One of Ohio’s most important industrial centers, Toledo (pop. 313,619) is the third-busiest Great Lakes port, with many miles of docks, bridges, warehouses, factories, refineries, and power plants lining the mouth of the Maumee River. That may not sound like a good reason to visit, but Toledo is a fascinating place, big enough to be impressive but small enough to get around and get a feel for. Downtown Toledo has long been a rather anonymous place that empties after 5 pm (that world-renowned expert on tedium, the late John Denver, went so far as to write a song saying, “Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio, is like being nowhere at all”), but the streets just south hold dozens of gorgeous old cast-iron warehouses and commercial buildings around the new “Fifth Third Field” baseball stadium, home of the loveable Toledo Mud Hens.
A mile west of downtown, among the stately homes of the Old West End neighborhood, Toledo’s pride and joy is the excellent Museum of Art (closed Mon.; free), at 2445 Monroe Street, where works by El Greco (who lived and worked in Toledo, Spain) highlight a survey of European painting. The real strength of the collection is its glassware, with dozens of beautiful goblets and vases dating back to Roman times, housed in a lovely new pavilion.
Another truly not-to-be-missed Toledo stop offers a very different feast for the senses: Tony Packo’s Cafe (419/691-6054), across the river at 1902 Front Street. Packo’s addictive chili dogs, made famous by Corporal Klinger (played by real-life Toledo native Jamie Farr) on the long-running TV series M.A.S.H., still pack the crowds into this East Toledo haunt—despite its location near a huge Toledo Edison coal-fired power plant. A good-value place to stay in the region is the Toledo Hilton($100; 419/381-6800), at 3100 Glendale Avenue on the southwest edge of downtown.
