Quotable:

"In cooking, as in all the arts, simplicity is a sign of perfection." - Curnonsky

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Weekend Trip to Ohio

This past weekend I drove down to Ohio to visit my childhood friends in the town I grew up in, Napoleon, Ohio. We lived there from the mid-60's until 1977, basically my formidable years. I still have a lot of friends that I keep in touch with and we try to get together at least two times a year.

Friday night I made it to Jean's home by 730pm. We picked up her daughter Carissa, Patricia, and Michele and went to the Rally in the Alley, which I believe is a monthly outdoor concert held in the city. We ran into some other high school friends - Teresa, Mark, and Lana. The band was so loud that it made it impossible to carry on any conversation unfortunately.

After the dance was over, we stopped by McDonald's and headed back to Patricia's home. No one in a million years will believe this, but they have pet duck that follows there dog Ruby around. If the dog isn't within sight, the duck (Mildred) goes crazy and starts honking out of control. It is the most funniest thing I have ever seen.

Saturday, Jean and I picked up Michele around 1130am and headed to Put In Bay, which is an island in Lake Erie. After having a beer in Port Clinton at an Irish Pub, we boarded the Jet Express high speed ferry (compliments of a client of Michele's) and dashed to the island in about 20 minutes. Once at the island, we tried to find our other friend Shelley but we couldn't locate her in the pool area with hundreds of other sunbathers.

We walked up to Hineman's Winery and sampled two bottles of Riesling. I'm very surprised I liked this wine since Riesling is not one of my favorites. I'm more of a dry white-type of girl. The island is hopping with golf carts for people to use since there are not many cars. Walking back to the main drag, a lady picked us up and proceeded to tell us all about her divorce. She was on her way to mass.

Shelley was finally located in her hotel room. But she was busy getting cleaned up and had plans to eat with some other girls. We had dinner at The Boardwalk, again compliments of one of Michele's clients, and then went to the another bar, Axel & Harry's I believe, that Dianna had recommended and had their speciality - Mango Mojito. This was absolutely the most delicious drink I have had in a long time. I need to get the recipe. Three men sat next to us at the bar and we started talking. They asked us to go out on one of the guy's boat for a ride, but being the smart girls we are, we declined. But we offered to meet up with them later at the Beer Barrel.

The Beer Barrel I guess is world renowned for having the longest continuous bar. The place was huge and I certainly could not see the entire bar. The featured band was The Menus, which are a fabulous band out of Cincinnati. We had a fun time dancing to their music. The men from Axel & Harry's miraculously found us in the sea of people. So we hooked up with them for a round of drinks before we had to dash to the dock to catch the 1145pm ferry back to Port Clinton.

Another stop at McDonald's to refuel us and we made it back to Jean's by 230am. I was absolutely exhausted and slept like a baby. What a weekend! Hope you enjoy my photos.


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