Off the Beaten Path - Small Town Destinations: Wooster, Ohio

Continuing with my Off the Beaten Path - Small Town Destinations Series, I bring you...Wooster, Ohio. 

Wooster's population is 27k+. Located fifty miles southwest of Cleveland, it's surrounded by rolling countryside with farms, wineries, walking paths and hiking trails. 

In the downtown area, we visited quaint shops, each unique in what it had to offer. The smell of delicious barbecue teased my nostrils as it wafted through the air from a restaurant at the town square. 

Tastefully decorated for Christmas, my anticipation for the holidays increased and the cogs started to turn for yet another Christmas romance with Wooster as the setting.   

We stopped for lunch at The Granary Restaurant located in the Pine Tree Barn. I had an amazing meal of a Club Croissant with ham, bacon, Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato. Included was a cashew spinach salad topped with hot bacon dressing. Have I made you hungry?

You're probably wondering why I shared the food details. It's because writing should involve at least some of the 5 senses: sight, sound, feel, smell, and taste. *Grins* 

Pine Tree Barn is a spacious 25,000 square foot restored barn (originally built in 1868) that's not only famous for the restaurant part of their business, but also for their gift gallery, furniture and designs/decorations for the home. There were three floors of awesomeness to get lost in for hours. We were there for 2 and I'm not sure we saw everything.

(This is a picture of the front of the Pine Tree Barn, but it doesn't do it justice. Nor does it show how massive it is.) 

From there, we visited one of the wineries seven miles out of town on the edge of Amish country. It had quite the assortment of vino to sample/choose from. I had a lemon wine slushie. Outside the winery I took a picture of this gem - a shelter house with white lights strung amongst tall trees. I envisioned it as a perfect autumn scene that could be used for a romantic suspense or cozy mystery. I've written 1 romantic suspense and 1 cozy mystery, and the possibility now exists for more in those genres.  

Small cities/towns are as incredible as big cities, just differently. I'm glad I visited Wooster and its outlying areas. So many details are now written down or stored in my thoughts for future use.

That's all for now.

The magic of my next small-town adventure awaits. Stay tuned. 

Love, 

Jan

P.S. You can check out my books at: www.authorjanromes.com or on my author page on Amazon.