Thursday, June 28, 2012

On the road again….


Two weekends ago, Scope, Wednesday, and I loaded up our car with as much as it could hold and we hit the road for Ohio.  You recall how much we enjoy summer road trips, right?….  Like last August when we drove from Seattle to Chicago in four and a half days with our pet frogs belted in the back seat. Remember that?…. Total splendiferousness with THIS FREAKIN’ ROCKS!!!! sauce is what it was. (Need a refresher? Click HERE.)


Scope’s family had been planning a big eight day family vacation in a rental house on Lake Erie for nearly a year now. Ten of us were able to make it and we had an amazing time.


Here’s what it all looked like….


DAY #1:

We crammed ourselves and all our crap into our PT Cruiser like clowns in a circus car and headed out of the city. The typical sloth-like and headachy Chicago traffic was surprisingly light and delightfully non-existent—*insert the sound of angels singing “laaaaaaaaaaaaa”*—so, we made great time.




Aerosmith serenaded us on the stereo as we started out. I tried to convince Wednesday that the roly poly dude on the back of the CD was Steven Tyler in his earlier years.




And she SO wished that were true!


*snicker*


But anyway….


Soon we were zooming through Indiana.




We made a quick stop at the University of Notre Dame.




Wednesday and I had never been there before, so the three of us walked around for awhile checking the campus out.




(Awwwww, I know. Aren’t Scope and Wednesday CUTE?!?!)  :-)


We saw Touchdown Jesus….




….and a gorgeous war memorial fountain….




….and a pair of cutsie hugging statues….




….and this funny and fearless little fella.




After leaving Notre Dame, we made a two second hop over the border into Michigan so Wednesday and I could pick up another state. We opened our car doors, poked our toes out, touched the ground, and then—*whoosh!*—we were back on our way.         




Not too long after that, we crossed into Ohio.




In Ohio, we saw Batman running his Bat-errands with his Bat-kids in his Bat-SUV.




(Who knew, right?!)


And then about six hours after we began our journey, we arrived in Erie County.




We stayed with my in-laws in the “Buster Brown Shoe House” in Huron.




The Buster Brown Shoe House is this cute three story house just a hop, skip and a cartwheel away from the lake. All the way there I had been wondering why it’s called the Buster Brown house—????—but once we walked in, it clicked. Inside the house, the walls are covered with framed old retro Buster Brown ads, which was kind of cool.




There was plenty of room for all ten of us…. well, most of the time anyway. Unless we were all in the kitchen at once, in which case it was pretty much a claustrophobic fright fest. (Yeesh.) But otherwise, it was perfect. There was even enough room for Wednesday to have a big bedroom all to herself, and she was thrilled.


But even more thrilling?….


All the shy wee itty bitty baby ducks that kept walking through our garden!




*Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!*


After looking around the house, we went out to the lake in the backyard.




The lake was absolutely stunning. I couldn’t believe it—we even had a gorgeous view of Cedar Point Amusement Park! (You might want to click this pic to enlarge it to get the better view.)





DAY #2:


Our second day in Ohio started with Wednesday and Scope getting their ping pong on in one of the sunrooms.




After all the ping pong-ing, the three of us broke off from the rest of the group for a couple of hours. It was important to everyone to make sure that everybody got to do the things they most wanted to do during our stay, and the thing that Wednesday most wanted to do was visit Ghostly Manor Thrill Center, a year-round haunted house which was voted one of the scariest in the country. No-one else was in a get-your-pants-frightened-off kind of mood, so off we ventured as a trio looking f-f-f-for t-t-t-terror.


This is what Ghostly Manor looked like on the outside when we arrived.




The dragon outside the building was spectacular! We spent a lot of time squealing, jumping around, and taking a zillion pictures of the dragon before actually setting foot inside the manor.








We missed getting a picture of the dragon spewing steam out of his nose though, unfortunately—*sniff*—so I borrowed one from Google for you.




(You’re welcome.)


A talking skeleton inside Ghostly Manor told me I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in there, so all I have to show you is this shot of a massive, creepy, black-lit eye from the lobby. CreeEEeeEEeepy.




Our run through the haunted house was sheer bad*ss awesomeness! Like A LOT!! There was blood, gore, demons, monsters, horrors leaping out of the shadows, vibrating floors, flashing lights, a maze of grody body bags, and—most surprising of all—inflating walls which rapidly pressed in on us from all sides at once and tried to crush us as we ran screaming through the hallways.


Wow.


Just WOW.


I loved it. LOVED!!!! IT!!!! It was phenomenal and, hands down, the best haunted house I have ever been in. I just couldn’t stop laughing our entire way through. Laughing, screaming, and running through the dark—what bliss! I felt utterly exhilarated at the end of it. It was so much fun!


Or at least I thought so.


As for my darling Wednesday? Well…. the haunted house turned out to be a bit too intense for the poor girl, who had been hoping to see something more along the lines of the cutsie Haunted Mansion in Disneyland, not something straight out of a horror film. She’s still glad she saw it, but she has no plans to set foot in Ghostly Manor again.


Ever.


She still loved the dragon though and was perfectly happy to pose with Scope for a mock screaming picture as we left the manor.




(Hee hee hee.)


Once we got back to the rental house, Wednesday and I went looking around the place at all the knickknacks on display. We found a super-snazzy pair of old binoculars.




(God, I love that picture!  *giggle*)


And—hey, looky!—we also found a Harry Potter-ish cupboard under the stairs! AWESOME!!!!




That is sooooooooooo going to be my new Facebook profile, by the way. :-)


And then we relaxed on the swing in the backyard for awhile, whilst plotting our plans for Day 3.





[….to be continued….]





© Coracabana 

11 comments:

Scope said...

I figured that since you watched me watching the football games all fall, a trip thru ND was important. Also, not to early to get The Daughter thinking about colleges.

Candy's daily Dandy said...

OMG you guys are the stinkin cutest fam-damily.

But I am mesmerized, by the Barry Mannilow blocks at the right of the blog.

HA Larious, love them!!!

Anonymous said...

Tell the truth, you wished they would let you sleep in the cupboard under the stairs.

SkylersDad said...

Looks like a great time! But even though I haven't seem or heard of all your adventures, I just know that the roller coaster will still be my fav!

Dr Zibbs said...

Oooh I like that hideaway under the steps!

So. Cal. Gal said...

That pic of Scope and Wednesday holding hands is the CUTEST. THING. EVER!

We had a cubby under the stairs of my childhood home. None of us ever went into it because the parental units scared the crap out of us with stories of what was inside. Turns out they just didn't want anyone to hide in there when it was time to get punished for our misdeeds. ;)

Lubaina E. said...

Just spotted your blog. I love your photography !
Sounds like an amazing trip.
I love the little fearless and cute fella :D

Kal said...

These travelogues are my favorite thing that you do. How boring am I that I can tell you all about that Sumo Wrestler on the back of the Aerosmith CD. He's the first foreign born Sumo to reach top status.

FRANNIE said...

For starters, W's socks, just awesome!

The haunted mansion looks like it was a blast, scary I love, gory not so much.

And lastly, how is it that we're not friends on FB?! Email me if you want to 'hook up' :).

Cora said...

Scope: College is just around the corner. Oy. *feeling old*

Candy: Thanks! They were a labor of love. :-)

Joshua: Sooooo tempting!

SkyDad: The roller coaster was FABULOUS, but we have a few posts to get through before we get to that one.

Zibbs: It was exciting.

Cora said...

So Cal Gal: They are cute, aren't they? And we had a cupboard under our stairs too, but it was blinding white and lined with shelves where we kept our board games. The one we saw on vacay was much cooler.

Lubaina E: Awww, thanks. And thank you for dropping by!

Kal: I think it's pretty damn cool that you know that, actually. :-)

Frannie: Wednesday is ALWAYS in striped socks. She just doesn't feel like herself without them. And, yes, let's be FB friends! *Squeeeeee!*