Day 57 in Zanesville - Two Far 2016 - Florida to Ontario: A Round Trip - CycleBlaze

July 27, 2016

Day 57 in Zanesville

We're in Zanesville today, relaxing and visiting. We started today by walking down to the riverfront park. The park has several sculptures honoring Zanesville's veterans and one which is a group of figures from Zanesville's 200-year history. In doing genealogical research on Kerry’s family, it was discovered that Zane Grey was Kerry's 2nd cousin 3 times removed.

Sculpture representing two hundred years of Zanesville history. Left to right: John McIntire, Noah Norris, Zane Grey and John Glenn.
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After spending time in the park, we took a walk along the walking/cycling trail that follows the river north from town. However, we didn’t go far because it was very hot. It is surprising to me how much hotter it feels walking in 90-degree heat than cycling.

After returning from the walking trail, we took a quick tour of Zanesville’s downtown. Like so many places, Zanesville's downtown is in a continual decline. When Kerry was growing up, the downtown area was a vibrant shopping district with large department stores, restaurants, and specialty shops that drew customers from a wide area. Those are all gone now. There isn't much left in the downtown area except for the government buildings, churches, and a few banks and professional offices. There are still some beautiful buildings though, especially the churches. The big, old, impressive church building Kerry's extended family has attended for generations is for sale now and we heard that most of the downtown churches are struggling to survive.

Beautiful Muskingum County Courthouse
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Central Presbyterian Church. Multiple generations of Kerry's family have attended this church
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Organ in Central Presbyterian
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All in all, we didn't spend too long out and about before retreating to our air-conditioned hotel rooms. It was nice to have a lazy afternoon with nothing that needed to be done.
In the evening, we had dinner with Kerry's cousin Melanie. We don't see her very often, but we always have a good time when we get together.
Tomorrow we ride to Columbus with a forecast high in the low 80's. We're looking forward to that!

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