Lake Erie north of Sandusky, OH

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9-27-21

First let me say, there was no blog entry yesterday. It was purely a moving day…500 miles across the interstate. There was really nothing to report except perhaps the new hotel that we stayed in last night. La Quinta in State Rd 933 in South Bend was brand new. So new, it was only the second day opened and we were the first people to stay in our room. Not to say that all was good. They still have some bugs to iron out, like say, putting a desk clerk on the job never having ever checked anyone in and then the owners leaving for the night and leaving her there alone. Not such a good idea. But we survived it all…at least I hope so, because we are still waiting for the $300 security charge on our credit card to come off. We tried to call them, but all we get is the reservation operation in who knows where. Perhaps Chase will be able to help us if it comes to that.

So, on to today. We left the hotel at 8:40 and 66 degrees and headed east toward Sandusky, Ohio. The plan was to get to Toledo and then try to find some scenic roads along Lake Erie. But it seems that the property is pretty much occupied by homes. We managed to find a few access points, but they were few and far between.

On I-90 we ran into a lot of road construction, which did not make me unhappy at all, because the condition of the road is very poor and needs to be rebuilt. I will complain, however, about the tolls. In Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, there seemed to be a toll gate around every turn. I have not looked at my account yet to see how much this ride cost us today, but it had to be significant…perhaps approaching the tolls in NY and NJ. Nothing is free anymore. Not even the freeway.

We drove through Toledo and headed for Port Clinton, which is on a peninsula north of Sandusky. And we saw a number of industries along the way. We passed a nuclear plant and it’s huge cooling tower, which was right beside the road, accompanied by a tangle of powerlines carrying the product to wherever it will be used. These towers always remind me of erector sets on steroids. If nothing else, they can surely clutter up the landscape.

In Port Clinton we happened upon a park with a cute little lighthouse. See photos. The statue of the lighthouse keeper outside of the lighthouse was charming and the dog beside him so attentive and dedicated to his master. Behind the lighthouse was a small beach and a breakwater reaching out into the lake. In the photo you will see a man out there presumably fishing off the end of the rocks. The lake itself does nothing to provide an interesting photo. Perhaps the sun was shining in the wrong direction, I don’t know. But it just looked bland and uninteresting. There were boats out there. We saw a tug and a few pleasure boats, but nothing that looked like a working ship.

Further up the road were Harbor View and Marblehead where is located the Lafarge Quarry. This is one place you cannot miss. As you drive down the road you first see a structure that is built over the road and you wonder, what could that be? Then you see it. The quarry is on the right side of the road, right there for all eyes to see, and this structure, which turns out to be some sort of conduit that takes the product a good distance to the shore where it can be loaded on some sort of floating transport. We did not see one. But one can assume.

As we moved further on down the road to get another view of the lake, we were able to see what appeared to be an amusement park with roller coasters far off on an island. After studying a map, we determined that it was on Cedar Point, so we put it in the GPS and tracked it down. It was exactly what we expected. My research says it is the second oldest operating amusement park in the US, opening in 1870. And Google says it is open, though we saw no cars or people anywhere around the area.

Finally, we headed back south and landed in Sandusky for the night. After driving around, trying to get another look at the lake, we checked into another La Quinta, which is always a crap shoot. Sometimes they look good on the outside, but once you get inside you find it is like putting lipstick on a pig. This is an old hotel and pales big time to the Drury we stayed at in St Paul.

Tomorrow, we head east to Cleveland and Cincinnati.

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Comments

[Brad]

Corrections
Port Clinton is not on the peninsula although Marblehead is. The "conduit" you referred to is a conveyor belt. In Marblehead you missed out on the oldest continuous operating lighthouse on all of the great lakes which offers breathtaking views year round.