Akron or bust?
While discussing vacation plans one day, one of my co-workers, Pauletta Osborne mentioned that she’d like to go to Akron, Ohio. “It’s on my list of places I want to go before I die. You might want to mention I also want to go to Tuscany and Holland and New Zealand,” Pauletta said.
Okay, I’ve never been to Tuscany, Holland or New Zealand, but I can see the appeal — great scenery, interesting food and the allure of foreign travel to safe, friendly destinations. But Akron? I’ve been there for day trips and have enjoyed them over the past 30 years, but I’ve never thought of it as a vacation destination.
Pauletta’s never been there, but like the other places on her “want to see” list, there’s a reason for it: there’s a hotel there built out of old grain silos, the former silos and mills of the Quaker Oats Company. All of the rooms at the Crowne Plaza Quaker Square are round, 24-feet in diamaeter to be exact, the same as the silos themselves.
But of course, there’s more to Akron than a unique hotel. The first place I ever visited in Akron was Stan Hywet, the Seiberling estate. Quick history: F.A. Seiberling founded Goodyear in 1898. the rubber industry was lucrative and between 1912 and 1915 he built a beautiful country estate. It remains gorgeouos to this day, with a birch-lined walkway off the music room and a peaceful Japanese garden. Stan Hywet alone is worth the drive to Akron.
But there’s more. Akron is also the home of the All-American Soap Box Derby, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. It’s also in easy driving distance of the Blossom Music Center and the 19th century Hale Farm and Village and the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad offers trips from Akron. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is just 20 miles away in Canton and 35 miles away you’ll find the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Geauga Lake Theme Park. A list of Website links to these and other sites is available at the Crowne Plaza Quaker Square site.