Last of Ohio

Just wanted to post a few last pictures of our Ohio trip. I know these don't matter to anyone but myself but this IS my journal. Someday my great-great-greats will truly said, "I can't believe G. G. G. Grandma made us look at her slide shows!"


This is Ross and Nikki's home. There are two different wreaths on the front door because robins built a nest in the winter wreath...and Nikki had to wait until the babies hatched and flew the coop before she'd change the wreaths. We were lucky to be there for the babies first flight. How do they even survive? Actually we came home from one day of touring to find a hurt bird on the back patio. I think it was too big to be one of the babies...maybe just a few days older. Ross carefully put it in the front nest, Nikki squished worms for it but alas, it didn't make it until morning. At least it knew that it was loved at the end of his/her/its life. We had a proper burial. Nikki requested I write a poem in tribute. It was tender. I'm pretty sure the neighbors thought we were crazy!





This is my room at Nikki's. Heaven!

Just a short little house tour...

And the last of my Amish pictures.

Penny and I flew home standby. It was an adventure. We flew from Cleveland to Chicago (where we got bumped 2 times- finally made the 3rd) and then to Denver then home. I was grateful the Blues Brothers were in Chicago to wish us farewell.

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling. - Margaret B. Runbeck

Ohio Day 3 and 4

Friday of our trip was to Kirtland, Ohio...which plays a big part in the history of our church. Again, Ross and Nikki were the perfect hosts/hostess.







We had a lovely tour of the Kirtland Temple, now owned by the Community of Christ church.



Many historical events happened here and I loved re-learning the stories, imagining the trials and heartache and the confirming spirit of "all is well." We grow stronger from the trials we endure.






I loved all the grounds surrounding the temple and look forward to having them in my art files.


I am a new fan of the Newell K. Whitney family and the sacrifices they made for what they believed in. I was amazed at the colors that were used in the 1800's. I was amazed that Penny, Nikki and Ross continued to touch things when a sign explicitly said, "Do not touch." I certainly never would do that....

The ashery and sawmill were the sites of miracles and industry. We were intrigued by what an "ashery" was even before we toured there. Of course, we had to google which led us to amazing information. We found out how people brought and sold their ashes (from daily fires) to the ashery and it was processed to make lye, which then was used for a variety products from soap to china. But the information that blew us away was "body soap." Honestly, I am NOT making this up. We learned (not from the tour but from googling) that when water drips through a casket, and settles on a corpse, the corpse can actually turn into soap! There is a "soap mummy" in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This person lived in Philadelphia during the 18th century. After he was buried, water leaked into his casket and converted his body fat to soap, specifically adipocere, known to the trade as "grave wax."

Next stop on our tour was the Johnson Farm in Ohio. This was a place of refuge for Joseph Smith during great persecution for the church. I was so surprised to see the "feather" painting on all of the woodwork throughout the Johnson home! And again, the colors!




We had such a wonderful day visiting church historical sites. So many things touched my heart and makes me wonder the courage of the early Saints, who gave up all they had and suffered persecution, even to death, for the convictions of their hearts.

And, finally, on Saturday we hit a few local sites that were fabulous. Ross had a flight that day so Nikki , being the perfect flight attendant, pulled out her list of "must sees" and we hit them all.
We loved the Smuckers building, REALLY loved Lehman's....which is a store that has everything you could imagine....from candy to garden to kitchen to all things permissible to the Amish, to tools to food to gifts. We also visited Shisler's Cheese house....where we could sample easily a hundred cheeses. You name it, they had it. Incredible!

At the advice of several people, we then headed across the street to P.A.W.S, where the working ladies whipped up our first fried bologna sandwich (it tasted like a grilled hotdog on a hamburger bun) and other delicacies that were recommended to us.

Then finally, we were in the middle of Amish country. And my camera battery ran out. I was able to to snap just a few pictures before the end came. I do have to wait until Nikki sends me all the pictures I took with her camera of the buggies, the farms, the laundry hanging on lines but the memory is engraven on my heart. I loved the spirit of a community that loves the Lord.

Day One and Two of Ohio

Day One and Two-

~We flew in to Cleveland, drove to Medina (Ma-dine-a) for dinner, then headed back to Cleveland for my first professional baseball game. Cleveland Indians against the Tampa Rays. I can't believe I've lived my life without knowing that Shin-Soo Choo and Shelley Duncan and Matt LaPorta (among others) existed. More importantly I learned that Mr. Ketchup, Miss Mustard and Ms. Onion were alive and well in Cleveland. They were my favorite players.

~Nikki bought us the very worst snow cones we've ever tasted. Terrible things bring great laughs.

~Baseball games are LLLLLLOOOONNNNNGGGGGG! I made it through the first 3 innings great, the next three innings I thought I was going to eat nails, then whew! the last 3 innings sailed. Would totally go again. Even though the home team lost.

~got settled in at Ross and Nikki's home. It was....oh, what can I say? Amazing! It deserves its own post.

~woke up the next morning and packed the car to head out to Lake Erie and Put-In-Bay (South Bass Island.) Again, never knew it existed. We took the ferry across to the island and rented a 4- seater golf cart to tour the island.

~visited the Heineman winery and Crystal Caves. First, the crystal caves. The original Heineman was from Baden-Baden Germany and immigrated to Put-In-Bay in the late 1800's to start a winery. While expanding the winery, he dug down about 30 feet and found himself in the middle of the world's largest geode. The celestine crystals are amazing...although the tour was very funny. We climbed down this steep staircase, saw you were in the middle of a geode....the tour guide (sniffing and hacking) explained what I just explained to you....and that was it. The area was the size of a small bedroom. We hung out for a few minutes and then I asked Nikki if she was ready to go. She said, "Heck no, I'm going to walk around it 4 more times to get my monies worth!" I would pay just for the funny memory.

~But then, for part of our ticket, we also got to tour the winery! Just what I've ALWAYS wanted to do. The whole process was intriguing (Ross, who isn't LDS was blown over by the bottling and labeling machine. We laughed and said, "Obviously, you've never been to an LDS cannery....where we bottle and can everything under the sun for humanitarian service.") At the end of the tour, the guide was excited (in dead-pan) to tell us we get to finish the tour with a glass of wine. For us that would have been 4 glasses of grape juice (very good!) (at least they didn't serve it to us in kiddie glasses!).

Afterwards we hopped into our golf cart and headed out again.

~we went out to one end of the island to see "Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial" that honors those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie, during the War of 1812. The memorial is 352 feet tall. It is also a HUGE recipient of millions of dollars of stimulus money. I mean MILLIONS! Really? When there are so many people in need. Ross is even more of a googling info techie than me, and we were astounded to find out how much money is being spent on this, and how many workers benefited. Don't even go there, it will make you crazy....

~Commodore Oliver Perry also coined the phrase "We have met the enemy and they are ours..." Well, today the economy is the enemy and we are losing the battle.

~ We HAD to see the lighthouse. Ross insisted. When we got there, we went "Wow. That tall,huh?" Truly the shortest lighthouse I've ever seen! But cute. We had to jump up and down just for Ross.

~we spent time in the graveyard. It had fabulous crypts and stones. We were curious about the people in the crypts and found houses where they lived (Daisy Dollar was my favorite. Her family had a winery as well.) It was kind of New Orleans- graveyardie. (My mom will love that word....)

~We had lunch at a fun little pub. It was decorated like Mardi Gras. They celebrate every holiday during the summer on this island so there are always parades and decorations (which include Christmas, I think, in August.) Crazy, crazy!

~all of the pictures of the flying field had special meaning for Ross. He is a pilot and as a youngster (he's still a youngster) he flew small planes in and out of this island all the time. He had some great stories (we loved that the wind sock from the airport hanger said "Dairy Air.") to tell.

Whew! this was just day one and two of a fabulous trip. We made great memories on this trip. One tidbit, when we were getting ready to go, Nikki said, "Rossie, are you ready to go?" I thought she called him Frosty. So I called him Frosty the rest of the trip. What was even funnier was that everywhere we went we saw Frosty signs. (some are in the collages above.) Go figure! It was almost freakie.

~ We had decent weather on the island. We'd snuggle up with blankets but it wasn't raining. But when we got home, not more than a mile from their home, this is what we saw. We were heartsick for all the homes that were hit with flash flooding. You could have canoed around these homes.