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Journal-News.com

10 new experiences outside the Miami Valley

By Ken Canfield

Dayton Daily News

Wanted: stunt drivers

Paramount's Kings Island has brought Hollywood to southwest Ohio with The Italian Job: Stunt Track.

The fast-track roller coaster ride is based on the 2003 movie starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Mos Def and Donald Sutherland.

Riders get to play stunt drivers in Mini Coopers, racing through movie sets and scenes from the movie's big chase. The wild ride includes near-collisions, a bumpy trip down stairs, a chase through tunnels, a confrontation with a helicopter and a crash through a billboard into an aqueduct.

The ride has been open to a limited amount of park guests for technical rehearsal runs. It opens to everyone Friday, when the park off Interstate 71 begins daily operation through Sept. 5.

• Address: 6300 Kings Island Drive, Kings Island

• Information: www.pki.com or (800) 288-0808

Out of this world

The science center COSI, a great place to take kids in Columbus, offers a mini-exhibition featuring 30 large images from the Hubble Space Telescope. See a cyclone (or would it be a tornado?) on Mars, Saturn's rings and an exploding supernova.

You don't need to move at the speed of light to catch "Heaven's Above: Photographs of the Universe from the Hubble Telescope," but the display closes on June 19.

The popular exhibit "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" will continue all summer. It is a collection of more than 300 artifacts from the famous ship.

• Address: 333 W. Broad St., Columbus

• Information: www.cosi.org or (888) 819-COSI (2674)

Out in the Wilds

The Wilds is a big-game preserve unlike anything else in Ohio. Giraffes, rhinos and other exotic animals wander through the 10,000-acre nature conservation site in Muskingum County.

Two new species have been added to the landscape, Asian oxen and Tibetan blue sheep. Other new additions are the Birding Observation Station, the 10-acre Ohio Butterfly Refuge and The Lodge, overnight accommodations for up to 12 people.

• Address: 14000 International Road, Cumberland

• Information: www.thewilds.org or (740) 638-5030

Soaring in Sandusky

Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky has added another ride — its 68th if you're keeping score at home. The maXair swings and spins 50 riders seated in a giant circle to a height of 140 feet and a maximum speed of nearly 70 mph.

The season is under way on the shores of Lake Erie and continues daily through Sept. 5.

• Address: One Cedar Point Drive, Sandusky

• Information: www.cedarpoint.com or (419) 627-2350.

Splish-splash

Sandusky is more than a place to go for roller-coaster thrills. It's also home to three indoor get-aways that are open year round.

The African-themed Kalahari Resort opens Friday, joining the Great Wolf Lodge and Cedar Point's Castaway Bay.

All three water resorts offer indoor pools, waterslides, play areas, arcades, shops and restaurants year around.

The Kalahari, on the Ohio 250 tourist strip, claims it will be Ohio's largest waterpark with 80,000 square feet. Its star attraction is the Zip Coaster, which shoots riders through freefalls, dips and turns for 500 feet.

The park is opening in phases. It will start with 308 rooms and suites and expand to 596. A convention center, fitness centers, day spa, shops and miniature golf course are also in the works.

The resort is offering a $129 special for standard room. This and other special offers are posted at the Web site.

Day passes are also available.

• Address: 7000 Kalahari Drive, Sandusky

• Information: www.kalahariresorts.com or (877) KALAHARI (525-2427)

Meet Heater's relatives

There are no Dayton Dragons in it, but the Toledo Zoo has opened an exhibit all about the fire-breathers in its Museum of Science.

You can learn about the myth and reality of the creatures, listen to a princess storyteller spinning tales and view a large dragon sculpture hanging from the ceiling.

Parents can take their children through a castle tunnel to learn about "good" dragons or another tunnel to an exhibit about "bad" dragons.

Not all are fantasy creatures; the display also includes a Komodo dragon, water dragons, frilled dragons, Chinese alligators, seadragons, dragon moray eels and dragon wrasses.

• Address: Anthony Wayne Trail (Ohio 25), Toledo

• Information: www.toledozoo.org or (419) 385-4040

Aloha, Buckeyes

Wahkeena Preserve in Fairfield County has been open to the public since 1957 as an education center, but it recently became Ohio's 129th state nature preserve.

The name may sound Hawaiian, but Wahkeena is an Indian word meaning "most beautiful."

Visitors will find sandstone cliffs, a lake, ponds and two hiking trails. The land is home to rhododendrons, mountain laurel, eight native orchid species and more than two dozen fern species.

The Ohio Historical Society operates the 150-acre preserve. It is six miles south of Lancaster off U.S. 33, near Hocking Hills and next to the Rhododendron Cove State Nature Preserve.

• Address: 2200 Pump Station Road, Sugar Grove

• Information: www.ohiohistory.org/places/wahkeena or (800) 297-1883

Cleveland rocks

Cleveland is throwing a party from June 8-11. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is marking its 10th anniversary with three-day, four-night bash involving 100 bands.

The party gets going June 8 with the rejuvenated Pixies playing at the rock hall, then spreads to venues throughout the city, including the Agora Theatre, the House of Blues, Peabody's, Grog Shop, Beachland Ballroom, Odeon Concert Club and Scene Pavilion.

Grandmaster Flash, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Digable Planets, Brazilian Girls, Heartless Bastards and Powerman 5000 are among the performers at the CMJ Rock Hall Music Fest.

Also new to the hall of fame is a special exhibit of items related to the Who's rock opera, Tommy.

• Address: One Key Plaza (East Ninth Street at Lake Erie), Cleveland

• Information: www.cmj.com/rockfest, www.rockhall.com or (216) 781-ROCK (7625)

Diff'rent Strokes

The Cincinnati Art Museum is dropping names. Among them are Georgia O'Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Andrew Wyeth, Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, Gilbert Stuart. Their works are among more than 100 in the museum's "Strokes of Genius: Masterworks from the New Britain Museum of Art."

Cincinnati is the only Midwestern museum to show the exhibition, which is on loan from the Connecticut museum. The display spans 250 years of paintings by American masters.

• Address: 953 Eden Park Drive, Cincinnati

• Information: www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org or (513) 721-ARTS (2787)

Garden party

"Ohio's Garden Path: the Flowering of Our Landscape" is a tribute to America's most popular leisure activity.

The exhibition at the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus shows how we have brought our visions of beauty to the outdoors over a span of more than 200 years.

Families will enjoy My Back Yard, an interactive portion of the exhibition. There's a talking garden gnome, Nerf-ball croquet and activities in a gazebo, greenhouse and tool shed.

• Address: 1982 Velma Ave., Columbus

• Information: www.ohiohistory.org or (800) 686-6124

Contact Ken Canfield at 225-2259.

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