Monday, June 26, 2017

Mini-Vacation Fun

When DH and I decided we would try to do several mini-vacations this summer, we had no idea they'd be as enjoyable as our first two have been. In May, you may recall, we drove to South Carolina for a 4-day jaunt to Charleston, Georgetown, and Murrell's Inlet with a stop on the way home in Mt. Airy, NC, and a 100-mile drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a wonderful trip that is briefly summarized here.

We returned late Saturday from a second, shorter get-away much closer to home. We left Thursday morning for Lake Erie to stay at Put-In-Bay. We'd booked a room at a bed and breakfast through Airbnb - our first ever such venture. It worked out so perfectly that we are sure to do it again.


Our room was one of several available in a home called The Dellwood, a lovely Victorian built in 1897. We shared the home with a few other guests, but you'd have thought we had the place to ourselves - that is how quiet and peaceful it was. The wrap-around porch was a perfect place for listening to the evening rain shower that blew in just at dusk. Our daughter and her husband have used Airbnb several times, and recommended that we try it. Now we will be recommending it, too.


Because it had been a misty, cloudy day, we did not get to do as much touring around the island as we normally do. We did, however, make it out to try a new (to us) restaurant - The Keys. I had a delicious Cuban sandwich with fries and a cocktail. DH had a seafood reuben and a cocktail. The open-air dining area provided us with the view of Perry Monument, shown in the photo above. As I said, the day had been overcast, but during dinner, the sun popped through the clouds and illuminated the monument which reflected so beautifully off the water.


After dinner, we hopped our golf cart - the preferred mode of travel on the island - and took in all the sights. Because we'd never stayed overnight on the island, we'd never before had the luxury of enjoying a sunset there; Mother Nature gave us a spectacular show through those pesky clouds.

On Friday morning - or I should say around noon, we left Put-In-Bay for the hour-long drive to Cleveland. We had a room reserved at the downtown Westin Hotel, and tickets for Friday night to see the Indians and Twins. The Indians lost, but we still had a great evening with Erin and Jeff, our daughter and son-in-law, who were also booked at the Westin. After dinner at Great Lakes Brewing Company, we hopped aboard the restaurant's shuttle to the stadium, a very nice bonus. After the game, we power-walked just over a mile back to our hotel.

Great Lakes Brewing Co.



Above is our group selfie taken at the ballpark - Jeff, Kevin, Jayne and Erin. We had great seats just off the third-base line. You notice that Jeff is wearing a Twins cap - he hails from Minnesota, and so we allow such traitorous apparel - plus, we really love him. 

On Saturday, after a leisurely cup of coffee with the kids at the hotel, the two of us headed south toward home with a stop on the way to see Kevin's dad. And that concluded our second of the short, summer getaways.

I mentioned in yesterday's post that we did have some negatives to deal with. On Thursday, we had a flat tire near Bucyrus, which set us back about two and a half hours and chunk of change. Then when we got to our bed and breakfast, we were informed that a "bug bloom" was expected at dusk. Curious? Well, an enormous cloud of mayflies descends on the lake and goes to any well-lit space. Now you know why we sat in the dark on the wrap-around porch listening to the rain. Besides the tire and the bugs, we had rain! Our trip could have been disastrous, but we found ways to be optimistic which worked wonders for us. The people who helped us in Bucyrus were the best mankind has to offer - so giving, helpful, genuine and kind. The bugs - well, we were very little affected as long as we followed advice and stayed out of well-lit areas. As for the rain, had we not had those clouds, our great sunset vista and monument view would have been ordinary. 

On a sewing note, I did get that little hexie flower stitched last night. I have yet to take the picture, however. Come on back tomorrow to see it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you had a nice time in spite of the flat tired and bugs. Sounds like my kind of vacation, quiet and relaxing.

    ReplyDelete

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