CELEBRATION of SPECIAL EVENTS

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Michigan's truly Italian
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Doing Ohio

are just a few hours away by car.

With six little brothers and sisters
watching in wide-eyed wonder, Yosef,
Menachem and Schneur Rabin each
take a turn riding the High Wire
Cycle on an inch-thick steel cable 18
feet above the floor. The Oak Park
brothers, understandably nervous,
pedal the bicycle forward and then
back along the grooved cable, which
stretches 50 feet across the central
atrium.
Balanced by a 275-pound sus-
pended weight, the cycle is a high-
wire act at a high-wire kind of place:
COSI Toledo, an interactive science
center that's drawing many families to
Toledo, Ohio.
Here, children dive right in,
absorbing science through such activi-
ties as climbing a wall of rock, design-
ing and testing little sailboats, observ-
ing basketball-playing rats, evaluating
"body music" sounds and dressing in
white lab coats and hardhats to create
engineering marvels. Outdoors, it's
hard to pry kids away from blowing
giant bubbles, banging huge vertical
chimes and hugging the world — a
giant, rotating globe.
From May 28-Sept. 7, a summer-
long exhibit, "Square Wheels ... Dri-
ving Science Home," will let families
explore basic science concepts by dri-
ving a car with square wheels, bounc-
ing on a giant pogo stick and trans-
forming into human spark plugs.
The hands-on learning center,
open just 15 months, is just one of
many family-friendly attractions
awaiting visitors to Ohio's north
coast. Other fun-in-the-sun diversions
for daytrippers, weekenders or vaca-
tioners with more time include danc-
ing hippos, fried pickles, Scottish
links-style golf, thrill rides and body
surfing ... yes, even in northern Ohio.
Toledo Zoo: If you've seen dancing
hippos only in cartoons, this is the
place to see the real thing — several
tons worth. To the oohs and ahhs of
spectators gazing through glass,

Cupid and Bubbles appear to trip
the light fantastic as they float effort-
lessly underwater in the Toledo Zoo's
world-renowned hippoquarium. The
only thing missing is tu-tus.
More than 300 birds fly free over-
head in the zoo's new, $4-million
aviary and walk-through habitats,
which opened in January. Scheduled
to debut in mid-June is Primate For-
est, home to five species of small, ani-
mated monkeys. Also on tap: an out-
door cafe called, appropriately, The
Beastro.
Summer visitors also will find a
huge new gift shop, stroller- and
wheelchair-accessible footbridge and
parking lot. A $10-million Arctic
Adventure, featuring underwater
polar bear-viewing, is under construc-
tion on the old parking lot and
scheduled to open in 1999.
Tony Packo's Cafe: No one dis-
plays more famous buns than this
venerable, third-generation restaurant
that gained worldwide notoriety on
TV's hit series, M*A*S*H. But the
homesick Corporal Klinger, a.k.a.,
actor and Toledo native Jamie Farr,
isn't the only Packo fan to sign his
name on one of the hot dog buns lin-
ing the walls.
Abba Eban, Al Hirt, Steve Allen,
Kevin Costner, Larry King, Lou
Rawls, Burt Reynolds, Jimmy and
Rosalyn Carter, Nancy Reagan,
Robert Kennedy Jr. — any celebrity
who ever has passed through Toledo
— stops to sign a styrofoam bun (the
real ones crumbled) and sample hot
dogs laced with Packo's trademark hot
sauce; various Hungarian specialties;
or fried pickles, a lip-smacking appe-
tizer with three dipping sauces.
The corner cafe, a Toledo institu-
tion for 66 years, got a facelift last
year, but it still pulses on weekends
with the Dixieland sounds of the
Cakewalkin' Joss Band.
Maumee Bay State Park Resort:
Sunsets are gorgeous from the private

Our expert staff will make
it a most memorable
event from 20 to 175

•Weddings
•Showers
•Bar/Bat Mitzvahs
•Receptions
•Business Meetings
•Reunions
•Birthdays
•Anniversaries

30715 W. 10 MILE RD.

(JUST EAST OF MA'AM) I AKI RD.)

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• 248-474-3033

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WOMEN'S CONTEMPORARY CLOTHING

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Hippos, hot dogs and incredible coasters

Distinctively Italian

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33306 GRAND RIVER • EAST OF FARMINGTON ROAD

next to the Village Shoe Inn • Downtown Farmington

248-471-5620