We waited for our flight and after a short delay, we were on our way. When we landed it was POURING rain.
When we got home, unpacked, checked the mail, and looked through all our rocks and beach glass from the trip.
| I found a full rainbow of rocks at Walnut Beach Park in Ashtabula, OH |
| I also found this little heart |
It was a wonderful trip! It is unbelievable how much we did in 17 days ....
We stayed in 10 hotels. We saw friends and family we hadn't seen in 3, 7, 8, and 10 years. We touched 4 Great Lakes and went to lakes that were great. We stopped for several wine tastings, a few beer flights, and countless ice creams and frozen custards. We saw an otter in the zoo and in the wild. And we saw a bunny in a house and out in the wild. We saw a lot of dead fish. And fireflies! We had a lot of pizza. We stopped in 7 states and 1 province. We celebrated Canada Day in Canada and Independence Day in the US. We saw a baseball game and many football, baseball, and basketball stadiums, plus a Walk of Fame and a Hall of Fame. We collected rocks and shells and beach glass of all colors. We rode a little train and a big commuter train and Riley was the conductor of a giant, old steam train. We sat on the city bus that is the most important in history and saw one of the first ever school buses. We got rained on and saw incredible sunsets. We ate cucumbers whole and blueberries from a famers market and cereal in plastic cups in a hotel room. We saw the houses and schools of my parents when they were young. We had some Canadian treats - Kinder Eggs, Pizza Pops, Ketchup Chips, Hickory Sticks, Caesars, and Timbits (FOUR times!). We saw cars from movies and places movies & TV shows were filmed. We saw how they make jelly beans and gummy bears and ice cream and wine and beer. We found several cities and beaches we would love to return to. We drove for around 27 hours. I took over 1000 pictures. We saw the Bronze Fonz, a bronze fawn, and the house of LeBron(ze) ... plus a big silver bean! We squished a lot of US pennies and spent time in the land where they no longer use pennies. And we made countless memories. It really was an amazing trip, and I am so glad that we did it.
Such an amazing trip! I love reading (and seeing) all of your adventures - but it always makes me wonder how you would cope with doing so much 'nothing' if(when!) you come visit us! Although we do have plenty of wineries, amazing sunsets, clear blue sea that you can see through to the bottom everywhere (for Riley), great pizza, loads of ice cream, a bronze donkey, a good variety of rental cars (convertible vw beetles are very popular and come in a variety of bright colours!) - and no rain!
ReplyDeleteThis was a fabulous trip and so many wonderful memories. Your summary paragraph is terrific. Dad and I loved looking at the photos and reading about all your adventures. Where to next???
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a fantastic trip. Thanks for showing us a few familiar places and a lot of new places. Who knew Cleveland would be a mecca for food and drink? So many ice cream stops, pizzas, wine tastings, and fun places that you went. And you didn't let what seemed like unrelenting rain stop you.
ReplyDeleteNote to Ellen: I don't remember ever stopping at candy factories and fun souvenir places when our parents took us on trips.