Salutations!
Is it Spring yet? It is my birthday week and I am currently fighting a cold. I have regretted not making a Florida trip this winter at least a thousand times by now. A week in Florida does wonders when you live somewhere where winter feels like it lasts a year. [Update: It is April 1st and I started this post a few weeks ago. Other than I'm no longer sick and it's not my birthday week, winter hasn't officially left because it's in the 30s today.]
A lot of people were interested in our Ashland post, so I wanted to run an experiment. I am not sure if it was the fact that it was a historic downtown or a college town that intrigued people, so I decided to try the historic downtown route and see how it goes. One of my favorite towns to spend the day is in Medina, Ohio. It is designed to look like a New England-style small town with the original buildings and architecture. The public square holds events like art festivals, weekly farmer's markets (Spring-Fall), ice sculpture festivals (Winter), and many, many more. We've also seen our fair share of weekend weddings on the square. There are many walkable shops, boutiques, and restaurants around downtown. It is also home to the well-known Castle Noel (America's Largest Indoor Year-Round Christmas Attraction) and Alien Vacation Mini-Golf (voted Cleveland's best mini-golf). I did not include those two attractions in this post because I feel that they deserve to have their own separate spotlights in the future. We also did not go to Root Candle or Cool Beans on this trip, but you can click on the links provided to see our previous posts from when we went.
One of the ice sculptures
 |
| Spongebob ice sculpture in front of Honey Bee Bakery |
We started off by heading over to Honey Bee Bakery. I know from experience that the closer to closing you go, the less treat options they have. If I'm wanting to hit them up, I try to go as soon as we arrive. We picked out a half-dozen macarons-honey vanilla, cookie dough, mocha, birthday cake, lemon, and buckeye (chocolate peanut butter). They were slightly sweeter than I prefer, but had a wonderful chewy texture. I was impressed by how well I could taste the honey in the honey vanilla one because that is no small feat. The honey tends to disappear in most treats, but not this one. They also had some leftover cupcakes from the ice festival that were Spongebob themed and I was very excited to grab a couple. The first was a traditional vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and colorful pineapple sprinkles, and the second was a lemon cake with lemon frosting and a Spongebob ring on top. The vanilla cake was a bit dry and nothing very exciting other than the fun sprinkles. I loved and appreciated the dedication to the lemon cupcake. The lemon cake was moist and light with a surprise lemon curd filling, and the lemon frosting was delicious. Not too subtle, but not in-your-face lemon flavor. I usually get whatever flavor coffee cake they have, and this time it was raspberry. It was delicious with a layer of raspberry that wasn't overpowering and lots of crumbly goodness without being dry. We also grabbed a very large oatmeal cookie sandwich to try. The cookie itself was too oatey for me, but I appreciated that the frosting inside wasn't overly sweet. My mom loved it, but I'd pick some other things instead.
Next, we had brunch at Jane's Diner. This was our first time here and the staff was very attentive and friendly. The restaurant has plants everywhere which make it feel very inviting. We got a ciabatta breakfast sandwich and it was very flavorful. I would highly recommend it. We also tried a veggie omelet, and it was very basic. Nothing to write home about. The home fries were seasoned well and crispy. Most places I avoid home fries because they're bland, but definitely not these. We also tried a crepe with preserves. It was nice and light without being overly sweet, but had a slightly gummy texture. Jane came out to see how we liked everything and walked us through the to-go dessert/pastry display. We'll definitely be back again.
We then started popping into some of our favorite boutiques like Nibbles (can be dangerous if you love to cook), Lily Nicholas Shoppe, JK Gift Shop, and Simply Charlotte. We love picking up gifts from these shops because they have all kinds of fun things and guaranteed something for everyone.
 |
| Inside Lily Nicholas Shoppe |
 |
| Inside Nibbles |
 |
| Inside JK Gift Shop |
The Raspberry and the Rose is one of my favorite boutiques. It's a mix of women's clothing, jewelry, and accessories with reasonable prices. We stopped in on a $5 accessory sale day, which was exciting, and sweaters on average run about $50 if you want an idea of how the prices are.
Elements is a new boutique that took over the previous bridal shop. They span across two storerooms and have women's clothing, accessories, home decor, and gifts. Clothing prices are a little higher, averaging about $60-$120. Home decor and gifts were average prices.
I also can't make a trip without stopping into Candyapple & Co. They have over 300 specialty hand-dipped candy and caramel apples. Part of the shop also has some boutique items like home decor, gifts, and jewelry, but more about them apples. They have many out on display, but you can also ask for a freshly-made one as well. Our favorite is the Sundae Sprinkle Crunch, but we try different flavors every time we go. On this trip, I tried the Cherry Candy Apple and the Strawberry Crunch. The Cherry Candy Apple definitely had a layer of cherry candy like a lollipop and sticks to your teeth. I was slightly disappointed because I was hoping it was a coating of cherry dip like you get on ice cream cones. The Strawberry Crunch was coated in exactly the same stuff as the popsicles. I devoured it before I realized I had forgotten to take a photo. That must mean it moves into the favorite flavors category.
Before heading down the street for our last two stops, we ordered Courthouse Pizza to take home. They have New York-style pizza by the slice or whole pie. I'm not sure how anyone walks past here. When the weather is nice and they have the doors open, you can smell it from the street. It has pulled us in on more than one occasion. Genius marketing strategy. We ordered NY slices of pepperoni and olive, a slice of the specialty pizza of the month-pickle ranch, and a regular crust supreme. We loved the amount of toppings on the supreme, but absolutely LOVED the crunch and butter flavor of the NY crust. The pickle ranch pizza had dill pickle slices, ranch drizzle, and crushed dill chips on top. I am obsessed with it and my mouth is watering while writing about it. Please make it a permanent item!
We then headed down the street to Keller Meats & Market. They have farm fresh produce, coffee, locally sourced groceries, hand-cut meats, artisanal breads, and cheeses. Don't come here hungry. We left with burgers, sausages, and pierogies (I was given a 2-flavor limit per lack of freezer space at home 😑. Otherwise, I would've been leaving with $75 worth of pierogies because I don't play around).
Our last stop was one of my favorites-Black Cat Books & Oddities which now has not one, but TWO locations in old homes within walking distance of each other. Their rooms are all themed to genres and are like stepping into a book. It's everything a book lover wants in life. The books are fully priced and I wish they would have sales periodically, but they are absolutely worth walking through. I'm not sure how to get a royal romance room, a smoking dragon sci-fi and fantasy room, and a creepy horror and mystery room in my house, but if I ever won the lottery, there would be signs.
House #1 
House #2 
Romance room
 |
| Fantasy room |
 |
| Horror room |
We make an entire day out of going to Medina and could easy spread it out to more, especially when the festivals, events, and markets are happening. There is so much going on and such a variety of restaurants, shops, and things to do. This post was just one day's worth of stuff, and we didn't even hit everything. I love the quaintness and walkability of the town, and I constantly end up heading home with far too much food and treats. It's one of our favorite day trips and somewhat of a comfort trip as well.
What do you love about Medina? Let me know in the comments!
Comments
Post a Comment