Weekend Road Trip- Mt. Vernon and Utica, Ohio and the Kokosing Gap Trail

Weekend Road Trip with my Sisters- Mt. Vernon and Utica, Ohio and the Kokosing Gap Trail

May 23-25, 2008

My family has always loved Velvet brand ice cream, which is made in Utica, Ohio. Our favorite flavor is Buckeye Classic, which is peanut butter ice cream with chocolate covered peanut butter balls that resemble the Ohio State Buckeye. While watching PBS one day, a show called ‘Our Ohio’ featured Velvet Ice Cream, the Old Mill and the Utica Ice Cream Festival. My sisters and I decided to attend the Ice Cream Festival, which is held annually over Memorial Day weekend.

While researching lodging and other things to do in the area, I found out about the Kokosing Gap Trail, which is a 14 mile, paved recreational rails-to-trail that runs from Mt. Vernon, through Gambier and Howard and ends in Danville, Ohio. Since my sisters and I love to bike, we decided to load our bikes onto my Vue and head down for a weekend of eating ice cream and cycling.

We left after work on Friday, May 23. We’d packed a cooler with fruit, sandwich fixings, bottled water, soda and snacks. We took US Route 30 West from Canton and through Wooster to Interstate 71 South. In Mansfield, we stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel and caught State Route 13 right in front of the restaurant. We followed SR13 all the way into Mt. Vernon.

Mt. Vernon is a cute little town with a round-about, big old homes and a lot of charm. We stayed at the Comfort Inn, which is very nice. It had an indoor pool, hot tub and sauna that we all enjoyed quite a bit.

On Saturday morning, May 24, we headed for the trailhead of the Kokosing Gap Trail. From there, we got on our bikes and headed toward Gambier along the Kokosing River. We crossed over old rail bridges and rode past cows grazing in open farm land. In Gambier, we stopped to enjoy the locomotive, flatbed car and caboose. We rode through the Howard Tunnel toward Danville. On the way back through, we stopped and ate lunch at the Howard Tunnel. We also saw a breath-taking bird called an indigo bunting. We had the most amazing day- the temperature was perfect, the sun was shining, other people were out enjoying the trail. We enjoyed the Trail very much!

After we were done riding, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Ice Cream Festival. After we were done changing, we headed down SR13 for about 10 miles toward Utica, Ohio. The Festival is held about 1 mile south of Utica in an open area. There is plenty of room for visitors, vendor booths and strollers. The Festival is very well laid out and a brochure that details the location of all the stands is included. Our very first stop was the Ice Cream tent. We all tried our favorite flavor, Buckeye, and then got a second scoop of another flavor. I tried Turtle Tracks, Joanna tried Cookies & Cream as well as Raspberry Chocolate Cordial and Megan tried Black Cherry. Of course, each flavor was delicious. After finishing our ice cream, we walked around the vendor areas buying tie-dyed aprons, sandstone coasters, jewelry, candles and magnets.

After the festival we headed back to the hotel room. We ordered pizza and pasta from a local place, Dirko’s, and drank wine while watching ‘Knocked Up’ on HBO. The next morning we got up early, had breakfast at the hotel and then headed home. We decided to take a back road most of the way. We caught State Route 3 North in Mt. Vernon and followed that through Mohican Area into Wooster, where we got on US Route 30 East toward Canton.

Although the trip was just a weekend excursion, we had a lot of fun. We were able to enjoy an area that we had never been to although it was just a few hours away and really experience what that area has to offer. We were able to spend our tourism dollars in our own state and get to know our state even better. We spent very little time getting to our destination and quite a bit of time really enjoying it. I had a blast and enjoyed the weekend with my sisters very much!















May 23, 2009

We'd had so much fun at the Ice Cream Festival the previous year that we decided to return again! We took an afternoon trip, driving through Mohican Country and arriving in Utica in the mid-afternoon. This year we took the time to go inside the Old Mill, observe the ice cream making exhibit and take a walk around the grounds of Velvet Ice Cream. Then we headed to our most anticipated attraction- the Ice Cream Tent! We each chose two individual scoops so we'd have 6 flavors to sample. We tried Buckeye Classic, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Peach, Pralines & Cream, Chocolate Raspberry Cordial and Cookies & Cream. All the flavors were delicious but I still prefer the Buckeye Classic. After finishing our scoops, we walked around the festival a bit and did some shopping. I ended up with a beautiful peacock pearl necklace purchased from a man that thought Jo, Meg and I were triplets. Yet again, my sisters and I had a blast at the Utica Ice Cream Festival and look forward to returning next year!