My mother is STILL in the hospital in Toledo. The doctors have been trying to stabilize her blood sugar levels. They won't release her until they do that. So, Julie and I visited her on the way to Port Clinton and on the way back. Hospitals are very depressing places. The lighting is horrible, the rooms are cramped, the food is awful and there are all those lovely smells. It's amazing anyone gets well. The good news is that my mom is looking pretty good. She's hooked up to a heart monitor and we noticed on the way back that her heart was stronger and steadier.
On Saturday, we picked up my brother and went to THE WALLEYE FESTIVAL! I was actually looking forward to this. It's a piece of small town America and something my hometown is very proud of. There were rides and lots of booths for food and arts and crafts.
Here's my suggestion for Port Clinton's next Walleye Festival... um, more walleye.
You would expect a festival for walleye would be overflowing in walleye. Nope. There was only one food stand out of maybe fifty food stands that served walleye, fried, on a bun. That's it. Perch, walleye's nemesis in the Lake Erie fresh water fish popularity contest was more available. And there wasn't much representation of the walleye around the festival itself. Except for a sign or two, you wouldn't know what the hub-bub was about. My girlfriend Julie was disappointed there wasn't some kind of walleye tossing contest. I would have been happy just seeing a guy walking around in a walleye outfit. Julie had never tasted walleye or perch and got to sample both. Perch won.
Walleye...
Perch...
On Sunday, we drove around the area where my brother lives, which is east of Port Clinton, in Marblehead. We drove to an old cemetery we used to go to in high school. It juts out into the quarry there and there used to be an urban legend of a witch that would jump out from behind a headstone if you flashed your headlights at it. We never saw a witch there. Just drank a lot of beer. We also took pictures in front of Prehistoric Forest, which had cavemen living with dinosaurs way before creationists or The Flintstones. We stopped by Just for Ewe, an arts and crafts shop my sister used to do a lot of work for. She still had a few stained glass pieces there. She does lots of different things, but I think her stained glass work is her best.
The most interesting thing we did is visit Johnson Island. During the Civil War, it was a pow camp for confederate soldiers. Many of them died there. The Masons were conducting a Memorial Day service specifically for them. The guy in the top hat and apron said that these were soldiers who were Americans and they were fighting for freedom. Their freedom, any way. I wonder if there were any Memorial Services in the South for any of the boys from the North.
On Sunday night, we visited Julie's parents and hit them up for dinner at their restaurant. Monday, they bought us lunch at a sushi restaurant. Parents are good things.
