Port Clinton Ahoy!

From Flint we drove down through Michigan and into Ohio. It was great watching the change in the terrain from hilly and marshy to flat farmland. We loved the vast open spaces.

 There are huge farms out here. Acres and acres of ploughed and planted fields of corn and wheat mostly.


We were amused at how they ploughed and planted right up to the edges of roads, houses, even towns.

This is real farming America. All the farms were so neat and tidy, it was amazing.

We'd drive for miles and suddenly there'd be a quaint old farm house and barns. 

A typical farm house in Ohio. 

A lot of Americans said "Don't go to Ohio, it's flat and uninteresting." We found it really pretty. Flat farmland has its own beauty.



We continued on until afternoon and decided to stop at a pretty little place called Port Clinton right on Lake Erie. We stayed in a B&B here and really enjoyed it.

Pretty Port Clinton on Lake Erie, Ohio.

You guys getting envious yet? Look at that gorgeous weather!! 

 Shit! I've got to lose some weight. Far out! Anyway, that's me at the lighthouse at Port Clinton.

Geoff looking out to... not sea, but lake.

I couldn't resist it. I took my shoes off and paddled in the rock pools around the front of the lighthouse.

I've had my feet in Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan and now, Lake Erie. Michigan was by far the coldest.

You probably can't make out what these are, but they're fossils. 






There were fossils in the rocks everywhere.

Can you believe this view? This is where we stayed for the night.

Check this out. This is what Lake Erie looks and sounds like....

In the morning we took off for Bucyrus. Everyone laughed. What the hell would we want to go to Bucyrus for? There's nothing there! Nobody goes to Bucyrus. Well... we did.
 

 






 

Lakes Like Seas & Old Carousels

Olcott to Tonawanda
Day 10 - But who's counting?

We drove from Lockport to Olcott which is a pretty little village on the shore of Lake Erie. No wonder they call these lakes "great".

Geoff at Olcott, Lake Erie.

 We had a hotdog from one of these

little shops on the boardwalk.

I'm really beginning to love American chilidogs.

You'd swear you were looking out to sea, but this is a lake!

 Is it a bird?

Yeah, well that is a turkey vulture. They are really enormous, and they are everywhere. They circle the updraughts on wings like majestic black sails against the perfect blue sky.

In Tonawanda we were privileged to have a ride on the old Herschel carousel at the original factory where they were made. Everybody knows how much I love these old carousels. I turned back the hands of time and rode around while the big old Herschel pipe organ played. Can I describe such an experience? Not really. The music... the wooden horses going up and down on their shiny brass poles... heartachingly familiar.