Thursday—Today was the last day of school and so to mark the ending of the school year, our family took a weekend jaunt to Lake Erie, which included a day at Cedar Point, an amusement park that’s famous for its rollercoasters. School let out at noon, so after a quick lunch we headed to our hotel for the night: Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky.
We arrived at Great Wolf Lodge around 3:30 and were able to check into our room right away. Once we settled in the room, the kids spent the next 2½ hours playing in the hotel’s water park. They had a blast sliding down the slides with and without tubes. They loved running through the sprinklers, and just, generally, getting wet. All this activity really exhausted them by the time bedtime rolled around. (My son already wants to go back for a return visit.)
(Waterpark in Great Wolf Lodge)
We left the hotel for dinner at Ryan’s Buffet—just down the road, and then we returned to take them to story time in the hotel lobby at 8:00. The kids’ story time at the lodge was pretty cool. Animatronic forest creatures sing really sappy nature songs. Then one of the Great Wolf Lodge characters comes out with a minder to read a story to the kids. Then the kids get a photo op with the character. (Kind of reminiscent of Disney World, but nowhere near as expensive.)
(Wiley Wolf leads kids in wolf calls at Great Wolf Lodge)
Friday—Mother Nature certainly wasn’t in the friendliest of moods when we visited Cedar Point today. But the weather has certainly continued to follow this year’s trend of “too much rain,” so although disappointing, I would say it wasn’t surprising.
We arrived at the park shortly after 9:00 this morning. Most of the rides weren’t yet open, but my daughter and I did ride “Ocean Motion” (a swinging pirate ship) while my husband took our son on the carousel near the park’s entrance. Soon after, the rain arrived and we spent the next 2 hours in and around the kiddie rides and the arcade. My daughter played several games of skeeball and arcade bowling while my husband video games with the four-year-old looking over his shoulder until we all ran out of quarters and single dollar bills. Then my husband decided to “brave the rain” by taking the kids on toddler rides, including another carousel. We headed for lunch at Midway Market (a buffet restaurant in the park), and then the rain finally stopped while we were eating.
The kids spent the remainder of the afternoon on more rides meant for kids under 48” tall—except when I took my daughter on "Blue Streak", a 47-year-old roller coaster. I rode my favorite roller coaster, "Gemini "(built in the 1980s—when I was in high school), three times while the kids were on the kiddie rides nearby.
(Kids dance with Lucy and Charlie Brown)
One of the highlights of the day was spotting Peanuts characters in the park. The kids had their photos taken with Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Charlie Brown, Schroeder, and Peppermint Patty. They also danced the “Chicken Dance,” “The Limbo” and the “YMCA” song with the characters.
A fierce wind signaling an approaching thunderstorm encouraged us to make a beeline towards the entrance gates. My daughter and I were disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to ride any of the water rides in the park to cool down from the afternoon’s hot-and-sticky weather. We departed around 5:30, and it was just as well because my son fell right asleep in his stroller on the way out of the park.
(Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point)
We headed over to our new hotel—a Fairfield Inn in Port Clinton. We ate dinner across the street from the hotel at a Mexican Restaurant called “Casa Las Palmas” before I took the kids into the hotel pool.
Saturday—We had a great day today exploring the Port Clinton/Marblehead area of Ohio—near Cedar Point. Weather forecasts warned of possible thunderstorms during the afternoon, but those never developed. (Whew!)
After having breakfast in the hotel breakfast room we set out on the road towards Marblehead. We stopped at Marblehead Lighthouse State Park, where today they were offering people the opportunity to go up inside the lighthouse for $2 per person (except for kids under 6). The steep spiral staircase was a bit hard on my arthritic knees, and I had to walk backwards on shaky legs to get back down the steps. The rangers also strongly urged anyone scared of heights to avoid going up in the lighthouse.
(Steps inside Marblehead Lighthouse)
We took the kids to the beach down the road at East Harbor State Park. My kids and I cooled off in Lake Erie from the high humidity while my husband sat in the shade and read his book. We were at the beach for a couple of hours until stomachs warned us of hunger. As we left East Harbor State Park we encountered a Civil War reenactment. It was just finishing for the day, but we saw a couple cannon and musket explosions, as well as many people in Civil War costumes.
(Civil War reenactment at East Harbor State Park)
The Peninsula Restaurant—a mom & pop-type independent restaurant advertised lake perch, so we stopped there for lunch. Prices were great. However, no one chose the perch, which was one of the pricier items on the menu. I did get the clam strips, though.
(Peninsula Restaurant--between Port Clinton and Marblehead)
A couple doors down from Peninsula Restaurant is Train-O-Rama. We paid good money to see some obsessive model train collector’s railroad display. It’s a huge model railroad that our kids went nuts over, but be forewarned that it isn’t well child-proofed, so take really young ones by the hand as you walk through this place. I asked a woman working there how long they had been collecting the trains, and she replied that it was since the 1940s.
(Carnival scene in Train-O-Rama)
We headed over to the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton next. It’s an interesting little zoo, but a bit expensive. (We paid about $53 for the 4 of us—with coupons!) However, it does provide families with a much different experience than that of regular zoos. Behind the gift shop the kids rode a pony and a camel. The park also had a white zebra, white alligator and red kangaroo on its premises. We ate some ice cream in the area behind the gift shop before venturing around the safari loop in our mini-van. I don’t know if it was a mistake or not, but my husband chose not to stop to get the animal food before entering the drive-through loop that forced us to have vehicular encounters with llamas, alpacas, reindeer, bison and watusi (red oxen with really long horns). I feared the horns might scratch the paint job on the van or break windows. My husband made fun of the “angry looking” llamas and reindeer that had a staring contest with him through the window because he refused to pass out food to them. In addition to the animals I listed above, we also saw zebras and giraffes on the drive through the loop.
(Red Ox at African Safari Wildlife Park)
There’s a huge cheese shop (Cheese Haven) in Port Clinton that attracted many visitors. I took my daughter with me into the store and we sampled a few different cheeses before departing with a bag full. Then we returned to the hotel.
(Cheese Haven in Port Clinton)
When we went for dinner it was a bit later than we usually do—due to the consumption of Cheese Haven cheese and crackers at the hotel. We went to a place called Dianna’s that has American, as well as Greek and Italian food. My husband and I ordered the lamb shank daily special. It was excellent; the meat fell right off the bone. We got a log of food with the daily special, and it was only $10 each. I didn’t even have room for dessert.
Sunday—After breakfast at the hotel and packing up everything into the car, we headed back towards home. We made a stop in Fremont, Ohio, which isn’t too far from Port Clinton.
Fremont is a cute little town with lots of Victorian-style houses, including that of President Rutherford B. Hayes. We made a visit to the Hayes Museum, where I learned much more about America’s 19th President than I had before. He isn’t as well-known because he purposely chose to be a one-term president. He lost a few allies over trying to force the Reconstruction issue after the Civil War. He had become President only by becoming the Republican nominee by default at the Republican National Convention. He served as President after having served as a U.S. Congressman and three terms as governor of Ohio.
(Hayes home in Fremont, Ohio)
We decided to forgo the tour of the house due to our kids’ short attention spans during guided tours. But we did visit the gravesites of President Hayes and his wife Lucy, as well as one of his sons and his wife.
(Portrait of President Rutherford B. Hayes)
Places to visit near Sandusky, Ohio:
- Great Wolf Lodge, Sandusky, Ohio-- http://www.greatwolfsandusky.com/
- Ryan’s Buffet, Sandusky, Ohio-- http://www.ryans.com/
- Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio-- http://www.cedarpoint.com/
- Fairfield Inn, Port Clinton, Ohio-- http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tolpc-fairfield-inn-port-clinton/
- Casa Las Palmas, Port Clinton, Ohio
- Marblehead Lighthouse State Park, Marblehead, Ohio-- http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/marblehead/tabid/763/Default.aspx
- East Harbor State Park, Ohio-- http://www.eastharborstatepark.org/
- Peninsula Restaurant, Ohio
- Train-O-Rama, Ohio-- http://www.trainorama.com/
- African Safari Wildlife Park, Port Clinton, Ohio-- http://www.africansafariwildlifepark.com/
- Cheese Haven, Port Clinton, Ohio-- http://www.cheesehaven.com/
- Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio-- http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/