As you leave Toledo on Ohio Route 2, you’re not far from the Lake Erie coastline, but you won’t see much of it. The road stays just far enough inland to keep you away from any views of the water. Instead, you’ll be enjoying a relaxing drive through mostly rural farmland. There are, however, some side roads that will take you closer to the water, and you can explore as many of them as time allows.
I found one such road, that split off from OH-2, at a big curve in the road. The small side road passes the Coolie Canal Yacht Club, then runs along a narrow causeway. The canal is on one side, and on the other is the Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, which as the name suggests, would be an excellent place to deploy a set of binoculars and scan the wetlands for its inhabitants.
At the end of this road (which apparently goes by several names, including Bono Road and Metzger Marsh State Road), there’s a parking area. From there, you can take a walk out a long jetty, and admire the endless views of Lake Erie — and do some fishing, if you’ve brought along a pole.
There may be other places along this stretch of the Erie coast that are worth seeking out, but on this trip, I didn’t make any more efforts, since I needed to get on to Cleveland. However, on my 2005 trip to the area, I visited Marblehead — a peninsula that juts out into Lake Erie, forming Sandusky Bay. OH-2 travels across part of the peninsula, then turns south into the city of Sandusky. It’s well worth the time to hop off OH-2 and drive out to the end of the peninsula, just to see…
… the Marblehead Lighthouse. This photo is from the 2005 trip — to see the entire story, click here.
Drivelapse Video
Here’s the time-lapse, dash-cam video of the drive across northern Ohio, starting in Oregon, Ohio (near Toledo), and headed east towards Sandusky Bay…
… and part two, from Sandusky Bay into Cleveland, ending at the A Christmas Story House:
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