First days of Summer

Well, summer has finally begun for me. Officially, I had to work through last Friday, June 27th. But unofficially I went in on Monday, June 30th for a meeting. And, to be honest, I probably will be going into the office several times in the next few weeks since we suddenly have several positions open at our high school that need to be filled as soon as possible. But the last couple of days were pure relaxation and summertime fun!

We drove up to Lake Erie on Tuesday morning and stayed at the Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake (http://www.thelodgeatgeneva.com). Geneva-on-the-Lake claims to be Ohio's first "resort" town. (I use that term "resort" loosely....some of the establishments there look like they have haven't been updated since it first became a vacation spot!) It is also in the heart of Ohio's wine country with several different wineries within a few minutes of each other. Supposedly, it is about the same latitude as California's wine region and therefore conducive to growing grapes. The wine producers are really trying to develop an industry and host events all summer, including Vintage Ohio (http://www.visitvintageohio.com) - a big Ohio wine festival - in August every year. We haven't found any outstanding Ohio wines, but I like the novelty of trying the wine in the location where it was made.From the first time I saw Lake Erie as an adult (I may have seen one or more of the Great Lakes as a child, but don't remember it) I am always amazed that it is a lake. It looks just like the ocean. There are marinas all along the lake and in some places there are beaches and waves (depending on the weather). You can see enormous ships in the distance and the homes and vacation spots I have seen along the lake are not too different from many of the beach towns I grew up with on the east coast. The Lodge - by far the nicest place to stay in Geneva - even had that wind-blown, beachy atmosphere to it in a brand new, upscale sort of way.

The Lodge just opened its outdoor pool which is the reason we chose to stay there. They had an area with sprinklers for the kids, and they were the only ones who were brave enough to go in. It was just too cold for anyone else!The pool water was perfect, though. Grace loved it (of course) and we just had fun not doing anything or worrying about time, meetings, or work for a couple of days.

Look at this little boy peeking at Grace from behind the crayon sprinkler!