Family adventures are the best and finding places to have one can sometimes be challenging. We are always looking for fun in the central Ohio area and I recently stumbled on a brochure about Grove City, Ohio. The visitors guide caught my eye because the theme said, Altogether Adventure, with a someone kayaking on the front, and we are all about adventure! I curiously opened the guide, began to pour over it and started jotting down notes. I kept thinking to myself as I researched, “Who knew that Grove City had so many things do?” If you are looking for some amazing things to do, Grove City, Ohio has a lot to offer.
The kids and I decided to take a day trip to the area because who wouldn’t want to check out a place boasting ADVENTURE?! As I worked on the itinerary, I realized to do justice to this the Grove City area it will take WAY more than one day. There were so many things I wanted to do, Columbus Metro parks to explore, canoeing to try, paintball fields to be shot in, food to eat, quaint shops to peruse, and historical locations to see, just to mention a few.
Grove City Visitor Center
We decided to check out the Visit Grove City Visitor Center first thing in the morning of our trip there and eat across the street at a hometown joint called, Lilly’s Kitchen Table. That was the perfect start to a great day! At the visitor center you are met with knowledgeable staff who make it their aim to help you find just what your looking to do while in Grove City. Inside the Visitors Center is, Grove City Guide and Gear. It’s a small store with local made products featuring local artists. (I may sneak back for a double nested hammock. $32.00 with all the needed hardware!)
Lilly’s is open from 7 am to 2 pm, 7 days a week, closed all major holidays. Parking can be tricky out front but there is ample parking in the back of the restaurant and you can come in the back door.
Century Village and Grant Sawyer Home
After our delicious breakfast we decided to go to the Century Village and Grant-Sawyer Home. We are history buffs and no adventure or activity seems done right if we have not learned something new. We meet with, Bev Babbert, for our tours and she was amazing. She shared information about how the Grant-Sawyer home was renovated and history about the family and their endeavors in the Grove City area. It takes about an hour to go through the Grant-Sawyer home. The Grant-Sawyer Home tours are available Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. by appointment only (maximum of 10 per tour). Special arrangements can be made for other times by contacting the historical society. The cost is $5 per person.
Century Village is a step back in time to the mid-1800s. There are 11 structures on this property which makes it one phenomenal place to visit. The Order’s school is original to the location but everything else has been moved there. The painstaking renovations they have done here are impressive and I could not believe how much they have accomplished there. They have a train station that is not open to the public yet but we look forward to going back and checking that out once it is completed.
You can spend 1-2 hours here looking through all the artifacts and information they have. You can visit Century Village every 4th Saturday 2-4 pm from May to September. They do offer private tours for a marginal fee. (It’s worth it!) You can contact the historical society to set that tour up. The Southwest Franklin Historical Society number is 614-277-3061.
Kickmaster Foot Golf
No Gleason adventure is complete without getting outside and getting active. My intentions were to visit one of the canoe livery locations but after speaking with Dany we changed our plans and went to, Kickmaster Footgolf.
Have you ever heard of Footgolf? No? Me either. It was intriguing to me and that’s one of the main reasons we headed there! Footgolf is a combination of soccer and golf. Players attempt to to kick a standard, number 5 size soccer ball into the hole on a golf -style course. Score is kept the same way as in golf, with a pre-decided number of kicks being par for each hole. Players attempt to score as far under par as possible.
Kickgolf was a BLAST! I was terrible at it but the kids were quickly proficient. Footmaster Golf is open at your convenience for tee-times and these guys are all about making your experience there fun and worth your while. It is an activity that most of central Ohio doesn’t know about BUT should!
One of the bonus we got upon arriving at Footmaster Golf was that they had an INDOOR fun park! There were hampster balls, bubble balls, inflatable pool table and inflatable dart board. Who KNEW! The kids went crazy attempting all the activities! Nate attacked me while he was in a bubble ball. I can’t fault him because I would have done the same to him!! Kickmaster Footgolf has a snack bar should you need any pick me ups while your expend all your energy at their facility. Since Abbie has Type 1 Diabetes this was helpful to us.
The prices are normally $15.00 per person but they have a promotion going on now for $5.00 off. That makes it just $10.00! You can get 18 holes of Kickgolf or 1 hour of play in the indoor fun park. **Make sure you mention you found them from our blog to receive the discount!**
We had an #AltogetherAdventure in Grove City, Ohio and I can’t wait to get back there to enjoy the canoeing! (I finally made it to Trapper John’s! You can read about it here)Adventure is all around us and finding out about new things in Central Ohio makes getting active worthwhile!
Happy Adventuring,
Brandy
See the Original Post on the Gleason Family Adventure Blog
