"Other good stuff" post

Our plans for when we arrived in Ohio the end of May were:

--Spend a few nights in Cleveland during the NBA playoffs. Check.

--Visit Pittsburgh. Check.

--Visit our Ohio and Nebraska families. Check.

--Walk a lot. Check.

--Visit lots of people:  Cousins, friends from high school, and of course my Mom who graciously let us impose all summer (thanks, Mom). Lots of checks, but never as many as we want. And of course, half the time I forgot to take photos.

--Take a trip to Buffalo. Fully planned (including RV park reservations and brew pub suggestions from our Buffalo nephew) but not checked.

--Visit Washington, DC; Manhattan; and a few other places east. Never got past the wish list stage.

Cancelled travel plans were due to our dog, Cooper, getting too sick to travel or leave behind. But we had a good vet (my brother) nearby and are staying at Mom's where Cooper didn't have to go up and down steps.  So all is well dog-wise.  And as the 21 blog posts I've made since we arrived in Ohio indicate, we still did a lot -- plus a whole lot more. The photos below are of some of the the not-already-posted-about things we've done. 

My brother Bob and SIL Suzie took us out to dinner and then to the 

Blossom Music Center see the "Divas of Broadway," with the Cleveland Orchestra.  We heard songs from Wicked, Le Miserable, Showboat, Westside Story and more. Wonderful. In the bottom photo is Jim to the left, then Bob, me, and Suzie.  The top photo shows part of the crowd of 13,000 people that bring their lawn chairs and blankets and sit on the lawn.  Another 5,700 can sit in the covered pavilion.  Blossom is inside the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. 

Jim and Bev with the fruits of their labor at Mansfield's Blueberry Patch. We drove to Mansfield, Ohio, to check out Clear Creek Reservoir and a nearby campground.  Clear Creek is would be a great fishing hole, but we were looking more for a kayaking spot -- something with lots of little inlets.  And that's not Clear Creek.  As for the campground, all we saw were RVs with wooden decks attached, so it's obviously for people whose rigs seldom, if ever, move.  But the the Blueberry Patch -- plus a side trip to  Mansfield's Phoenix Brewery -- made up for it.

A happy Afghan strutting his stuff at the Lorain County Kennel Club Show in rural and pretty Henrietta, Ohio. We'd never been to a dog show before and it was fun.

Mini family reunion: Bev's family from left to right back row:  brother Bob; Bob's DIL Jill and son Ben; Bob's wife Suzie holding Elroy the brown poodle puppy; Bev's brother Don; Don's wife Trudy; and Jim.  From row L to R:  Bev; Mom; Don and and Trudy's son Toby.  Missing are Bev's kids and their fams (Ashley, Shad, Mia and Marshall); and Bob and Suzie's daughter, Brooke.  Bob and Suzie live in nearby Brecksville.  Don and Trudy live in Lincoln, NE.  Ben and Jill live in Buffalo.  Toby recently started working in San Francisco.

We went to two parties hosted by my high school friend, Sally, second from right, and her ever congenial husband Mike.  The second party had a large contingent of former Wellington Troop 682 Girl Scouts who still remember the Girl Scout salute.  Pat's Mom was our assistant troop leader. Anne's dad once drove a bus full of us to Washington, DC.  As the story goes, Anne's dad asked those of us in the rear to watch out the window while he backed up -- and as soon as he hit a pole, we told him exactly that. 

We discovered the Vermilion Valley Winery in Henrietta, pictured above, and the Jilbert Winery in Valley City. I've read that northeast Ohio has  more wineries per square mile than any other area of the US, and they do seem to be popping up all over.  

My cousin Rocky, second from left, and his wife Diane, hosted Jim, me and my Mom at their pretty home in Vermilion, Ohio.  Their house backs up to a creek close to where the creek ends at lake Erie.  Lovely.

We made several trips to the college town of Oberlin, Ohio, which is just north of Wellington.  Oberlin was a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1850's and its college was the first in the nation to admit women and African Americans.  The trip above was made right after Oberlin held its "Chalk Walk" where master artists and enthusiastic amateurs let their creativity flow on public sidewalks. In the photo on the right are SIL Trudy, nephew Toby, brother Don and Jim.

Enjoyed wildlife -- like this white tail deer in a soybean field -- as seen from Mom's sunroom.

Got my photo in the local newspaper.  One morning Mom was looking at a newspaper supplement for a festival  my hometown hosts.  And my pic was in the supplement. It was taken last year, and I was surprised to see it. That's me to the left -- I'm not the blonde, waving, festival princess.