A Long Day's Journey into Fall

It was a grey and rainy day here. Not quite the perfect day for a drive, but we didn't let that stop us.

Today we headed east on Route 6 just to see some fall colors and let the road take us where it may.

We ended up stopping at Kinzua Bridge State Park (site of what was once the world's tallest railroad viaduct, which was blown over by a tornado in 2003)...
a really interesting church and old cemetery...and a cider mill/pumpkin farm in addition to some other places.
Through it all, we found the beginnings of some beautiful fall foilage...

as well as hard evidence of summer's sad demise.

In the end, we took about 7 hours and drove 265 miles, give or take. It was a great day.

Favorite Son

Liam's definitely my favorite son.

Okay, okay, he's also my only son. But he's still pretty cool.
This boy has a complete exuberance for life. I dread the day when he decides he's "too cool" to show his excitement about things.
In these pictures, he was tickled about how big he felt on the small bench at the train ride station at the animal park.
That evolved into a 10 minute discussion on giants, and how it must feel to be a giant, and how it must make other people feel when you're a giant, and what if there were real giants, and a brief retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, which mostly focused on the bellowing of "Fee, fi, foe, fum!"
I also happen to think he's pretty darn cute, cheesy grin and all.

Sorry, We're Closed.

With window displays like these, I was sorry they were closed too.

This was a big antiques shop in Geneva-on-the-Lake. Their inventory looked like someone's acid trip gone bad.
We're talking giant carved cats with fish and birds in their mouths. Seriously, they looked almost like carousel animals or something.

And look, it's Nipper!
Oh, and beware of Buster Brown. He'll come alive and kill you in the night for sure.
What a bummer that we were only able to see it all through the windows.

This place may just warrant a trip back there when tourist season comes around again.

The First Day of Autumn

Today we have the first day of Fall...

and the first of what will probably be hundreds of photos. What's Fall looking like in your neck of the woods so far? And (geek moment) is anyone else excited for the season premier of Heroes tonight? And The Office on Thursday?

After the Tourists Go Home

On our drive last week, we passed through a town in Ohio called Geneva-on-the-Lake. This place is on Lake Erie, though you can't see too much of the lake because of all the buildings crowded together. Geneva-on-the-Lake caters to tourists from bigger cities like Cleveland. People from places like Cleveland would think a town like this quaint.

I wouldn't dream of coming here when these empty streets are crowded with cars and people, though it would be fun for people-watching.
I would much rather come when everything is boarded up and sad-looking...


when the lights are off and the glitz is gone...

It's a much better scene that way if you ask me.

Although, sadly, we did miss our chance to play Corn Hole Game.

More Ashtabula Harbor

Ashtabula Harbor had a couple of neat bookends.

At one end was this really neat arch. It looks like some kind of industrial bridge with a track, but it wasn't big enough for a train. I couldn't find any way not involving a boat to get any closer, but I loved the arch against the sky.

And then in the other direction was this drawbridge. It looked like it's under repair right now, but it still made a neat picture.
Oh, and I think it was Becky who asked (I could be wrong)...it's pronounced "Ash-tuh-BYOU-lah," and you're right. It does roll off the tongue!

Art and Architecture

I had a (well-deserved!) day off yesterday and with the kids in school, Dan and I decided to take one of my favorite drives: the drive to Nowhere-in-Particular.

Yesterday, Nowhere-in-Particular turned out to be Ashtabula, Ohio.

We've driven through Ashtabula before, but never drove down to the harbor and explored at all, so yesterday, we took an hour or so to wander. We saw some really neat architecture and it looked like they'd put a lot of time into restoring that area of the downtown.

This was definitely my favorite building. There was a ton of detail to admire...both above...

and below.

It's Spiketastic!

It's been awhile since I featured Spikey on the blog. These pics are from the summer and illustrate one of his cutest little quirks.

Spike is a Jack Russell and he's full of energy...most of the time.But when he gets tired, he gets tired and he needs to stretch out!
I love how he stretches his legs out behind him; my little frog-dog!