Thursday - August 7

 A very nice day to be on the water...........and that's what we did, taking Catrina to Put in Bay.    We got some coffee/drinks/almond Danish at Noddi's and then rented a golf cart for a trip around the island.    Stopped at The GOAT for lunch - good stuff and such a pretty place at the Biergarten.   

More driving around Put in Bay and then Mark dropped us off for some girl shopping (did our part to boost the PIB economy) and he returned the golf cart.

And then our 4 hours were up at "Dock 'n Dine" where we take Catrina when we come here.    Nice smooth ride back to Port Clinton.    Just delightful to be out and about today with a high of 79. 

We had drinks on Catrina, Blair prepared several appetizers and later, Brooke and I went downtown to Hibachi Express for some good Chinese (egg roll, crab rangoon, potstickers and a chicken/veggie bowl).    We are all tired after our big day (especially mellowing out after time on the water).    So...early nighty night for us - tomorrow is a brand new day!

Delicious strawberry/mango refresher
The girls with all the padlocks
 
The girls with our chauffeur
Cruisin' on Lake Erie
Catrina has a new Captain








Wednesday - August 6

 Mark and I left at 8:30 for Salon 53 and while I got a haircut with Wendy, he went to the R Coffee Corner to have coffee, a bagel and use his I-pad.    After my haircut, I walked to the coffee shop, got an iced latte (very good maple spice flavor).    And then we were off - 1st stop was Vermilion (one of our favorite Ohio towns).    We had lunch at Big Ed's Soda Grille (great burgers and shakes).

We shopped at Beechwood Center in Cleveland - a bit of retail therapy for Mark and then to the Cleveland airport to meet Brooke and Blair who flew in from Charlotte for some fun in Port Clinton the next few days.    Brooke has never been, but this is Blair's 3rd visit to Catrina here in PC.

Walked to the car and 1 hour, 15 minutes later, we were back on Catrina - they unpacked and later we went to Dock's Beach House for dinner.   Great dinner and visit.

Brooke and Blair 



Tuesday - August 5

 Beautiful day and we kept busy all day long.....did more cleaning on Catrina, then to Wal Mart for a bunch of groceries/piddlies.   Home to put stuff away, have lunch and then we went downtown for a haircut for Mark by Gina and a manicure with Danielle for me.

And then time to scrub Catrina on the outside - oh my.........she was a mess with all the bugs (spiders, gnats, etc.) - everywhere in every nook and crannie!   We kept rinsing and scrubbing and then more rinsing.   UGH......but she's looking very good.    We hope 'n pray that overnight won't bring more buggers............arghhhh.

We were veery tired tonight but a good tired.   Mark suggested we go to Dock's Beach House for drinks and appetizers - so pleasant sitting outside by Lake Erie.    Faro from Bali was our waitress - she's worked there for 16 years and so pleasant.

Tomorrow I'm getting a haircut and then we're off to Cleveland to pick up Brooke and Blair who are flying in til Sunday.    Sooo excited to have Brooke here in Port Clinton for 1st time and 3rd visit for Blair.

And speaking of Blair.....I mentioned a few weeks ago about the LONG delay in birthday cards arriving from Canada.   I mailed 4 cards (Connor, Brooke, Blair and Maeve) on June 30th from Tobermory, ON.    3 received them (not on time, but still they eventually got there).   Blair's birthday was July 19th and today (August 5th), her card arrived!    CRAZY post office in Canada and USA.



Monday - August 4

 A very productive day for the nomads.,    Mark was working on a boat project so off to the hardware store (Baby Bassett's).   I did a big cleaning of inside Catrina....we were both tired, but got a burst of energy around 4 and off to do 4 loads of laundry.

We first heard about Bell Mell Tavern (local neighborhood bar that's been around forever) from Father Jonathan, but had never been and then my boat sisters (Donna, Teri and Chris) talked about how good it is.    so.....tonight after we left the laundromat, we headed to Bell Mell - (we heard they have great pizza and Teri really likes their wings).   We shared a pizza and it was excellent ++ leftovers.

On home - tired....will put the clean clothes away tomorrow.   A rod in Ruby makes for a great drying spot for the hanging clothes - like an oven in there on warm days - today got to 79 but mostly cloudy.

Had a nice chat with Liam tonight - he's moved into new apartment in Iowa City and will be ready for classes to begin on August 25th - still enjoying his job and the biking and running!



Sunday - August 3

 We left Jefferson Beach at 7:10 this morning for "Home Sweet Home"....it was mostly a smooth ride on Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and then what was supposed to be 1' or less waves on Lake Erie turned out to be WRONG.....roly poly, choppy waters for 2/3 of the way back to Port Clinton.    But so good to see downtown at 11:10 and then the bridge opening 10 minutes early (that never happens) cause of heavy boat traffic - many boats were out big time this pretty sunny Sunday.   Todays trip was 77.7 miles

Mark brought Big Red and Flo from storage over to her regular parking spot next to Catrina (when we're transferring our stuff).    We unloaded stuff from back bedroom and cleared the way for our guests (Brooke and Blair) coming this week.   Filled up Big Red......we'll give the girls each their own room and Mark and I will sleep on Flo.

Andy and JoBeth brought their dinghy over from their marina (Bayport) in Marblehead to store and stopped to say "Hi".   They took it on vacation with them on back of "Blessed".

5 weeks and 4 days of adventures on the water - what a great time!   Our Port Clinton gang are all back home tonight - lots of memories with these good friends!

Zoom tonight included 8 siblings (Joan visiting Theresa; Karen visiting Sharon)

Here's to a fun week ahead for all...