I'll admit it: I love Ohio.

I love to travel and gawk at (other) beautiful places, and when I get home, I think, wow, I'm lucky to live here - so close to this...and that...and there...

While I understand that Ohio isn't everyone's cup of tea, it's always irked me to hear people - especially my fellow Ohioans - say things like "you won't believe you're in Ohio."

Our own state tourism office has said such a thing, believe it or not - trying to be clever, I guess, in various online brochures.

Why do we say that?

I've been to some pretty majestic spots. Sure, it's hard not to oooooooh- and ahhhhhhh- at the Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone's Geyers.

But let's not forget that Ohio's got some mighty pretty places, too.

In fact, I'll argue, we might have more beautiful-places-per-mile or at least gorgeous-spots-sans-hassles than the oft-mentioned beaches, mountains and other natural attractions.

Ohio has beaches (on Lake Erie's shores). And caves. And sand dunes, for heavens sake. Our southeastern section is as lush as they come, with carpets of green rolling into the Appalachian Mountains.

OK. You get it. I'm a nut about the Buckeye state.

Here are just a few shots illustrating why.

All of these photos were all taken - with an old iPhone, if you must know - over the course of just a few months. I wasn't even trying to impress anyone. Just snappin' pictures of what I saw - stuff in Ohio that took my breath away.

‍