Day 12 - What Do We Do Now

The consensus after spending yesterday at Cedar Point, was that we could do without the second day. Bummer - we bought two day passes. Oh well, we'll try to sell them and get some of our money back. (Anyone planning a trip to CP - call me - I have a great deal for you on five tickets to be used by October!) Lisa and I did sell four in the parking lot to a family from Sedalia, MO - small world!


After deciding our stops for the day during breakfast, we loaded up and headed out. Our first stop was Nickle Plate Beach to put our feet in Lake Erie.

The city of Huron's proud sign

Shot of Nickle Plate Beach

Putting our feet in Lake Erie

Sand waves about a foot deep - Abby thought they were cool

Lisa getting water to throw on Luke

Souvenir that Luke wanted to take home

Dave said Smithville would never look the same.

Leaving our last lake

I experienced a melancholy moment watching everyone leave the water. The Goulding Great Lakes Tour 2011 was coming to an end after having been to Niagara Falls, riding the coasters at Cedar Point and putting our feet in the last lake.


We headed back to the Christmas Story house for a tour but after getting there and seeing that the tickets were $8 each, opted for a tour of the gift shop instead....everything Ralphie and the CS people that you can imagine including the pink bunny suit. I didn't take additional pictures after yesterday's stop other than the traffic. There were quite a few people there and cars lined the street.

We then headed for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and while looking for parking, found the USS Cod submarine that had been retired and opened for tours. The group decided to split temporarily with the McCoskeys going to the RRHF and us to the Cod for a quick stop then to meet the McCoskeys. Only Mark and I were interested in the sub, so mom and the girls hung out in the van. Mark asked a family coming out if it was worth the $7 ticket price and the girl said that if we were interested in WWII, it was. I'm not an avid WWII buff, but it was pretty cool anyway. The first step was to get into the sub which was a close fit for Mark. Once inside, it was pretty small with miniature-sized 'rooms'. The kitchen was smaller than our master bathroom and the cook prepared food all day long for 90 men. What a nightmare job! The beds looked like a 10-year-old could fit comfortably and there would definitely be some shimmy-ing to get past each other in the hallway. Plus, we only saw two 'heads'...washrooms....I mean, bathrooms. (We did go on only one level though.) I can't imagine how they could live in it.

Tight fit for Mark

I kept wanting to say 'Man the torpedoes!' here.

Instructions - direct and simple. We could use some of that in the govt!

Kitchen - galley?

up top

There were strips of wood on top that looked like 3x3s and a wire 'railing'. I couldn't figure out why there would be wood on something that is submerged or remember if the railing was there in movies that I had seen, so I had to call my sister, Julie and B-I-L Adam with questions as former navy dudette and dude.Wood is for traction (at least it was when this ship was made) and yes, there is a cable railing. It's not just to keep current tourists from falling into the lake. Now I have to watch Operation Petticoat again because being in a sub puts a whole new perspective on it. And, well, I love that movie anyway!


I must backtrack just a moment to note that before our G/M split to the two places, Mark planted the seed of going home a day early. I know that everyone reading this is saying 'NO, say it isn't true!' but yes, the GGLT is coming to an abrupt halt tomorrow (actually today as I am writing this on Saturday a.m.) Here is Frankie and my responses to that decision.

 So to continue on...
We decided to head back to Sandusky, grab some lunch and decide what to do from there. Lisa and I wanted to hit the t-shirt shop and Mark wanted to go to Best Buy. We ran in to massive traffic on the way back. But not to let that stop us, the GGLT vans went over the median and onto the highway next door.

Before

After

We stopped at Friendly's restaurant which is #5 of 56 on tripadvisor and well known for the ice cream and their 'fribbles'. Molly and Emily were separated from us in a booth, so we took it upon ourselves to move our tables next to them. Then the waitress came out to say it was a fire hazard so we had to move them back. The GGLT group can cause a stir wherever we go!

My awesome ice cream consisted of a a lava cake, two scoops of black raspberry, one scoop of fudge, hot fudge topping, pound cake and marshmallows topped by whipped cream and a cherry. (I did share a small portion of it with Lisa and somehow got chocolate syrup on my ear while eating it. Not sure how, but Mark said it was my eating frenzy. Ha!

my dessert

Lisa in tears over someones comment

Fountains outside our hotel - loved them!

We did get to the t-shirt shop and Best Buy, and I took a stop at Borders for their sale. Anyone knowing me - I can spend a lot of time there - but managed to walk out without anything. Lisa and I had a return trip to trade everyone's t-shirts for the next size up. The night ended with everyone (but me - I was sleeping) having pizza in the McCoskeys room.


BTW - Molly and Luke are now known as the 'cooler people' - in charge of handing out drinks from the traveling coolers in each van.


More tonight....