Ohio: A Tourist’s Guide to Traveling Gluten-free

October is homecoming month so we undertook our Tour d’Ohio in early October. This was a chance to revel in crisp autumn temperatures and glorious trees. The trees were barely turning colors, but a cool snap brought the temperature down to a sweatshirt-worthy level.

Our tour took us from the banks of Lake Erie down to the hills of southern Ohio. We enjoyed the Chautauqua compound of Lakeside, where everything harkens to a simpler, kinder time. We also traveled to Lancaster to enjoy time on an Ohio farm and stopped by Wooster to reminisce about college times. The Amish buggies certainly take one back in time.

CLEVELAND

We started in Cleveland at the very impressive Playhouse Square to watch the opening night of a close family friend in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. We tend to groan a bit at the thought of Shakespeare, but a recent trend to simplify William’s poetry into something more modern and understandable allowed us to enjoy the humorous antics and actually understand the plot. Royer Bockus has performed this show in the usual Shakespeare prose, but she enjoys this format better as well.

Ohio is not particularly gluten-friendly, but we did enjoy breakfast at Mojo’s in Bay Village near Cleveland. All of their vegan baked goods were also GF and I’m afraid I ate the pumpkin spice loaf in one day. If you can’t make it to Ohio, here is my favorite GF muffin recipe to try at home:

https://knowaboutnutrition.com/the-best-ever-pumpkin-muffins-made-healthier

This is more for your non-GF friends, but we had a good lunch at the Lake House in downtown Cleveland. Unlike the name, it is actually on the Cuyahoga River around the corner from the Lake. However, where the Cuyahoga was once a burning mess, it is quite lovely now.

I snuck a few nibbles of my husband’s biscuit at the Lake House and I have to say it was quite wonderful. I didn’t order the walleye (Lake Erie’s regional fish) because it was coated with Ritz crackers, so Wally Walleye will be safe for now.

Ohio may not be the best for gluten-free, but the farm stands do have the best apple cider you have ever tasted. Enjoy!

To find other GF munchies go to:

https://www.findmeglutenfree.com