Because this park is on a peninsula, it is a good resting place for migrant birds, and August is supposed to be the beginning of fall migration. I saw no evidence of that, however, but I didn’t really do much birding. I heard a few goldfinch flying overhead, but I don’t think they migrate. I did, however, see many ospreys. At one point I counted 7 between two trees and the sky. There was a time in my life when this would have been highly unusual, but now the osprey population has recovered around here.

We’ve gone camping with our friends and their children a number of times. They have a son Andrew’s age and a daughter Clare’s age and the boys are good friends as are the girls. However when you get them all together there is lots of whining, arguing, shrieking and talk that makes me cringe.

This trip was no different — the boys made fun of the girls and the girls complained to their parents. Sometimes the complaining and arguing drowned out the Hip Hop and Salsa music from neighboring campsites.

We were not alone in the park. Several sites were being used by a group that was using a generator to power all of their sites.  Two other sites held nine tents between them — a differnent group.

I’m not complaining — it was nice to get away, the weather was great and I enjoy the company of our friends. Next time, however, I think we should go to Cape May. And stay in a Bed & Breakfast. And leave the kids at home.

Luckily the folks at LunarPages were able to fix the problem. Kudos to Matt and Dragos at LunarPages for fixing this quickly and efficiently.

Title: Apparently Google assumes you're traveling during the ferry's normal operating hours. We lost two hours circling that damn lake (to say nothing of the Straw Man).

On one our stops at a Target store while on our college road trip, I wanted to pick up some small bottles of wine — in case I wanted a glass of wine when we were settled in for the night (those of you who know me, know that OF COURSE I’D WANT A GLASS OF WINE WHEN WE WERE SETTLED IN FOR THE NIGHT). In the wine aisle at the Batavia, Illinois Target I saw some individual boxes of wine. I thought it was just a box of wine, but then noticed it was 4 single serving boxes — very reminiscent of juice boxes. I had to buy it because it looked so cute and unique. Was there a straw for each box, I wondered?

Even the check out clerk was confused — being under 21, she was not allowed to handle the wine purchase, but thought it was “organic juice boxes”.

The wine inside is Ok. Not great, but not bad for wine in a juice box. No straw, alas…

I am concerned, however — both my kids were much more intrigued by the small wine boxes than they are of wine in bottles. I see potential underage drinking trouble with these boxes. They are small. They don’t look like traditional wine containers. They could easily be overlooked by a parent or adult who might think the small boxes were fancy juice boxes.

Our tour guide, Dan — an elementary school major and Dylan fan, was friendly and knowledgeable (except for the fact he didn’t know about Dan Bern). Clare liked the campus — it has a lot of trees and, while not Gothic, the architecture is attractive. The school contains a building that is considered the second best example of Federalist Architecture (after Constitution Hall in Philadelphia).

After our tour, we headed home. Clare was hungry, but said she could wait a while because I wasn’t. Bad idea. We ended up having to wait a couple of hours because:

1. I got lost
2. The PA turnpike doesn’t have very many service plazas
3. I was in the wrong lane for the first service plaza
4. I didn’t want to get off the turnpike in case I got lost again

We eventually stopped at the Somerset Plaza and ate at Pizzeria Unos.

After being refreshed by food (albeit fast, salty, greasy, bad-for-you food) we pointed our GPS to home. Everything went well until Breezewood, where I should have turned off the GPS because I neglected to look at signs and ended up back on the turnpike after just having exited it. We traveled another 18 miles towards Harrisburg and got off the Turnpike, only to be taken on winding, hilly roads that the locals thought were racetracks. The trouble with the roads were that I’d be going up a hill and not know if it wound around to the right or left until I was at the top. I didn’t want to go the 60 mph that the locals seemed wanted to, so I had a couple of angry drivers on my tail for several miles.

One road took us way up a mountain and back down. At that point we decided we were glad we made a wrong turn because the views were spectacular.

The GPS eventually got us back on the main roads, and we arrived home around 6:30 pm to a delicious meal of baked salmon, salad and mashed potatoes, cooked by Dean and Andrew.

It is great being home, but I would not have missed this experience for anything. It was wonderful spending so much time with my daughter. She’s a delight. She’s compassionate, gracious, talented and smart. Any college would be lucky to have her as a student.

We could have driven further into the town, but I suspect the hotels got more expensive since Sandusky seems to be the Wisconsin Dells of Ohio.

Our room was gross — swaybacked beds and mildewy shower. There was some commotion in the room next to us, but it stopped as soon as it started. We ate dinner at an Olive Garden about 5 miles from the hotel. Our friendly waitress explained Sandusky to us. It grew up around Cedar Point — an amusement park that is on Lake Erie. Then other attractions arrived, such as a couple of water parks. Clare and I didn’t bother to drive to see the lake — we just went back to the room and watched a little tv before we went to sleep.

We drove to Berea, Ohio after an inadequate breakfast. We were visiting Baldwin-Wallace College the same day as Barack Obama was, so there were a few people there, including a few news vans.

Clare liked the look of Baldwin-Wallace. I thought it was too spread out — and Clare commented that it seemed too integrated with the surrounding community. We went to admissions, but were not offered a tour. There were nothing but students in the admissions office. Someone began to ask if we wanted one, and — although I didn’t see it — another student may have hushed him. I suspect (huge stretch here) that she wanted to be free to go see the town hall meeting with Obama. While I don’t blame her, I would have liked a tour.

After getting coffee at Caribou Coffee in Berea and looking around at the buildings on campus, we moved onto the College of Wooster. Clare loved the campus, which we self-toured, after a lunch at Muddy Waters cafe in town. (we tried to eat at The Bead Cafe — since our GPS directed us to it, and thinking it was a restaurant — but all they serve is beads.)

The admissions office was staffed, again, by a student who didn’t offer us a tour, but gave us a map and sent us on our way. She was friendly enough, but I suspect that if there was a real admissions receptionist there, they might have been a little more accommodating.

I was impressed by a couple of buildings. The humanities building was a beautiful Gothic structure — like a Norman castle. The classrooms were paneled in dark wood — at least the “tower” classroom was — it had an observation window for some reason.

Clare spent a lot of time touring the campus. It is a beautiful campus, so I don’t blame her. I think it’s going on her yes list.

After that, Clare wanted to do at least one “Weird USA” / Roadside attraction thing. On the way to Meadville, PA (our final college stop) is the site of a local legend about Melon Heads — creatures that once were orphans, but experimented on by an evil doctor. We didn’t see any secluded wooded areas, much less small creatures with large heads. Clare was disappointed. I was not.

I wasn’t sure how big a town Meadville was, so we decided to find a hotel in Erie, PA — about an hour away from Meadville. Clare fell asleep before we reached Pennsylvania, so was not a lot of help once I reached Erie. I glimpsed Lake Erie, then drove towards the beaches, hoping to find a motel that we’d like.

The town was crowded and none of the close-by hotels looked like something we’d want to sleep in, so I headed towards Meadville. Just outside Erie were a couple of large motels, and I decided that if Meadville didn’t work out, sleepwise, I’d go back there.

The road to Meadville promised more motels, so I knew we’d be ok. Then I saw signs that the exit to Meadville was closed, and had to exit early. I ended up on a long gravel road. Thank goodness for the GPS — it lead me to Meadville — albeit the long, slow way.

The couple of sleep options in the town of Meadville were no good, so we eventually decided to go towards Pittsburgh or Erie to find something. We ended up near the main highway outside town, at a Holiday Inn Express. The staff was very friendly and the room is clean with comfortable beds. What else did we need? We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant called Chovy’s (10% discount from Holiday Inn Express).

We watched a little television, then I crashed. Not sure what time Clare went to sleep.

This morning we had a great breakfast (fresh fruit, eggs, corned beef hash, fresh orange juice) and are getting ready to visit Allegheny College. At this point, I’m not expecting a tour, but it would be nice if we could have one.

(Note, there are several curse words said in the video, so it is not safe for work nor young children)

At least Clare and I have not been booed. Yet. We’ve got one more college to visit.