While the weather is still enjoyable, our family elected to take a drive down “south” to the Akron, Ohio area on a Sunday to take in the Akron Zoo, Swensons Drive In, and Quaker Square. Read on to see our experience.

Akron Zoo

One of the memberships our family tries to take advantage of is reciprocal zoo admission. By purchasing our Cleveland Zoo membership, we get 50% off admission to a large list of zoos across North America. Our last visit to the Akron Zoo was back in August 2010, when we only had one son. While all three of our boys have been to the Akron Zoo with their grandparents within the last year, my wife and I had not been.

Since 2010, the Akron Zoo has undergone quite the transformation, offering a whole new Grizzly Bear section as well as other improvements.

One thing we tend to forget is that while the Akron Zoo is less than a third of the size of the Cleveland Zoo, their exhibits are exceptional and the grounds impeccable with well manicured gardens and earth friendly “green” features that handle storm run-off in a responsible manner while also being pleasing to the zoo guests in an urban setting.

Swensons Drive In

As much as our family loves to travel, we are always amazed at what fantastic establishments we can find locally in our own backyards. After working up a good appetite from our Akron Zoo visit, we elected to visit a place my wife found on TripAdvisor, Swensons Drive In.

Started in 1934 at the South Hawkins Avenue location, this classic establishment still serves the same style food it did when the doors opened. What is even better is that there is no indoor seating. Everything about the Swensons Drive In diner is authentic to their roots.

After parking outside, a carhop approaches your vehicle asking what you would like to eat. Since we had never dined there before, we were given menus, and introduced to all the fan favorites that we might want to eat. Once we were ready to order, we simply turn our vehicle lights on and the carhop will take your order.

We elected to try their signature Galley Boy burger, featuring double patties with cheese and two signature sauces. The sauces were described as a BBQ sauce and tarter sauce. While the combination may sound a little off-putting, we can assure you it was fantastic. The burgers were served on a toasted style bun and really hit the spot.

Paired with our meal, we tried a variety of milkshakes, onion rings, fried zucchini, and potato teezers.

We can not say enough about the experience at Swensons. It is more than a meal; it is simply an amazing experience to the way things used to be, or at least the way I have them envisioned back around the time Swensons opened. The carhops were amazingly friendly, fast, efficient, and helpful.

Quaker Square

To my wife and I, going to Akron means one thing. Going back to our earliest memories as children, both our parents would take us to Quaker Square, which was a historic Quaker Oats facility. In addition to preserving the history of the manufacturing facility, Quaker Square provided great memories as kids with unique Christmas displays, old world charm, and terrific train displays paired with a train themed restaurant.

At some point in the later 1990’s, the quality of the facility started to go downhill and certain aspects of the facility never returned. At some point, the majority of the tenants that we had been visiting since our childhood had left, lots of the special holiday displays went away, and the train restaurant closed.

Sadly, our family stopped visiting Quaker Square every year. The handful of times we have returned to the area, I always make it a point to stop in and see if things have changed. If some of the classic childhood memories could return with the historic decorations and displays.

So this weekend while in town, I stopped into Quaker Square and quickly explored the grounds. The stores…while still open to the public, only consisted of a general grocery and pizza store. While the layout of the facility still seemed untouched with the oats processing equipment, etc., and the train cars turned into a restaurant, sadly, everything has changed at Quaker Square.

Now the facility is no longer a hotel, but University of Akron college dorms. The onslaught of college students walking the grounds meant there were not families showing their kids the importance of Quaker Oats to the area.

While I would love to say Quaker Square had returned to its former glory, I can not say that confidently. Though it did look like there was a sort of free museum set up with lots of the artifacts, it was closed during our visit.

For those that have not visited Quaker Square, it is still worth a visit to at least get an idea of the history of the facility.