. Nyx didn't seem to mind the change as long as I scratched her head. Stay tuned for the next Blog in this series. when I take the roads least travelled.