Kathryn’s Voyage Blog

Publish Date: Monday, June 1, 2009
Location: Lake Erie, The Great Lakes

While blogs have been few and far between here on Lake Erie, friends have been in abundance. Dave

covered many of our adventures in his blog Lake Erie Social Circuit (he’s so good about getting his blogs up in a timely fashion); as did Ayla in her blogs about Fallingwater and CedarPoint; but, I just wanted to add my thanks to all of our old friends, new friends, and dear friends that made our time on Lake Erie so special.

“Mistake on the Lake” is moniker often applied to Erie, PA or Cleveland, OH. As a first time visitor to both of these areas, I would have to disagree. I thoroughly enjoyed both towns, their unique sites to visit, and the people. Granted I don’t have to live there in the winter time, but I’m sure the warmth of the local people make up for the chill.

Erie, PA – The Manross Family

Thank you to Deac and Jane in Erie, PA for the use of their car to provision, and more importantly to take Ayla to see Fallingwater. This experience in so many ways represents what this adventure is about. Ayla became fascinated by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater home after seeing a scale model of it at MOMA in New York. Less than a month later we were standing inside the home, where she could experience it for herself. The greatest opportunity to teach is when a child asks “Why?”. We were able to convert her interest into true experiential learning. I know we are blessed to have this opportunity and I try hard not to ever take it for granted.

Deac and Jane also gave us the grand tour of Erie, PA, Chautauqua, NY, and Edinboro, PA. We enjoyed

a sailboat regatta together, Ribfest, locally brewed beer, real bagels (hard to come by on a boat), and a wonderful back yard weenie roast to celebrate Ayla’s completion of her first year of boat school (6th grade) aboard Three@Sea. We had full bellies, and a heart full of smiles when we left.

Cleveland, OH – The Rio Dulce Crew

Cleveland was originally not part of our plan until we discovered that a family we had met while cruising in the Bahamas was returning home just about the time we would be passing the area. We stopped to reminisce a bit, and create some new memories. The crew from Rio Dulce showed us around from Rocky River to Cleveland to Akron. As with so many of these areas, we found the scenery to be easy on the eyes with lush dense woods, spring flowers in bloom and it’s own unique architecture (lots of brick). We particularly enjoyed the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, which is super accessible in size, and had a very cool exhibit on the salt mines below Lake Erie. We all went and saw Night At The Museum 2, another big

treat since most movie theaters are not located near anchorages. Dave caught a Cleveland Indians game with Dick, and the kids had lots of time just to play.

A very special thanks goes to Ed, Marianne’s dad who was kind enough to host us at the Cleveland Yachting Club. Ed has been following our journey and we looked forward to meeting him for a long chat in person. Unfortunately he was delayed while helping to deliver a friends boat from Michigan to Cleveland. In a surprise twist, we passed each other in the middle of Lake Erie and had a nice chat via VHF radio. 🙂

CedarPoint, Sandusky, OH – The Carlin Clan

As you may have already learned from Dave and Ayla’s blogs Cedar Point is the pinnacle of roller coaster parks. What they couldn’t capture was my utter shock at the arrival of my dear friend Bobbi and her daughter Claire from Boulder, CO. As we prepared to leave the pump-out dock of the Cleveland Yachting Club on a drizzly morning, with the boat once again covered in midges, I heard a familiar voice come from the dock. “I hear this boat is going to CedarPoint, can we catch a ride?” When I turned around, there were Bobbi and Claire donned in hooded wind-breakers and silly glasses as a disguise. To say you could have knocked me over with a feather would be an understatement. We weren’t even supposed to be in Cleveland. Unbeknownst to me, Dave had schemed with Bobbi to meet us at CedarPoint as a suprise for my upcoming 50th birthday. She flew in the night before and stayed with her sister just outside of Cleveland. Since we had made this unscheduled stop, they decided to hop aboard and cruise over to Sandusky with us. What a FANTASTIC surprise!!!!

They spent three nights aboard Three@Sea with us, and two full days riding roller coasters. One of my

favorite lines from the visit came as Bobbi and I were being strapped in to The Raptor roller coaster. Ayla and Claire opted out, deciding it looked just too scary. Bobbi was ready to get out of line too, but I was determined to ride it. Being the true friend that she is, since it was my birthday (almost) she didn’t want me to ride alone. As we sat there, the anticipation building for take off, she looked over and said, “It would have been a heck-of-a-lot easier just to buy you a present.” We both burst out laughing and then were launched on a great ride. It ended up being one of our top 3 favorite roller coasters, and the girls ultimately did go on it with us the next time. Some how it seems like a perfect metaphor for life.

Needless to say, I was pooped when we finally cruised out of Lake Erie, but far richer for friendship and laughter.