Tucked away in the northeast corner of Ohio, bordering on Lake Erie and Pennsyllvania is Ashtabula County. Besides being the largest county in Ohio in area, the county can also boast of the largest concentration of covered bridges of any county in the nation. The county boasts no less than 17 covered bridges and showcases them in their annual Covered Bridge Festival on the second weekend of October. The annual festival and tour was last weekend and the weather was mainly sunny, but cool with temps only in the upper 40s in sharp contrast to the 80 degree weather on last year's tour.

It is impossible to see all covered bridges in one day, but the tour is a great way to spend an autumn afternoon. The fall colors are just beginning to reach their peak and most years the weather is beautiful. In addition, the region can boast of at least a dozen wineries. The presence of Lake Erie retards the premature blossoming of the grapes in the spring and prolongs the growing season in the fall, making for ideal conditions for growing wine grapes. The wineries make excellent diversions on the bridge tour, but a winery tour is best done on another trip.

The region sits in the Lake Erie "snowbelt" and winter snowfall is measured in feet instead of inches. Some parts of the county average more than ten feet of snow a winter, more than twice the average annual snowfall of Cleveland, 60 miles to the southwest. Summers are milder than further west and inland with few days over 90 degrees and no 100 degree day has everr been recorded in the county.

The covered bridges range from old ones that are no longer used, but kept as parks to new ones like the Smolen Gulf bridge opened in 2008. That covered bridge is the longest and highest one in the country at 600 feet long and 150 feet above the river valley. In 2010 the county will be able to boast of the shortest covered bridge in the nation as a new 18 foot bridge is scheduled to open. Information about the covered bridge festival and tour can be obtained at their web site:www.coveredbridgefestival.org .Enjoy the pictures: