(click here for today's pictures)
Port Clinton, Ohio to Cuyahoga, Ohio
Everyone was almost asleep by 11 last night, the laundry was complete and the blog was finished. That is an early night anytime for us and especially on a vacation. I woke up at 7 and headed to take my shower. The shower was an odd shape. By the end, I felt like I had showered in the pod that takes you up to the top of the St. Louis Arch.
It took me a while to stir the girls, but soon we were meeting the boys in the hallway and walking to breakfast. Their breakfast was average today so everyone was pleased. This was the first hotel that had hot chocolate so that was nice. I even had some last night as the kids were swimming.
Our first stop this morning was only about 5 minutes from our hotel. We made it to the Miller Boat Line ferry just as the other ferry was leaving. So we had to wait for the next ferry to arrive. While we waited, the kids played on their ipads for a bit.
Soon we were on the ferry. Man, it was rocky. I was worried that Robby would get a bit sickly because of the rockiness but since it was just 18 minutes, he was fine. The skies were pretty overcast, and storms were definitely coming. We were not sure if the wind and waves were from the upcoming rain or if they are just a common occurrence here on Lake Erie.
We have never been on Lake Erie much less an island on the lake. Put-In-Bay is a busy island town. They were having an old timey car race there today, so the boys enjoyed seeing all of the cars. There are few cars there so golf carts are the main mode of transportation. We had debated renting one instead of bringing the car over, but by the time we rented one, the price would be about the same.
Our main goal was to see Perry’s Victory Peace Memorial which is a large monument. Perry was a sea captain in the War of 1812. We watched the movie, browsed in the gift show and rode to the top of the monument. The kids enjoyed using the binoculars to see the neighboring islands.
After the monument, the kids received their Jr. Ranger badges before we headed down to the main part of town. Everyone played on the playground while I walked in a few stores with Reagan. I was looking for a Christmas ornament while she was looking for a shirt. I did find my ornament after much searching, but she did not find her shirt.
Then we hurried back to the ferry. Keaton did not get the concept of the ferry. She had heard 30 minutes but not the part about “leaving every.” As she came down from the monument, she worried, “I think it has been more than 30 minutes.” We tried to explain, but she was a bit uneasy until we made it back to the dock.
Robby was as well. He wasn’t worried about missing the ferry; he was worried about them closing the ferry. They will close it when the wind is high so we definitely didn’t want to sleep on Put-In-Bay tonight without a hotel room.
There was no reason for anyone to worry-we made the ferry just fine. We were the first car in line. This ride was rockier than the first. Campbell was the only one who braved getting out only because she wanted to get wet. I wouldn’t let her though! The water was splashing all over our car during the crossing. I had never really seen anything like it!
From the ferry, we drove right by our hotel from last night on our way out of town. We had about an hour to go to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We had planned on going there first, but the beginnings of the day’s rain caused us to change our plans to another national historic site. Upon further research, we realized that they were closed on Mondays so we switched the GPS back to Cuyahoga.
Both of these places were in the same direction so it worked out perfectly. We arrived at Cuyahoga Valley National Park as it was just sprinkling. We walked through the visitor’s center, and the kids turned in their booklets to earn a Great Lakes Jr. Ranger badge. We also walked around outside a bit despite the sprinkling rain.
We did hear at the Visitor’s Center that tomorrow is the big race at Put-In-Bay. We had originally planned on going there tomorrow but those plans changed due to the rain in Branson. We were super glad that we weren’t trying to go tomorrow-it would have been a mess!
After the Visitor’s Center, we drove to Brandywine Falls. Robby swears that we have been here before, but I am not so sure! We walked down the boardwalks to the falls. It was a rainy mess, but no one really seemed to mind very much because it is kind of fun playing in the rain.
Once we made it back in the car, Robby worked on finding us a hotel for tonight while the kids worked on their school work. I could have taken a nap in the car, but I was busy working on the blog and answering questions about school.
I think that today was a pretty perfect day for us to have our rainy weather. It didn’t really hurt us too badly on our plans. Now, I hope that we don’t have any more days like this though (it looks like tomorrow will be more of the same though!)
When Robby found our hotel, we headed straight there. This was a nice suite which is completely different than last nights much older hotel. This hotel even had a supper. The menu shows things like BBQ or taco salad which would be wonderful to have tonight. However, the supper tonight was sub sandwiches! Ha! We have had our fill of sandwiches, but we still ate there. It was free, and it was a bit different so that made it all still yummy. It did help that there was a coke machine that went along with supper. Everyone filled up on coke and then barely had room for the cookie that we brought in from the car for dessert.
It was a pretty perfect day. Things worked out well for us and we did get a nice relaxing evening which I think that the kiddos might possibly have needed!
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