I had a great visit to Ohio, so  I wrote the following narrative to explain the photos in the Ohio trip album. I visited a lot of friends and places.

One of the big news items in May was the massive forest fire in Georgia. The pilot pointed it out to us as I flew over Georgia to Cleveland.

The next day, I drove to Cincinnati. My friends drove me over to Kentucky to have a leisurely lunch on the Ohio River on a replica of a paddle wheel steamboat. As I headed back to Cleveland, I stopped in Coshocton for an hour to walk around a restored canal town, Old Roscoe Village. I highly recommend the trip north to Wooster on scenic route 83. I crossed the Ohio-Erie canal, a canal boat docked on the side. Flocks of sheep trailed back to their barns as the road wound its way through lush farmland. Unfortunately, I didn’t pull my camera out.

I had a day off in Wooster, so a friend and I drove to Mansfield to see Kingwood Center. The mansion and gardens are free. Most of the tulips were still in bloom.

I stayed several nights in Chardon with a couple who run an alpaca farm. The adults looked funny because they had just been sheared. Two babies, called crias, were born while I was there.

I had more time to spend in Lakewood than I thought I would have. The city is upgrading all its schools, which was good to see, but I also saw that some places looked just a bit run down. I saw our old homes, church, and schools. I took a little time in the Valley, had a sundae at Malley’s, and shopped at Geiger’s. I visited twice at the cemetery where my parents are buried and was able to put fresh flowers on their graves one very cold and drizzly afternoon.

Both Amherst and Olmsted Township had some older structures that were fun to photograph. Westlake has changed considerably with huge McMansions and a new residential and shopping area called Crocker Park. I especially enjoyed Trader Joe’s health food grocery store and hope they will open a store near us some day.

When we were little, we went fairly often to Mentor Headlands for swimming in the summer, so I had a chance to drop in for a short look around. I was on my way to Geneva State Park Lodge to meet Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday dinner. The beautiful, new lodge has a dining room looking out over the lake and the food was high quality and very tasty, too. We had hoped to walk around and enjoy the pretty setting, but the wind was quite icy, so we sat by the fireplace in the lobby and talked on my cell phone with the family back home.

Our family had visited Holden Arboretum several times when we were growing up. It is still a very lovely place to spend the afternoon. I had a free day so I enjoyed walking around and also dropped in on Penitentiary Glen county park and was very impressed with it. I thoroughly enjoyed driving around Lake county and the surrounding area.

NOTES:

• To see more photos from the trip that I’m describing, go to our Picasa Family Albums.
• I write about the ministry aspect of the trip here.