Port Clinton, OH
A real 1950s Jerry O'Mahony diner, built in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that served decades in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania as the Sunrise Diner before the Liberty Aviation Museum made it a permanent fixture in 2012: chrome, red booths, checkerboard floor, breakfast all day, proceeds supporting the museum. Fly-in pilots enter straight off the diner patio. The name is the payoff: Tin Goose is the Ford Tri-Motor's nickname, the museum next door flies a 1928 Tri-Motor on living-history rides (some summers hopping it out to Put-in-Bay, the way Island Airlines Tri-Motors shuttled these islands for decades), and volunteers are restoring an actual Island Airlines ship in the hangar. The museum adds a flying B-25, Georgie's Gal, and a WWII PT boat under restoration. Open seven days, 8 to 3 weekdays and 7 to 3 weekends; the museum asks winter visitors to call before flying long distances, which is honest of them.
On Sandusky Bay, three miles east of Port Clinton — the gateway to the Lake Erie islands. The airport has US Customs and accepts inbound international flights, making it a real Great Lakes corridor field despite the small-town setting. Home to the Liberty Aviation Museum, which opened on-field after a 1994 air show built the case for it; today the museum displays a flyable 1928 Ford Tri-Motor named City of Wichita, a North American B-25 Mitchell, a Goodyear Blimp bus, Cleveland Air Races artifacts, and the restored 1951 Jerry O'Mahony Tin Goose Diner. Approach is over water — Sandusky Bay if you come from the south. Non-towered.
Ohio's oldest continuously operating lighthouse — built in 1822 on the Marblehead Peninsula at the entrance to Sandusky Bay. The 50-foot limestone tower has guided ships through the dangerous reefs of the western basin of Lake Erie for over 200 years. Now an Ohio State Park with the keepers' house preserved as a museum. From the air, the white tower stands out clearly against the rocky shoreline. Pair with a Cedar Point or Lake Erie islands trip.
Ohio's Lake Erie islands are a magical summer destination accessible by boat or plane. South Bass Island (Put-in-Bay) is the party island with bars, restaurants, and Perry's Victory Memorial — a 352-foot Doric column commemorating the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, visible from 30 miles out. Kelleys Island has glacial grooves cut by ice 18,000 years ago. Middle Bass Island has the historic Lonz Winery ruins. From the air, the islands rise from blue water like emerald jewels. Multiple GA airports on the islands; rent a golf cart upon landing.
On a sand peninsula jutting into Lake Erie — Cedar Point has been a coaster and entertainment destination since 1870 (yes, 1870). Today it has 17 roller coasters including Steel Vengeance (one of the world's top-rated coasters) and Top Thrill 2 (a 420-foot, 120 mph hypercoaster). From the air, the peninsula is unmistakable — coasters tracing white skeletons against the lake. KSKY is the closest airport. Pair with Lake Erie islands flying for an unforgettable summer day.
Toledo earned its nickname "The Glass City" the year Edward Drummond Libbey moved his New England Glass Works here in 1888; Owens and Libbey-Owens-Ford followed, and the city became the center of American glass. Libbey and his wife Florence founded the Toledo Museum of Art in 1901, and it grew into one of the finest regional museums in the country — more than 30,000 works, free to enter. Its glass collection spans 3,500 years, and Toledo is where the Studio Glass movement was born in 1962. The Glass Pavilion across the street — a building of curving, almost entirely glass walls — was the first US work by the Japanese architecture firm SANAA. Toledo Express sits well west of the city, so the museum is a ride into the downtown art district.