Returning to the island...

Monday, Sept. 22 - Monday morning on Kelleys Island, we were on a schedule. Coffee at 7:30am (no thanks!) and a hot, homemade breakfast at 9:00am (count me in!). Adam went for a looonnngg early morning run while I slept. Our hosts prepared us with a delicious breakfast of pumpkin pancakes (with jack-o-lantern faces), Polish sausage, fresh fruit, and juice. The pancakes were awesome! We had breakfast on their front porch, overlooking the lake. Ahhhhh.... perfect morning.

Then, it was time to pack up and head on to our next adventure. First, we drove around to see some sights. We stopped at the desserted beach.

Then we went right next door to check out the Glacial Grooves. These were created thousands of years ago by glaciers that were in the area. This one spot of grooves was found on the island about 100 years ago when they started digging the quarries, and it's now preserved.

After some time at the grooves, we drove to a remote part of the island where there was a mini lighthouse replica. Took a picture (because it seemed like it was in someone's front yard) and moved on.
Next we went to see the Inscription Rock. It was supposedly carved by Native Americans hundreds of years ago, but you can hardly see any inscription anymore. (Not even worthy of a blog photo.) We ate lunch at lunch at the Village Pump. Yummy! Since we were spending the afternoon driving around the island, we decided it would be more fun riding in a golf cart - the preferred mode of transportation on the island. So, then we buzzed all over the place in the golf cart, even though the weather was a little cool.

We took the golf cart and caravanned with our car to our resort hotel where we would stay for the next two nights. We unloaded our stuff and stretched out for a while. Our room was HUGE (like an apartment) and it had television! It had been a while since we'd seen a TV.

We then took off on our golf cart journey. We took a new road away from the resort that took us past one of the old quarries... it looked almost like a (very) mini-Grand Canyon.

We stopped at the pier for a bathroom break and picked up some golf cart hitchhikers who needed to get to town. :) After we dropped them off, we decided to head to the park and go for a hike at the Horseshoe Lake at the other old quarry. I sat on a rock ledge while Adam climbed down to the inner horseshoe to explore. After what seemed like forever, he came back up and we hiked the rest of the way around the lake.

After our hike, we wanted to explore the old cemetery and the ruins of the old winery. Adam couldn't exactly remember where it was at, so we drove around a bit. Finally, we found both and snapped some photos.

By the time we'd seen everything we wanted to see it was time to return the cart. It was due at 6pm when the rental place closed, and we were on the other side of the island with only minutes until 6pm. We ended up making it at 5:59pm. Those carts cannot go fast enough sometimes! We then headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner at the Caddyshack.

We hung out at the bar with the locals, and befriended Danny, who had just won the town's football pool and was buying rounds of drinks for everyone (all 8 of us) at the bar. The Caddyshack had excellent pizza! We stayed there for a while, then headed back to the hotel. We watched "House" (so nice to have our TV back) and then headed out to our "private" hot tub. (I say private because it was only us and one other group in the hotel.)

Tuesday, Sept. 23 - It's our anniversary!!! We got up at a decent time and had breakfast next door at the Kelley's Island Brewery. After breakfast, we headed out in the car for another journey and hike. We stopped to see a roadside memorial in the woods (a little creepy). Then we hiked the Northern Loop Trail. It took us past an old quarry building, through the woods, and to a rocky beach. It was really peaceful and quiet; we were the only ones around.
After that hike, we hiked the North Pond Trail. Hmmm... didn't see the pond. Seems it was all dried up.

On the way back to town, we did some souvenir shopping at the two stores that were opened. Once we were done with our day, we relaxed at the hotel for a while, then got ready for Adam's anniversary surprise. We started with dinner at the Village Pump again. This time it was Chimi Night! Yum! After dinner we headed to the boat docks for Adam's surprise - a sunset cruise on a private boat. The weather was perfect, and it was the best sunset of the trip! It was a lot of fun! We brought a bottle of bubbly with us.

This was by far my favorite part of the trip... it was a perfect ending. When we were done with the cruise, we headed to the hotel and enjoyed another night in the hot tub by ourselves. Both nights we got to enjoy all the stars.

Wednesday, Sept. 25 - Today was our last day. Tomorrow would be back to work. We woke up and had breakfast at the Kelley's Island Brewery again. Then we packed up and rushed to the ferry to catch it back to mainland on the hour. We made it just in time! We had a few sites we wanted to see in Marblehead before we went home. We first took the causeway to Johnston's Island to the Confederate Soldier's Cemetery.

Then, we drove back to the mainland to see the (very small) Battlefield Park. It's where the first battle on Ohio soil took place in the War of 1812.

Right across the street was the old Lighthouse Keeper's House. We couldn't tour it, but got a picture. Then we were on our way out of town. We stopped at this exciting roadside attraction - the chef with no hands at a gas station.

Then we were off to pick up our doggies. We were thrilled to see them and be home again. It was time to get back to reality... work tomorrow... and no time more so than this, did I realize how after staying on an island, I would never be the same.