(Okay, I realize I'm finishing this trip on CHRISTMAS DAY! Give me a break...I was busy! That said I'll do my best to remember...)
Tuesday, August 5th
Before we left Erie, we decided to drive through their downtown for a spell before moving on. Not much to see, so we headed out for our next visit to the Cleveland area, and specifically to meet with my career mentor Rory Robinson of the National Park Service. We made good time and arrived to meet Rory about at his office in the Cuyahoga National Park between Akron and Cleveland. We enjoyed a great lunch at a local restaurant, and then walked a bit of the Towpath Trail nearby. This path runs along the old Erie Canal, and in this certain location was a restored lock. It was misting at the time so we didn't stay long, bid Rory adieu after visiting his office, and headed south to Akron.
Maybe I was just a bit giddy about LeBron James returning to the Cavs, but I really wanted to check out his hometown. Nothing much to write about, but we did stumble across the old Rubber Bowl, which is on the ridge of a huge valley which includes an airfield, blimp barn and soapbox derby arena. Looked even stranger. The Rubber Bowl is the old stadium where the Akron Zips played their football games, and now it's in ruins. Should be torn down, although it is in a great location. Shame.
From Akron we headed up to Cleveland for an unimpressive tour of the downtown. Sam was not happy about it, and I wasn't either. Nothing of real value for being a major downtown area - save for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...which looked vacant. We quickly headed out of town, and rode up to our final stop in Port Huron, MI where I was to give the keynote address at a conference the next day.
Wednesday, August 6th
Very interesting situation where I was booked to make this speech, and planned our trip right up against it. Oops. Meant I had to lug a set of nice clothes throughout the entire trip - moving it gingerly at every stop. It did work out and only my shirt needed some ironing. Anyhow the speech was great, and Sam actually caught a bit of it - while taking a jillion pictures.
After the speech we took a little tour of Port Huron under the massive bridge that connects to Canada across the river. We then rode north a bit to a local county park so Sam could dip his toes into Lake Huron. He dried up and we headed clear across the state back home, but stopping for a short time in Douglas, MI on the west coast. There we made our way down to a small public beach surrounded by homes and trees. We took some final photos, and then proceeded back to Crown Point...and with that 2,400 miles of priceless memories ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment