That pretty much sums up northern ohio!  Oh wait… except for the fact that there is a terrible infestion in northern Ohio.  Not only are these things terribly irritating but it is to the point that it is downright ridiculous!  Troy had told me of his adventures with these stupid things before but I didn’t believe him.  Last week, Troy and I were able to take a mini-midweek-vaca to Avon Lake Ohio on the coast of Lake Erie and after I encountered these blasted things I was so irritated I just had to laugh.

I mean really what ELSE is there to do when you arrive upon THIS:

and subsequently this:

and a few miles later this:

Ok… so the last one is not mine… first two ARE.  All told, during our journey we met a road’s demise – 9 times.  NINE TIMES IN THREE DAYS!?  Not to mention the fact that there was not even a posted detour on some of them!  We finally realized that we are going to HAVE to break down and pay Garmin $75 for the map updates as nearly 1/2 of our maps are out of dates.  sigh.  The frugal woman in me cringes!

All in all it was a GREAT two days to just relax (well Troy worked a little before we relaxed!)  I was able to purchase most of Owen’s school clothes for around $50 at a Gap Clearance center!  We even took a night and went to the movies (we will NOT even talk about how expensive THAT was and how I left my coupon for a free set of tix at home…grrrr..) and saw The Proposal… omg.  Go now… tonight… and see it.  By far the BEST movie I have seen all year.  It was totally predictable but very VERY good!

We ate at Red Robin (in honor of Kevin and Jessica) and they even let us use our free appetizer coupon from Kentucky!  Although the power DID go out TWICE while the guy was trying to charge my card.  There was a huge storm that went over the lake and we were right in the middle of it… loss of power and all.

As a side note, paying homage to MckMama’s “Not Me Monday”... I definitely did NOT travel 6+ hours in a car, to a beach, through 100 detours and closed roads, to encounter a beautiful coastline and use my IPHONE camera.  I DEFINITELY did not intentionally leave my camera at home so I could “get away” and then regret it and decide to look on craigslist to see if there was a cheap rebel I could buy (and keep as backup…). I also did NOT ever for ANY reason scream profanity at my Garmin as I ended up in CLEVELAND while trying to find a Target (which I visibly passed on the highway) to get some allergy medicine.  No Drew Carey… Cleveland does NOT rock.  Nuff said.

The first pic above WAS taken by me and most certainly on my camera phone.  I promise you.  It really IS true.  Owning a Canon does NOT make you a photographer.  It makes you a Canon owner.  Being a photographer is in your heart and mind.  You SEE the world differently.  I know what a photo will LOOK like long before I ever take it.  I see moments in my life and they take my breath away and so many times I think “If only I had a camera.”  Maybe that is what makes my photography different than so many others.  So many photographers float around with a camera, taking a million “pictures” and happen upon an image.  I manage to CREATE things like THIS:

with nothing more than an Iphone.  Did I orchestrate the moment?  No.  Did I MOVE heaven and earth to make it happen?  No.  Did I disturb life? No.  But this image… was created in my mind minutes before it was created on the camera.  That is how it works for me.

We stood on this hill overlooking the Port Authority of Lake Erie and I was just in awe.  There was a cool breeze on an otherwise stuffy day as we watched the sailboats head out to the deep.  The light house was off in the distance and I thought WOW…. I could stay here forever.

I had someone tell me, at a wedding the other day, that they thought a person was inherently either a WATER person or a MOUNTAIN person.  Me… I am DEFINITELY the water… beaches, oceans, lakes… I am always in awe of their vastness and beauty.

And what would a trip to northern Ohio be without seeing an Amish buggy on the highway?  Evidently nothing because Troy has told me each time he came back from Ohio how much I would love seeing those and he was right.  I was like a kid!  I just think that they are SO cool.  I mean, here are these people, living life just they way our grandparents did.  In spite of what the rest of the world thinks or does, they are TRUE to their convictions and they MAKE it work in a world that would ask them to compromise.  I have the world’s worth of respect for them!

Oh yes… and we cannot forget the “coastal corn”!  Troy and I totally thought this was a riot.  No sea oats in Ohio… Coastal Corn baby! (The Coast Guard building is the one just behind Troy).

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our weekday-mini-vaca… it sure hit the spot to recharge our batteries before the weekend heat and wedding! 

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