Kelley's Island Weekend

At long last, another post from me. We just got back from a fabulous trip to Kelley's Island (in Lake Erie, north of Marblehead, OH) http://www.kelleysisland.com/. Ohio friends and family will know about KI and Put in Bay on nearby South Bass Island. I have been to Put in Bay several times over the years, but never to KI. Tim was happy to learn that there are cool places to visit in lake Erie, the most maligned of the great lakes.


Our friends, Jen and John, and their daughter Anna, invited us to join them for a long weekend. We stayed in a great cottage, very near the airstrip. John and Jen flew to the island in their cool Bonanza plane and we drove and took the ferry -- a fun adventure in and of itself. We spent a lot of time biking, walking and otherwise roaming the island. It is quiet, laid back and full of very friendly people. Well, all except for the grumpy lady at the ice cream stand next to the mini-golf. How can you be grumpy if your job is to sell ice cream?


The cottage was decorated with cool artisan sculptures and art, and was super comfortable. It had a fire pit with lots of wood just begging to be burnt. I think it must be wired into human DNA to love to sit around a fire and stare into it for hours on end. Of course, it helps when there is great beer involved! Lots of Oberon and Great Lakes beers were consumed. The Commodore Perry IPA was particularly apropos as we flew over Put in Bay that same day and saw the Perry memorial http://www.nps.gov/pevi/.


Anna had her very first s'more around that same campfire and we all enjoyed throwing rocks into the "pond" (Lake Erie) with her on our last day. Other time was spent rambling over the island in the Polaris Ranger (check out pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahk7186). We did decide, however, that the neighbor's extended golf cart with the spinners and cow hide covered seats was really the ride we should have had! There are also some very cool glacial grooves set aside and maintained as a state park. To think that all the great lakes and a huge 5-6 state area were formed by massive glaciers that moved about 1 in per day is awesome and I get kinda geeky about reading the signs and learning about stuff like that.


Now back home, and dog free for one night. Tim will pick them up tomorrow from the vet's office. They were prepared to give Henry doggie valium (he doesn't like kennels at all) and we've never kenneled Bea, so there is no telling how that all went!