Of course the fact that our next campsite is located on an island means there is either a bridge we need to cross OR a ferry ride is going to be part of our travels today.
In today's case it was the ferry ride option! It's 4-miles from the dock on Ohio's mainland to the dock on Kelleys Island and there's only one ferry company that can transport vehicles to the island. The fee for transporting TWO PEAS, ROVER and THE POD round trip was $188. Not a small fee by any means, but I think it's going to be worth every penny!
We won't know for sure until 9-days from now when we leave, but "with a name like Kelleys, it's got to be good". They even spelled it correctly with two "E"s, just like me!
It's not often that just arriving at a campground and showing you our site warrants a slideshow, but this time it does!
KELLEYS ISLAND STATE PARK
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Here we are waiting in line to get on the ferry and I think I see an Airstream getting off.
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YEP! There's an Airstream way in the back. Let's see if we can get them to wave at us.
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Success! Airstreamers are so friendly.
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THE POD and ROVER have been on ferries before so there's "No Worries" here today.
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Look at all those solar panels. We're going to need every one of them over the next nine days.
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The ferry from Marblehead over to Kelleys Island is 4-miles and we're just about halfway there.
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YEP, 2½-miles to go and we're moving at 11MPH, nice!
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Here's our view out the dinette windows with a yurt on our left...
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...and two rental cabins on our right. Yurts are $100 a night and the cabins are $70.
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We have a pretty good sized side yard...
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and here's a zoomed in look at the North Bay of Lake Erie.
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The only word I can think of to describe our back yard is "huge".
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There's plenty of shade all around our picnic table and fire pit...
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...and we even have one of the few "easy access points" to the beach.|
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While we are camped here on Kelleys Island will be my only chance to gather this water sample, so on Day #2 of our 9-day visit I went for it!
Just outside of the campground to the north is where we found the Glacial Grooves Geological Preserve. While digging in the adjacent limestone quarry the "grooves" were discovered and they halted digging on that side of the quarry.
Today nearly 400' of the 35' wide and 10' deep 18,000 year old grooves have been uncovered and have been designated a National Natural Landmark.
GLACIAL GROOVES
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We decided to start at the "bottom" of the grooves and work our way to the top.
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Some of the areas sure looked deeper than the 10' the signage quoted.
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I was surprised to see how perfectly smooth most of the grooves were.
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Even after the 4:00AM thunderstorms last night the grooves were mostly dry.
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Here they incorporated the natural stairs into the pathway.
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The grooves abruptly end where the quarry begins.
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This view shows the entire length of the grooves from the center of the bridge.
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This is considered by most to be the best place on earth to experience glacial grooving.
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I'm glad we took the 30-minutes this morning to come see this special place.|
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After seeing the grooves we drove back down Division Street, a north/south road which roughly splits the island in half, to see what else we could find.
The south shoreline is mostly covered with souvenir shops, bars and restaurants. That's also where both of the ferry docks are located because it's the shortest distance back to the mainland of Ohio and it's protected from the larger waves out on Lake Erie.
Along the western shoreline is where we found this sign and a view of another nearby island, South Bass Island with the village of Put-In-Bay (pop. 154). The day with the best weather forecast of our entire 9-day visit here is on Monday, Labor Day. So that's the day we're going to hop on a different passenger ferry and go visit Put-In-Bay for the entire day.
Our scheduled departure from Kelleys Island is at 9:55AM. We learned quickly that 9:55AM and 10:00AM are not the same thing, because at 10:00AM we were pulled away from the dock and in the middle of Lake Erie.
Lesson learned, don't be late for the ferry! Our return trip is scheduled at 6:15PM.
First thing we did upon arrival at Put-In-Bay was to locate the Visitor Center for the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. We wanted to make sure we would be able to obtain a 4:00PM entry time to visit the top of the tower. We learned that it was totally unneccessary because it wasn't that busy.
that was put into a land trust by the original owner of the island.
No dollar bills hanging from the rafters here, just helmets from all different fire departments.
What seemed like an hour later we arrived at the Perry's Cave Family Fun Center. In addition to the cave tour they have other attractions such as a Butterfly House, miniature golf, a walk through maze and even an antique car museum, but we're here only to view the cave.
I guess for the benefit of all those who couldn't, or didn't, read the numerous signs.
At 208' long and 165' wide it could be considered medium-sized by cave standards,
but calling this a "tour" is a stretch. Maybe a "cave showing" would be more accurate?
Right across the street is our second cave destination and this one is accompanied with a wine tour and tasting afterwards. How bad could it be?
Crystal Cave is billed as "The World's largest Geode" and is located beneath the Heineman Winery. It was discovered in 1897 while digging to install a well for the winery.
If I thought the previous "tour" was short this one is even shorter, by a long shot! This tour is a 20' circle that goes around the bottom of the stairway into the cave, that's it!
It is very interesting with all the crystals covering every inch of the walls, but a "tour" it is not!
Tricia did however take the wine tour and took several photos of the equipment used to produce and bottle wine.
With the cave tours and wine tasting over with it was time to head back to the marina area and search out a place for lunch.
While researching Put-In-Bay we read that no visit was complete without tasting the Lobster Bisque at the Boardwalk Restaurant, a tradition for over 25-years. Who are we to argue with that, but at $20 a serving they better be right!
Be both ordered the Lobster Bique in a Sourdough Breadbowl and made the mistake of taking our meal out onto the dockside open-air seating above the waters of Lake Erie.
With the air temperature somewhere in the upper 60°Fs and the winds in the 10MPH range it didn't take long for our meal to go from hot to luke warm to ice cold before we even finished. Let's just say that the Lobster Bisque was delicious for the first few enjoyable spoonfulls, but the rest of it, not so much. SORRY, NO PHOTOS!
The only thing left on our agenda for the day is to visit the tower at the National Memorial, but it's just after 2:00PM and our timed entry tickets are for 4:00PM. Let's go see if we can exchange them for an earlier entry.
At the Visitor Center we had no problems exchanging our tickets for the 2:30PM entry time and proceeded straight to the base of the tower.
PERRY'S VICTORY
and
INTERNATIONAL PEACE MEMORIAL
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The 352' tall memorial as seen from the rear deck of the Visitors Center.
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When you get up close it looks even taller.
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Here I am starting the arduous task of climbing the stairs inside the tower...
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...all the way up to the second floor where the elevator takes you to the top.
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This is the north tip of the island where all the wealthier folks live.
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This is the marina, downtown and the rest of South Bass Island.|
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With our tower visit complete it's time to head home, but it's only 3:30PM and our ferry ride back isn't until 6:15PM. Let's see if we can switch that ticket too!
The next ferry is at 4:40PM and there was plenty of room for us, so we'll be back on Kelleys Island in time for dinner! I had my sights set on a place called "The Village Pump" located right at the end of the ferry dock. They specialize in Fried Lake Perch which I haven't tried yet.
We have a day off tomorrow before we pack up to leave Kelleys Island on Wednesday and head towards Cleveland where we have a National Park and a Hall of Fame to explore.
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