Lighthouses and fish...what a day!

Looking through some more photos I came across one lone little lighthouse, The old Port Clinton Lighthouse in Port Clinton Ohio. We often refer to this city as the "gateway to the islands". From Port Clinton/ Catawba you can catch the two main ferry services over to the Lake Erie Islands and Put-in-bay.


The Jet Express and The Miller Ferry, the easiest way to the islands!

Today's trip we didn't venture over to the islands, we just stayed on the mainland. Today we were searching for the Old Port Clinton Light. Many guides I had referred to placed this light somewhere on the Portage River in a private marina. If anyone has ever visited Port Clinton, you know there are literally dozens upon dozens of private marinas along the Portage River and lakefront. Our first stop was the Yacht club. I must say, even though the light was not hiding here, they were very helpful in pointing us in the right direction. They were so welcoming, we didn't feel the least bit out of place!

With better directions, we weren't too far from the light, or remnants of it. This light long ago was much taller and located on the breakwall at the mouth of the river. Story goes it was moved in the 60's to its present home in Brands marina after years of bickering over the light.


The Old Port Clinton Lighthouse @ Brands Marina on the Portage River.

We captured a couple of photos of our "little" light then voted on where we would go for lunch. There was no argument, Jolly Rogers Seafood Restaurant is the hands down local favorite for fish. A bit pricey, but very good. We usually make a couple of trips for lent (to start the season off right), and another trip during the summer (though the wait is sometimes unbearable).

photo uploading shortly
Jolly Rogers Seafood Restaurant in Port Clinton Ohio.

The end of a great day; another lighthouse visit and full bellies, what else could you ask for! I'll keep looking through my photos, I'm sure there are plenty more to come!

Until next time...

Toledo Ohio, The Glass City.

Yesterday I came across a couple of photos of another one of my favorite lighthouses, The Toledo Harbor Lighthouse. I have not visited this light up close yet, but I have visited it from shore many times. Depending on the haze, you can view this light from many points at Maumee Bay State Park. To see the ammenities this park has to offer, please click HERE!


Many deer wander around @ Maumee Bay State Park.

Maumee Bay State Park is my favorite "quick getaway" that has something for every mood. For a day trip, you can come to enjoy a nature walk on either of the 2 or 3 mile boardwalks through meadows, marshlands, and forest.


The boardwalk trails @ Maumee Bay State Park.

We love to go in the late afternoon and see how many deer we can spot on our hike. Other options are the pools, the beach, or the resort itself. The dining room has one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato and basil that we have ever had. Taylor has become quite attached to the playground as well. She knows exactly where it is and which way to go when we arrive.


Taylor not wasting any time getting to the playground @ Maumee Bay State Park.

The Toledo Harbor Lighthouse's Fresnel Lens was moved to Maumee Bay State Park Lodge May 13, 2008 and is located in the main lobby. I found out on the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse Preservation Society website that Jim Woodward moved the lens from the lighthouse in 1995 and moved it again from COSI in 2008. COSI is a hands-on science center that used to be in Toledo, but is still operating in Columbus Ohio. The Fresnel lens was enclosed in glass as required by the Coast Guard July 2, 2008. I was there a week before it was moved there, then again a month or so as well. Unfortunately, I didn't walk inside the lobby until after the glass was placed around it.

Photo uploading soon
The Toledo Harbor Lighthouse Fresnel Lens @ Maumee Bay State Park.


The Toledo Harbor Lighthouse from Maumee Bay State Park.


We have visited this park during the hottest days of summer, and yes, even the frigid winds of winter. My sister, when visiting from Arizona, puts this park on the top of her "must see" places. I honestly cannot say when I preferr to visit, I love to visit here any time of year.


The frozen waters @ Maumee Bay State Park.

I have yet to see the Toledo Harbor light up close yet, but by summer's end I will. They have the Toledo Lighthouse Festival the 11th and 12th of July this year, and have all types of activities planned, including boat rides out to the light. I hope to see Turtle Island Lighthouse (ruins) up close as well. We were even at the festival last year but never knew about the boat rides! We actually went to see the summer fireworks and listen to the music.To see a copy of the event flier, check it out HERE!

Until next time,

Ooooh....get to the point!

So what can I say? After I sat down and looked through some of my photos I realized I had a few left over. To be truthful, unless I look at the date stamp on the photo, I really cannot think where these fit in to the rest of the lighthouse adventures. So...here they are in no particular order. Enjoy!


Cedar Point, America's Roller Coast!

If anyone is ever in the Sandusky Ohio area, this is a MUST SEE! Definitely one of the best amusement parks around, Cedar Point has been satisfying thrill seekers for decades! Please check out their website HERE for more information!

Our family decided before our trip to CP we would stop in Huron Ohio and check out the light while we were so close. Huron is literally a hop, skip and jump away from CP, so who could resist a distant shot.


Cedar Point, distant view from Huron Ohio.

The walk out to the Huron Lighthouse wasn't too bad, but I had to go alone. Matt, my husband, couldn't walk due to a foot problem he developed on our trip up to the U.P a week ago (he'd kill me if he knew I was talking about his blisters, lol) It was a very well maintained dock/breakwall that took me out to the light. I could have gone further out by following the trail of people, but with Matt waiting on me, and a 2 year old wanting to get to the park, I had to keep moving.


Huron Lighthouse, Huron Ohio, a bit Art Decco.

While sitting on the wall snapping a couple of shots, the Goodyear Blimp decided it wanted to be included too! I finished up and headed back to the wounded and impatient. Off to Cedar Point!

We had won these tickets to CP from our donation to the United Way. Matt's factory (and my old job too) is a Pacesetter for our community and has promotional give-aways for their employees who payroll deduct to the United Way, it's the least we can do to help out. Anyhow, this was our second trip to CP this summer, so today was for Taylor. Matt and I already got to ride all of the coasters we wanted the first trip.


Taylor enjoying the rides...over and over! *notice what color she always picks!*


Another photo of Taylor on the rides.

Taking a break from the excitement, we went on a relaxing train ride and paddle boat ride. To our surprise, we found a *ahem* lighthouse on the river boat excursion. Who knew?


The lighthouse on the Riverboat Excursion.

Who could resist a water ride on a hot summer day! Obviously our family can't! Taylor and I had stood close to the Snake River Falls bridge to get a little splash to cool off. To give you a bit of insight, there are a couple of places near the bridge to stand and just get a little splash. For the ride goers themselves, after they exit the ride, they cross over the bridge. Timing is just right that as they are crossing the bridge, the next "car" is coming down the falls and creates a huge wall of water. No one stays dry on this ride. So when daddy said he wanted a turn to hold Taylor by the bridge, I didn't think much of it. Well, Matt decided that just getting close to the bridge wasn't good enough, he got ON the bridge. Yup, they are soaked!


Daddy and Taylor standing on Snake River Falls Bridge...SOAKED!

Now mashing our two trips together...

Our first trip this year to Cedar Point was for our Company picnic. They reserve one of the wonderful picnic areas and provide discounted admission tickets as well as a full catered lunch. It's always a hit! This year, we decided to go for a walk after lunch to settle our bellies instead of jumping on the first roller coaster. So our family walked along the Lake Erie coast to see what was on the other side of the peninsula/island. Matt and I already knew the Sandusky Bay Lighthouse at Cedar Point was out this way, so that is where we were headed.


Sandusky Bay Light, replaced with a cylinder style light, marks the entrance to the Sandusky Bay.

Not much to see, so we continued on around the bend...then bam! We found the not-so-know Cedar Point Lighthouse. This is more like it! Tucked away in "Camper World" on the back side of CP is this beauty. Can you imagine, this area used to be the ferry entrance for decades when the ferry shuttles used to run from Cleveland to the park. I could almost feel what the excitement was like to arrive for the first time to the park by boat 100 years ago.


Cedar Point Lighthouse.

But this find wasn't all....imagine my surprise when I gazed across the bay. In the distance was the Marblehead Lighthouse! This is by far my favorite lighthouse. This is the same lighthouse my family has been visiting for years while I was growing up. Now I can add this view to my album of photos.


Marblehead Lighthouse across Sandusky Bay from Cedar Point Amusement Park.

I'll keep looking through my photos, I'm sure I've got more to post!

Until next time!

Last outing of 2008.

At the time we didn't know it, but this trip would turn out to be our last outing of 2008. Today, we were going up to Detroit to meet my parents for dinner, so why not sneak in a little bit of lighthouse sight-seeing. We wanted to finish up the lights of Lake Erie and the Detroit River that we have been putting off for some time, so this was our chance.

Our first stop was to find the Detroit River Lighthouse. This light proved to be a tricky one. Without any clear cut directions I really don't think we did too bad! According to google, there was a park and "island" that gave you the closest distant view of the light, now we just needed to find it. After driving around what seemed like a landfill and work yard for about 30 minutes, we found the road we were looking for.


Aerial view of the island. *Borrowed from Wikipedia*

After heading in the right direction, we finally found the park. We quickly found out this was a state public hunting area (Pointe Mouille State Game Area). Click HERE to read more about this very unique area. We were hesitant at first to enter, until a couple of guys taking their dogs out for a stroll assured us it was OK to cross to the island. They told us they often walk over to the island, and told us we would be OK if we didn't see any hunters. Best advice, if you see someone with a gun, get out of the way! With it being the time of day that it was, we were sitting OK. There wasn't anyone out on the trails, and only a couple of fishermen were out fishing. So we headed off. We started walking the "short" way around the 5 mile loop. This was a long walk!


Daddy and Taylor out for a stroll.

We continued walking around the bend, until suddenly....there it was! We were so lucky, we even caught two ships passing by the light. This is such a small light compared to the ships. They seem to tower over the lighthouse.


Detroit River Lighthouse with a passing ships.


After we got a couple of distant shots we continued on our walk. Suddenly, we started to hear shots from the other side of the island. They were duck hunting, and we needed to get out! I really don't believe we were in any danger...yet, but we didn't want to stick around and find out. The two guys with their dogs also picked up and started to move them along as well. We were pretty worn out after the hike, so the car ride up to the Grosse Ile Lighthouse was a good reward.


Grosse Ile, Michigan.

There are two ways to get cross onto Grosse Ile, one has a toll (I think it was $4.00 one way), and the other is free. Luck for us, we found the free bridge over. This is a very beautiful and large island on the Detroit river. High-society homes line the streets, and I'll admit we felt a bit out of place. There were cars sitting in the driveways at some of these homes that cost more than our house! While passing through, we seen a lot of deer meandering around and posing in the front yards while residents were out for their late afternoon walks. They really seemed to co-exist without bothering the other. If I had to guess, we probably seen upwards to 15 deer in our short visit.

After we wandered around the island for a while, we found the lighthouse at the north end of the island. We had an issue though, the light is sitting behind personal property with no access. We really didn't want to trespass, so we continued down the lane until we could get a glimpse from the road. At the end of a cul-de-sac we found an open lot that gave a perfect distant view of the light on the other side of the marina. No one was at home (I tried ringing the bell to ask for permission)so I quickly snapped a couple of pictures from their driveway. These would have to work for now.


Grosse Ile Lighthouse

Not as well as I would have hoped, but they serve their purpose for now. I did contact The Grosse Ile Historical Society to verify what days they would have the lighthouse open. They told me they only open the lighthouse one day a year, the Sunday after Labor Day. We were there, they were not! Unfortunately, due to issues of some sort, they were not opening it this year. Oh well, maybe next year!

After viewing the Grosse Ile light, we headed into Detroit to meet my parents for dinner. It was a good day for lighthouse sightseeing. We have now officially ended our lighthouse travels for 2008. Now we need to focus on our maps and travels for 2009.

Until next time....

Cleveland Rocks! Cleveland Rocks! Cleveland Rocks!

(Hee Hee Hee....couldn't help it!)


Downtown Cleveland Ohio viewed from Voinovich Bicentennial Park.

Leaving Fairport Harbor and heading west, we stopped at the always rocking Cleveland Ohio! While downtown, we seen the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Browns Stadium, but our main objective was to see the Cleveland Lighthouses. In downtown Cleveland there are three lights; the Cleveland East Pierhead Light, the Cleveland West Pierhead Light, and the Cleveland East Entrance Light.


Both the Cleveland West and Cleveland East Pierhead Lighhouses.

The weather was very typical Ohio weather. It was nice to start the day, then turned windy and cold as the day went on. Matt and I went to Voinovich Bicentennial Park in downtown Cleveland to see some pretty good views of the city. From here we could see two of the three lighthouses downtown and a beautiful view of the city skyline.

Voinovich Bicentennial Park

A parcel of land perched on the shore of Lake Erie, Voinovich Bicentennial Park provides some of the most spectacular views of the city's skyline and unadulterated looks at the lake. The park was named for former Cleveland mayor and current U.S. senator George Voinovich, the man under which so many of the city and lakefront revitalization efforts were commissioned in the late '80s and early '90s. Located behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and part of North Coast Harbor, the park is the site of many of Cleveland's major events including the Pride Festival, Rock & Boom (July 4 fireworks) and Gravity Games. Voinovich Park also is the home for the Goodtime III, a local cruise line. When it's not attracting hundreds of thousands for marquee events, it's a nice, and often quiet respite for a jog, bike ride or place to simply sit on a bench and enjoy the view. While finding parking can be difficult for some of the bigger events, the park is easily accessible by bus and Rapid. -- Daniel Rivkin

Cleveland West Pierhead Lighthouse from Voinovich Bicentennial Park.


Cleveland East Pierhead Lighthouse from Voinovich Bicentennial Park.

Because the weather wasn't cooperating, we decided on our next trip to Cleveland we would stop by and see the lights again. At least today we became familiarized with the position of these lights, and found some good information about the dinner cruises available for next summer. That would be a nice treat! Today, it was just too bitterly cool and windy to stay out any length of time. For now, we crossed off a couple more lights off of our list.

Now, it's time to go shopping!

Until next time...

On the Road, Again.

...I can almost hear Willie singing it right now, can you?

After our "Tour de Thumb", we took off a couple of weekends in October. Our daughter, Taylor, was turning 3 and we wanted to have family and friends over for a little celebration.


Taylor turns 3...your my big girl now!

Of course we weren't going to sit around for long, we were checking off lighthouses now at an alarming rate and couldn't wait to get back out again. Autumn is my favorite season; the leaves turning, the crisp air, and that distinct smell...ahhh. I can't help it, I want to be outdoors as much as possible. Put my two absolute favorite things together (lighthouses and autumn) and I'm in heaven!

Taylor was lucky, she got to spend the day with her grandma baking. This trip was a first for mommy and daddy out venturing alone. We wanted to revisit the Fairport Harbor Lights as well as a couple of lights in Cleveland Ohio that we missed the first time.


Taylor baking cookies with her grandma.

After we dropped Taylor off, we were on our way. We got a pretty good jump on the day and by 10 am we were on the Ohio Turnpike. We love having Taylor with us, but the break for the afternoon was also a nice breather. Matt and I talked about taking advantage of our "freedom" and getting some needed Christmas shopping done as well.

Our first stop was at the Headlands Beach State Park in Fairport Harbor/ Mentor on-the-Lake. We had already visited the Old Fairport Harbor Lighthouse a couple of months prior (see the post Road Trip Part Deux!) but it was already dark when we arrived. When we were there that night, the Fairport Harbor Light out on the breakwall was not visible, so we really didn't know what we were in for.

If you'd like more information about the Headlands Beach State Park, please Check out their website HERE.


The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse from the breakwall.


A view of the Old Fairport Harbor Lighthouse across the harbor.

Walking the beach was a nice change of pace for us, this beach was long and unobstructed, we could see exactly where we were headed. At best guess I would say we walked a mile or so out to the light, catching some pretty impressive views. In addition to the Breakwater light, from this vantage point we also caught a view of the Old Fairport Harbor Lighthouse across the harbor.


Fairport Harbor Lighthouse from Headlands Beach State Park.

After Matt and I finished our stroll, we headed across the Grand River to the Old Fairport Harbor Lighthouse. This was a very different lighthouse during the day than it appeared on our last visit. While walking to the light, we meet a couple who were also there visiting. They even took our picture together in front of the lighthouse, something Matt and I rarely do. We showed them the photos we just took from the beach, and they were very impressed. They didn't know they could get that close. We gave them directions and tips on where the best vantage points were to see the same views. Talking with the other couple, we discovered not only have we visited many of the same places, but we also live only about 40 minutes away from each other! What odds, having to travel across the state to meet your neighbor!


Old Fairport Lighthouse.

When we parted, the older gentleman offered the best words of encouragement I've heard in a long time. He said he hoped to see our guide on his coffee table someday. Wow, maybe we can really do it! Our goal is to someday publish a guide book or journal of our adventures. I do hope someday we don't let him down. Matt and I stuck around a little bit longer and took more photos of the Fairport Harbor light. It was really nice meeting others just as obsessed as we are. I hope to meet more light buffs like them out on our journeys.


Fairport Harbor Lighthouse across the Harbor.

Now off to Cleveland, we've got lights to see and shopping to do!

More to come...

Road Trip Part Deux!

Making our way home from Erie Pennsylvania, we wanted to stop at a couple of lighthouses east of Cleveland Ohio. If you've ever traveled in Ohio during the summer you know construction is inevitable. Well, today was no exception. While trying to locate the Ashtabula Lighthouse we made a few too many turns and ended up getting lost! The Ashtabula light is not pictured in the guide books we usually carry, so we wanted to see why everyone says it's hard to photograph--we now know why. But for today the detours were hurting us...if you're keeping score it's construction 1, our family 0.


Construction always makes things harder.

It was getting late, and we've been circling for an hour trying to follow the detours with no luck. Before we left on our road trip I tried making our own directions on map quest, but our printer was on the fritz. So I wrote a few directions down hoping they would work, ha ha ha. Maybe in a perfect world without orange barrels and torn down bridges? After the detours were getting us nowhere, we decided to follow our intuition. If you keep the water in your sight long enough you will eventually find a lighthouse. Just when we were about to throw in the towel, there it was!


Ashtabula Lighthouse from the Great Lakes Marine and U.S. Coast Guard Memorial Museum.

As I'm sure any light buff will tell you, this view was just unacceptable and I wanted to get closer! So we headed down Lake Avenue which dead-ends into the Walnut Beach Park. We could really see the large attraction at this park was fishing. Everyone there was carrying fishing gear and poles. But today we had another agenda.

One problem, the lighthouse couldn't be seen anywhere. From this view point, the coastline makes a large curve obscuring the lighthouse behind an overgrown grassy marsh. Through that grass there was a trail that went in the direction of the light, so we went for it. We soon found out it was so overgrown with tall grass and weeds we had to walk single file down the trail. If you know me, I gotta keep going!

So with Taylor riding piggy-backed we started to hike the grassy lane. The deeper we got the less developed the path, the taller the grass. By the time we decided to turn around we were walking in 8' tall grass with no trail and spongy ground. Another couple ahead of us were also trying to walk out to the light. When we caught up to them, they had got separated and his wife was panicking in the grass. Everyone had enough and we all turned around. It was like a bad maze we couldn't find our way out.

When we finally got back to the Jeep, my husband decided he would walk out the uneven breakwall and get a photo for me. The breakwall was VERY uneven and with my clumsiness I would've fallen into the lake! Besides, how do you take a 2 year old out on the rocks? So it was settled, I would stay with Taylor while he walked out. We played games and colored for what seemed like an hour until Matt came out into the clearing. I was worse than a kid at Christmas, I couldn't wait to see what his pictures looked like!


Matt's photo of the Ashtabula Lighthouse

Matt didn't return alone though, he walked back with a local fisherman he met out on the breakwall. The older gentleman was telling us stories about the beach when he was a young boy, walking out to the lighthouse and how everything has changed over the years. He also told us how the walk was very treacherous and ever year it is getting worse. Matt said he almost lost his balance a couple of times on the uneven walk, so I was really happy I stayed in the car.

At this point in the day we didn't know how many more lighthouses we would be able to see before sunset. We decided to continue west towards Fairport Harbor Ohio. Maybe if things would have gone differently throughout the day we may have made it, but it was dark when we finally arrived.


Fairport Harbor Lighthouse at dark.

The village was hopping when we got there. Boy were we surprised to find that they were hosting their annual PerchFest festival. Because it was already dark, and we had a long drive home yet, we put this quiet village on our list of places to return. At this point we are still a decent 3 hours away from home. Making the most of our night visit, I used the night mode on my camera. Not too bad, grainy in my opinion though.


Fairport Harbor Lighthouse using Night vision mode

Below is an excerpt from their website describing the festival.

Lake County PerchFest(TM)
The Lake County PerchFest(TM) is Ohio's largest perch fish fry/festival. The PerchFest is held at a scenic 25 acre Lake Erie beach park, Lake Metroparks Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park. The Lake County PerchFest features live entertainment, additional food and crafts vendors.

A perch fishing tournament with a $1000 first prize attracts hundreds of fishing contestants. A karaoke contest with a $500 in prizes also attracts both contestants and a full tent of visitors. Improved affordable Lake Erie yellow Perch fish fry meals are the main attraction, selling 2,200 pounds of perch and 9,000 meals in 30 hours. The fish vendor uses Lake Erie Yellow perch with a special breading machine on site and fries the fish in canola oil. Walleye fish fries are also included, plus shrimp baskets and steamed clams.

Tours of the Fairport Marine Museum/Lighthouse is also part of the PerchFest plus youth activities . Youth activities include a youth fishing tank, plus other performers. More vendors, both arts and crafts and non-fish food vendors, also are part of the PerchFest(TM). The PerchFest received national publicity with a six minute segment on the Travel Channel program, "Taste of America.".

The Lake County Perch Fest is hosted by the Lake County Visitors Bureau.

Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park is about 40 miles east of downtown Cleveland off Route 2. Dates are Sep 11-13, 2009. Visitors from as far away as Seattle attend.

If you'd like more information about the festival, please visit their website.
http://www.perchfest.net/

End of another day, and a few lights crossed off our list.
More to come!