What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

SOCK IT TO ME BABY!!!

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Vacation- Fast forward to toledo

When last we left off, we finished Sunday with a stop out at the kids' place...



Which involved "lazy man's cornhole"- sitting in a chair with a board in front of you, pitching them at the board in front of the other guy.  Of course, then KC proceeded to tack on "drink after every point" which prolly wasn't a great idea.

Later, we went for a walk around the pond across the road, which will be starring in "an addition coming soon".





Monday was pretty much douchingtoned with the Impala problem, which we will get to in a moment.  The only noteworthy activity was a trip to the bark park, at which Scrappy was a tad grumpy and got to leave early...


Here we meet Gypsy.


Gyspy wanted to run and play, and old boy didn't have running on the agenda, so his mom decided to leave- Gypsy ran to us for permission to stay.

Then another doggie came who WOULD run around, so Gypsy got to stay.  But this dog wanted to roughhouse Scrappy, and Boofus was being a butt.

So that doggie sadly walked off and Scrappy was chastised by us and we left.  Of course, his mood wasn't helped when Gypsy jumped off our bench and into the middle of his back, but I think the non-fixed-ness of the other dog was his main beef.


So that brings us to the car, where one problem (a shorted-out sensor) led to the discovery of a bigger problem (a tie-rod end going out, explaining the odd squeak I'd been hearing on turns), all of which led to a $500 bill (with needed oil change), which for some reason the CU has put a hold on (which I will have to ask them about tomorrow), which put a dent in my ability to overdraft today (which cast a slight pall on the activities you will now hear about).

And now, the trip to Toledo!

This was by far the quickest trip we'd ever made- until a confusing bunch of road construction caused a major mess-up.  Long story short, We had to cross the river twice (there and back) in order to complete our trip, at the same bridge.  What occurred, thanks to a collision of factor of which I wasn't exactly faultless, but certainly not the only one to blame (thank you construction, plus Google maps), was that we crossed the river FOUR times- and only one of those crossings was at the RIGHT place.  Even then, we got to our destination only a little later than we originally figured (which was amazing considering how much time we spent lodged in the Buttcrack of Toledo).

The bar at Tony's- not tonight, please!

The line- not near so bad as last year.

The only two remaining ACTUAL buns- signed by Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale



It was at the gift shop we first learned something was amiss with my account; but it didn't stop Grandpa from getting something for the NextGen Martin:



Next stop was Maumee Bay State Park, which was awesome for me.  I prolly quadrupled my lifetime amount of time in water to the horizon!






It was safe, if a tad green... and bathtub warm!

And yes, I soon divested shirt glasses, and hat.

Laurie is too sweet for the water- she had to stay out or she'd dissolve...





Then we went to there Nature center.  The building itself was closed- on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday?- but we took a tour of their boardwalk, which puts Ft Wayne's Eagle Marsh to shame, Bobby G!  And we no more started than...









A doe and three fawns- so friendly and unconcerned that we, another lady, and three little kids failed to scare them off.







There was a feeding station right against the building, just past the end of the boardwalk.  The fawns were happy playing at the pond's edge, but Mom got lunch.







At this point, she was BARELY ten feet from us.  Never even stomped at us!







The rest of the boardwalk was cool, too!







At the boardwalk exit, near the Lodge.  Rooms are up to $348... I guess I need a bigger lottery win than the $5 I got from the free ticket I got at the BTE concert!

As for the rental Cruze- I really liked the cruise control on it, changing the speed from the wheel.  I also found out we had Sirius XM- which meant I got to listen to a REAL alternative station on the way home.  No offense (nod nod, wink wink) to Ft Wayne's 99.5, but when you have a REAL rotation, you sound better. (99.5's rotation:  Out of 100 songs, 60 are 3 repeats of the oldest 20 out of the top twenty-five; 12 are former number ones; about 15 will be the Green Day catalogue; 10 will be the remainder of the top 25, with "new music" announced in front of each for the first 3 months; and the other three are the "wow, how did they manage to sneak THAT in?" songs.

So that's the story for the day... tomorrow, the return of the car, along with a trip to the Credit Union to see WTH is going on there.

8 comments:

  1. Your cornhole has three holes?
    Livin' large, I see.
    Hmmm, that sounds faintly dirty.

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    1. You should have been there for the games at the Baby Gender Announcement Party. KC's talent at hitting "hole #2" made it the dirtiest cornhole game ever...

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  2. Hi, Chris!

    I am enjoying tagging along as, slowly but surely, you and your family make your way to the convention in Cleveland where Scrappy will deliver the keynote address.

    Maumee Bay State Park looks like a dandy spot. I'd love to see the wildlife in the nature center up close and personal. It reminds me of the old Three Stooges bit:

    "Oh look at the little fawn. Isn't it deer? Does the fawn have any doe? Yeah, two bucks!"

    I'm glad you are getting to hear some cool tuneage on the radio. Hear any Serebro? :) Why does that always seem to happen on road trips...radio stations you can't get at home always have a better play list?

    Stay safe, good buddy!

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    1. I did look for an indie station, but there were none (listed as such by name, that is). And not everything that played was to my liking. I have a thing about bands like X-Ambassadors and the Lumileers, where every songs chorus sounds like a bunch of guys at an Irish bar, sitting around a table with a pint in one hand. The problem with alt anymore is you have too few bands with actual creativity (such as Twenty One Pilots or Cage The Elephant) and too many trying to spit out the same crap.

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  3. Chris:
    ---That's a good size pond near KC's place.
    ANOTHER drinking game?
    (just what we need...LOL)
    ---Like those bark-park pics,...Scrappy acting up?
    NAH - never happens.
    ---Yeah, anything concerning the front-end on a FWD car means more money than usual, even when it comes to tie-rods(and that's a big deal). I think American car companies PLANNED it that way to justify their continued operational costs. Just pass it on, right?
    ---HOLY TOLEDO! (okay, maybe not THAT "holy"...heh)
    The State park is quite a sight, too. and that's ONLY a BAY.
    I Like that lighthouse they have there. Wonder if they allow tours?
    ---No doubt that boardwalk has it all over EM...it's the ACREAGE!!! And there seems to be no lack of flora and fauna.
    (very cool)
    ---About the (rental) CRUZE - figured you like the XM deal (we're okay not subscribing to it). And the C/C on the wheel is nice (as are the radio controls), but those buttons BEHIND the wheel are easy to bump (and change stuff you're not expecting)...LOL.

    Glad you enjoyed yourselves.
    Can't wait for the next installment.

    Stay safe and keep cool up there, brother.
    (and Scrappy - behave yourself!)

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    Replies
    1. I'm not real sure of the acreage vs Eagle Marsh, but there was a longer, two-mile boardwalk trail that it was just too hot to attempt. At least, not with an air-conned Nature Center to go pass out in afterwards.

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  4. Nice pix. I'm glad you're having a good time.

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