Ohio: A truly great summer road-tripping state

A stretch of suffocatingly hot weather may have made it tempting to just stay indoors as much as possible, but a recent study reminds us Ohio has a great deal to offer outside. The best part is, it just takes a switch from the air conditioning in your house to the air conditioning in your car to go enjoy it. WalletHub's "2025's Best and Worst States for Summer Road Trips" placed the Buckeye State at an impressive third in the country. The idea for this particular group of researchers was to find road trips that were fun AND wallet-friendly, which is a bonus for all of us. We forget about the options here because we are so used to thinking we must go far afield for vacation and weekend fun. That's a shame because, according to the study, Ohio is 15th in the country for the number of attractions, 24th for the lowest price of three-star hotel rooms, 15th for the average price of gasoline, 11th for nightlife options per capita, 17th for vehicle miles traveled per capita, 10th for access to scenic byways and 17th for fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. In fact, the only category in which Ohio dropped below the midpoint was for the lowest price of camping, where we ranked 27th. How do we capitalize on such a remarkable performance? "Different places are different and have something different to promote," said Craig Webster, an associate professor at Ball State University. "Promotion has to make a place seem to be either unique, pleasant, or inexpensive, so finding the right mix of the attributes of the destination and the types of visitors it wants to bring is a bit of an art form." Fortunately, those in our backyard like Shores and Islands Ohio have travel and tourism officials who have perfected that art form — though it sounds as though they're going to have to keep doing what they are doing (and more) to keep the visitors coming. While we work to attract those road trippers, consider becoming one yourself — not just here, but all over Ohio. There really is something special around every corner. Why not spend the summer enjoying it? OGDEN NEWSPAPERS