Great Lakes Museum and Stars in the Trees

We had read about a new museum in Toledo and decided to check it out. First we stopped for lunch at Tony Packo's Cafe. It is famous for its Hungarian hot dogs. . It got its claim to fame when Toledo's Jamie Farr mentioned it a number of times on the TV series Mash. There are signed hot dog buns signed by movie stars and even US Presidents. Joe really loves hot dogs and so had the Hungarian dogs. I, not being a big hot dog fan, had chicken paprikash.

 We drove over this interesting bridge on the way to Toledo.

The Great Lakes Museum  just opened in April and tells the stories of the largest system of fresh water in the world. The Great Lakes contain 84 percent of all surface fresh water in North America and 21 percent of the world's fresh water. Pretty amazing.
There are many interesting exhibits in five galleries recounting the historical role this global resource has played in our country's development.

We were surprised at how many shipwrecks there have been in the Great Lakes. You don't automatically think of them in lakes, but these are not ordinary lakes like others in the country. There were many tales of liighthouses, wrecks, such as the Edmund Fitzgerald and survival tales.

Interesting information on the part these lakes played during the war.

Fresnel Lens

Barnacle Compass

Part of the tour included going aboard the SS Col James M. Schoonmaker which was moved from its berth near the Anthony Wayne Bridge. The ship, once the largest freighter on the Great Lakes, was built in 1911 and was used as a commercial freighter for most of the 20th century.

I took a picture of the ship from  the parking lot trying to get it all in as it is so long. Got most of it. I should have done a panorama pic.

At home we had another nice sunset.

One evening Joe was outside and called me to come out and see something. WOW, I think this was something on my bucket list since I was little though I hadn't thought about it in years. Since I was little I heard and read about fireflies and how kids use to catch them and put them in jars. Being from So. Cal I had never experienced seeing them. It is a real light show with the small fire flies looking like twinkling stars but in the trees not the sky. What a sight..

We have been taking more bike rides and just enjoying the sun when it is out and not raining. On the first Saturday we were there they had fireworks.  We were going to go with a fellow escapee member I met when she came by and saw our Escapee sticker. We both thought the other looked familiar, both of us had been at the Escapade. Anyway she and her husband came by sometime before 9 but I had forgotten the Stanley Cup Finals were on and so we told them we might see them there. The Fireworks start at 10 and the game should have been over around then. But,no regulation ended in a tie. Fortunately the 20 minutes before the overtime was right around when the Fireworks started and we actually could see them from our site. Very cool.  Watched them and then watched not one but two overtime periods with the Kings winning. Of course they went on to win the Stanley Cup on Wednesday. Go Southern Calif Team, 3 cups since 2007 when our Ducks won their cup(before the Kings won one)and the Kings winning in 2012 and 2014()We'll hear about that when the Ducks play our cross town rivals . Congrats to the Kings.  Enjoy your summer with the cups but get ready to give it up to the Ducks next season. Go Ducks.

 Wednesday we are headed a little east to another Ohio State Park near Cleveland. Stay tuned.

A Bit of Culture in Toledo

In one of the brochures we got, it mentioned an art museum in Toledo that had one of the finest and most diverse collections of artwork in the country. Ummm, think we should check it out. So one day we headed over to Toledo and did check it out.

The Museum has over 30,000 works of art from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, Asian and African to Modern and Contemporary and its FREE. We only paid 5 dollars for parking and that was it.

Monet, one of my favorite artists

We took a little break and had lunch in the small cafe in the Museum. Very interesting menu.I had a panini with asparagus and pear with goat cheese. Yum Yum . Joe had a smoked turkey with brie sandwich.
We then spent some more time enjoying the artwork in the 45 different galleries. The Museum also has 15 studios, a 1750 seat concert hall and a lecture hall. We then went across the street where they have the Glass Pavilion. The 74,000 square foot building is a work of art in itself with most interior walls made of curved glass. There are over 5,000 glass sculptures from ancient to modern times..

There was an exhibition of Lino Tagliapietra's blown glass birds to celebrate the annual migration of song birds along the marshy coast line of Lake Erie. Just beautiful.

I took some pictures of some of the lovely old homes in this west end historic area where the Museum is.

A Little More Time in Michigan and over the border to OhiO

We traveled a few more hours down to South Higgins Lake SP, which was another nice spot on the water.

We only signed up for two days and someone else was coming in on Thursday and so we continued on our way south, stopped at a commercial campground for one night and then making our way over the border to Ohip. Maumee Bay State Park is a large park on Maumee Bay, which is part of Lake Erie. It has a campground with 252 sites, a lodge and restaurant and boat dock. The campground is way from the rest of the park and so pretty quiet. We found a nice spot in the first come first serve loop on the corner with a large grassy sitting area that is well kept. Lots of bushes between our site and the next one.

We finally got our bikes off the back of the MH and have been doing some riding. There are nice biking and walking trails throughout the park and you can easily ride 3 or  miles just going to the main beach area and back to our campsite. Savannah comes with us in her cart that hooks onto Joe's bike. She cries at first but then settles down and seems fine just looking around.

We have had some rain but it has been warm and sunny most of the time. Besides just enjoying this beautiful park, we have taken a few trips into Toledo. We hadn't thought about Toledo as a destination as we just thought Maumee Bay looked like a nice stop on the way to the Cleveland area. However, it is a city with lots to do and the next few posts will show where we went. Stay tuned.