HUESTON WOODS STATE PARK & LODGE

Last weekend my husband and I took a drive out to the countryside in Preble County where we had booked an overnight stay at the lodge at Hueston Woods located inside the state park. Geographically, Hueston Woods State Park is located about a two hour drive slightly southwest of Columbus and is near the city of Oxford and Miami University. Neither of us had ever heard of Hueston Woods previously, but came across it in a gift basket promotion for Darby H.S. My husband looked it up on a map and asked if I would be interested in going there for the weekend to check out the autumn color. In spite of being slightly hesitant because of the ongoing concern with Covid, I said yes figuring it might be worth it just for the change of scenery.

We left about mid-morning and stopped off briefly in Springfield to pick up some sandwiches for the road at one of our favorite restaurants, Café Mundo. I got behind the wheel to do a rare bit of freeway driving into the countryside - very reminiscent of traveling over all the lonely freeways in Arizona. I saw enough cornfields (and way too many Trump Pence signs) to satisfy me for a lifetime. After only two hours (but felt like more) and lots of left and right turns up and down various twisting little hills, we arrived. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see a truly vintage A-frame style lodge in front of me, though not surprised to see it surrounded by scaffolding in places where it was undergoing repairs. I read that A-framed buildings were at the height of their popularity in the 1950s-1970s. This lodge opened in 1967, and other than a few updates here and there, it still maintained a lot of that rustic charm. My husband commented, “It was nice in a run-down sort of way.”

We weren’t the only ones arriving for the weekend. Apparently a wedding was scheduled for later in the afternoon, so guests were slowly streaming in. We saw an arch decorated in pink ribbon along with several dozen rows of chairs situated out back near the lake. We both agreed they had a decent enough day for an October outside wedding as no rain was forecast, and it was at least partly sunny and about 60 degrees with a light breeze. Still, I’m glad we chose to get married inside and during the summertime.

After checking in we ate our picnic lunch at one of the tables out back near the fenced-in pool area (which was, of course, covered and closed for the season), then we went upstairs to drop off our overnight bags and change into hiking shoes before heading over to the lake. 

Like when we traveled to Hocking Hills in 2005, we had just missed the peak color, but we still enjoyed the experience of getting away, and it was fun swishing through all the fallen leaves (none of which we were responsible for picking up).

Our first stop was a walk over to the covered bridge which is currently sitting over a dry river bed (it’s been a pretty dry summer and fall so far). Not surprising, this was a popular tourist destination and we had to be patient and wait our turn before getting too close to take a few pictures. We probably spent more time stepping over the rocks and exploring the dry river bed. Honestly, not the most impressive covered bridge we’ve ever seen (and we’ve probably seen at least two dozen), but as it was nearby and I’m a fan of crossing things off a list, it was worth seeing and certainly killed a little time.

https://visithw.com/park-destinations/covered-bridge/

After leaving there we drove closer to the lake and hiked a trail partially around the lake visiting various oddities here and there like the old sugar house (where maple syrup was once made),

a blind on the beach probably used for fishing or bird watching,

and the dog beach (yes, they actually have a designated section of the beach just for dogs), though no dogs were currently using it.

Considering the weather and the current pandemic, we saw about the expected amount of families and other tourists also hiking the trails and enjoying the beach and other local amenities. To accommodate social distancing since so few of us were wearing masks outside (we didn’t), we often had to step aside to let our fellow travelers pass, but everyone was gracious about it. Back at the hotel, in spite of there being a wedding and a parking lot full of cars, the hotel itself was somewhat quiet. The largest crowd of people seemed to be in the restaurant, so we assume everyone else was either in their rooms or possibly in the cabins.

We were grateful for the option to order a take-out dinner from the restaurant since reservations were required and seating limited, and we didn’t feel comfortable eating in anyway. Failing that we saw a flyer from a local pizza place in Oxford that apparently delivers to the hotel, so that would have been Plan B. 

I quite liked the lodge in all its vintage charm and it would definitely be a fun place to bring kids because of the two pools and arcade located on the premises. Plus, I assume all rooms had a VCR/dvd combo so there’s always that option for entertainment if you remember to bring one from home (had I known that ahead of time I definitely would have thrown a dvd or two into my bag).

For the adults there’s ski-ball and a small bar inside the hotel. We saw a couple taking turns playing ski-ball. I told my husband half the fun of playing is watching the machine spit out lots of tickets that you collect to trade in for worthless crap, but it’s still fun playing and choosing stuff afterwards.

We did partake of adult beverages and wandered upstairs to sit in a pair of rocking chairs that looked out on the lake (though it was too dark to see much by that point). Since the hotel was pretty quiet, there were only a few other tourists in the nearby vicinity, but still well distanced from where we sat.

We ran out of time and good weather to try our hand at disc golf as they have a 27 hole course near their regular golf course. Of course there’s plenty to do around the lake including hiking, biking, fishing, boating, etc. 

Sunday morning we drove into the nearby town of Oxford, home to Miami University, and definitely very much a college town (which reminded me a little of Painesville, up north near where I’m from). We bought coffees and a couple pan au chocolates (which confused the cashier as he asked, ‘do you mean those chocolate croissants?’), and took them to enjoy outside at Martin Luther King Jr park in the square. Just glad we ate fast because no sooner were we done than it began to rain, so we quickly headed back to our car and hit the road for home.

For more info click on these links:

https://www.huestonwoodslodge.com/

https://ohiodnr.gov/wps/portal/gov/odnr/go-and-do/plan-a-visit/find-a-property/hueston-woods-state-park