Oh, Hi. Ohio – Part the 3rd

(If you missed yesterday's post while you were out blowing your fingers off on the 4th of July, here's Part 2)  The Tuesday we were in Ohio, we did a little island hopping, Great Lakes style.  Our trip was on the Goodtime I.  Not the fastest way around and between the islands, but a relaxing way to see the sights and to learn a little history while you were at it.

We drove down to the dock to await our ship for the island cruise. 

On our left side, was the old coal loading dock.  On the right, Cedar Point amusement park.  I loved the symmetry.  But EVIL lurked in the middle.  Flying, $#!tting EVIL! 

While some were able to hide under a tree, my sister and I were not so lucky.

That's right, a seagull $#!t right on us while we were talking in the parking lot.  It sounded like rain hitting the ground, but the brown spots on us made it clear that it wasn't rain.  Luckily, I had a washcloth and water on hand to do a little cleanup.

We then started playing with the panoramic mode on Cora's little camera.

 
And I do mean "playing"  While not perfect, that effect was all done auto-magically by the camera.  Which is pretty cool.

 
So was Marilyn seeing us off.

Leg #1 Kelley's Island.

Our first destination was Kelley's Island (WIKI). 

The ride out there was about an hour, so we all tried to settle in on the shady side of the boat for the ride.  But then the boat turned around, we were in the sun, so we scurried off to the other side of the boat!  Nature wasn't going to get us a third time!

The weather was beautiful.  The lake breeze was cooling and the water was fairly calm, so no one in our party "chummed" the waters.

On the way out, we saw the Marblehead Lighthouse, the oldest active lighthouse on the US side of the Great Lakes.

As we were pulling into Kelley's Island, the guide mentioned that the island had some of the best glacial groves in the world.  We had an hour and a half on the island.  They mentioned that we could rent golf carts, but the island looked so small, how far could it be, right?

My parent's and Sister's family got a 6 seater and headed off to see the grooves.  After a stop at the gift shoppe for some fudge, the girls hit the restroom, and I found the cops.

It was about then that my mom called, and told me that there was no way we were walking to the glacial groves, and to just hang out, and they would give us their golf cart when they were done.  So, being a little early for lunch, we went to a restaurant and got a sandwich to split, and waited for the cart.  With the cart zipping us along, we made pretty good time out to to the grooves.  There was a pretty cool looking old cemetery, and ruins of something, but we didn't really have time to explore.  The boat had a departure time, and unlike at the Winchester Mystery House on our honeymoon, we were not going to miss it!

The grove at the grooves was a nice, peaceful place…

with these beautifully etched lines in the rock from the glaciers …

carving these deep channels in the rock.

We burned rubber (seriously, I think that golf cart got up to 15 mph going down hill) back to the boat dock, and made it back in time to get a picture with my parents.

Leg #2 South Bass Island – Put-In-Bay.

South Bass (WIKI), and the village of Put-In-Bay (WIKI) were our next destination.  We took a bit of a roundabout way there to avoid what we were told was some rough water.  As we sailed along, this little guy tried to follow us.

We saw a lot of his friends hanging out on Starve Island.

 
As we rounded the island, we saw many cool things along the way:

A house made out of a ship that rumor has it, Johnny Depp will be renting this summer.	A castle peaking out of the trees on top of a cliff.
Someone out parasailing…	And Perry's Peace Monument.

We put in at Put-In-Bay and while everyone else took off (they ate lunch at Kelley's Island), we went to get lunch at the Boat House Bar & Grill.  The food was good, the service was slow, the decor was "nautical"

After finally getting our food, and eating, we rushed back down to the boat dock and rented a golf cart.  If we were going to see anything, we had to hustle.

 
The Daughter was VERY happy about this.  Not sure if it was the "not walking in the blazing sun" part, or the "fun riding in a golf cart" part, but she sure enjoyed it.  First thing we did was head over to Perry's Monument to get some better shots.

The column is being renovated at the moment.  But it was tall and impressive.

We then drove until we ran out of road, and The Daughter found this very wet, but very friendly dog hanging out on the beach.

We cruised along the island, enjoying the sun and the breeze and the sights of "Key West of Lake Erie", including this be-finned cart, and this display of relics in the town park.

It took a while, but we finally found the one ice-cream shop on the island.  We had to ask one of the bartenders.  There are a lot of bartenders.  (And a lot of seasonal help is from Eastern Europe, too.)  On the cruise back, we did a quick stop at Kelley's Island and then back to Sandusky.

 

At the end of a long, fun day, we stopped into the Thirsty Pony for dinner.  And boy was I thirsty.  I must have had 4 or 5 32 oz. --- Diet Cokes.

But, with the good has to come the bad.  While we were having dinner, my brother called my mom to tell her that they wouldn't be joining us on Thursday.  The trip was supposed to be all the family spending time together for my parent's 50th anniversary, and my brother and his wife and son weren't going to be there.  They had some story about their neighbor dying and they couldn't come because of the funeral on Wednesday.  But, they hadn't planned on leaving until Wednesday after work.  Yeah it was going to be an 8 hour drive one way for a long weekend.  I honestly have my reservations that they were ever planning to come in the first place.

To my parent's 50th anniversary party.

It broke my mom's heart.  And it was a cloud we had to try to disperse the whole rest of the trip.