Sunday, July 8

Left the quaint town of Vermilion at 10:30 a.m. because we were waiting for the seas of Lake Erie to calm.  We were eager to get to the islands of Erie, yet a little apprehensive of the large waves.  By 10:00, the seas started to calm a little (winds 10-15 knots and 4-5 foot waves) and Captain Dave said we could travel into the waves going a little distance out of our way{that's called "tacking" in sailing terms :)} and then when we got closer to the islands, hopefully the waves would be more gentle.  It was quite the fun ride crashing into those large waves!!!  We made sure everything was put away so that nothing would fall, and Sally and I camped out in the pilot house reading :)  It really was okay for the most part, but when we turned and started to roll with the waves (even though the winds had calmed to under 10 knots and the seas were rough), I got a little uneasy feeling!  After a little bit, we all got used to it, and before you knew it, we saw the beautiful Erie Islands on the western edge of Lake Erie.  The first was Kelley's Island.  While it sure sounded like a fun place to hang, we were told Put-in-Bay was the place to go!  The local boaters were right on . . . it was like a northern Key West :)

As we pulled closer to Put-In-Bay, we could see this tower.  It turned out to be the "Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial".  The memorial honors all who fought and died during the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 and the War of 1812.  During this inland battle, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry captured the entire British squadron and raised the now famous "Don't Give Up the Ship" flag onboard the U.S. Brig Niagara.  This naval battle helped turn a war toward the founding of a lasting peace that today enables close cooperation between the United States and Canada on environmental and other important challenges facing both nations along our mutural border.

Turns out that the monument had been closed for the past three years for renovation and recently opened July 3!  We walked two flights of stairs and then took an elevator up 352 feet to the top of this 3rd highest monument (2nd St. Louis Arch, 1st Washington Monument).

After that, we decided to check out the island the same way that the rest of the islanders get around.

The island was full of all sorts of things to do, like swinging :)  Monkey Bar, anyone? :)

Okay, so it wasn't the Monkey, it was just as good though:

. . . as who doesn't like a good Mojito on a tropical, summer day? :)

We also needed to make sure we did plenty of rehydrating!

And of course, shopping!  Well 2 of the 4 shopped.  It seems Dave and Dan had to check out some history, like the world's longest bar (405' 10")!!!

We also saw an island parade with plenty of unique cars including this anfibius car (of course I was more interested in the 3 Mustangs that went by . . . why didn't my camera capture that?!?)!

As a teacher, I had to check out the school.  It turns out there's a K-12 school on this island with an average of 3 in a graduating class!!!

We ended the night with a beautiful dinner at the Boardwalk overlooking the "bay" of Put-In-Bay.  Of course no good meal is complete without a good "candy" smoke :)  {When's the last time you saw these?  We found them at a candy store, remembering them from when we were little . . . I thought they were outlawed :) !!!}

" . . . down by the boardwalk" :)