Ohio Trip - A Very Long Part One....

I'm jumping back before Hurricane Irma made her land-fall to write about our trip to Ohio for Joe's birthday.  You might remember that we took an extra day going up so we could stop in Georgia to visit with my sister, Tammy, and then to meet a blogging friend in Tennessee. I did write about it HERE but if you missed it, Lynda Harrington and her husband, Bill, met us for breakfast in Cleveland, TN, along with their youngest grandson.  We had such a good time!!

From there, we traveled on to Kentucky where we stopped for the night a little early, just a few miles from Cincinnati.  We rested well and crossed the Ohio River into Cincinnati well after rush hour on Thursday morning. The traffic was moving along nicely.  There are outlets near Jeffersonville, Ohio, and we always like to make a stop there when we have time (which we did).  Joe shopped for his birthday gifts and I found a few things too (just because). We had lunch there before continuing on to my sister-in-law's home in Pickerington, OH.

I had to take a photo of the cornfields and soybean fields. 

This is where I grew up. Small-town country girl.

Jo Anne graciously welcomed us, as she always does.  She also has five cats so we got our cat fix, missing our own fur-babies.  The plan was to enjoy the Millersport (my hometown) Sweet Corn Festival while we were there.  Jo Anne had to work on Friday so Joe and I drove the few miles to Millersport.  We stopped by the home of my "other mom" Jerri.  She still lives in the same house, just across the street from my old house.  Elaine and I moved freely between our two homes and called our folks all mom and dad.  It was such a wonderful way to grow up. Jerri still calls me her 4th daughter.

 There she is, watching us leave. 

 This is the house I grew up in, from age 10 until I left home at 18.

I loved that front porch and was happy to see a swing there,

where ours used to be.

The cemetery is right behind Jerri's house so we drove there to visit the graves of my folks, my grandparents, and my brother.  We pulled some weeds away from the stones and paid our respects.

My dear sweet dad....

We left there and decided to get some lunch in the bustling downtown Millersport.  There is one traffic light, and other than a change in business names, it looks pretty much the same as it did back in 1970 (when I graduated from high school there).

Hometown Hot Dogs is new (to me) and that is where we decided

to get some lunch.  It was pretty good..Chili dogs and a cup of chili.

This is the church I grew up in.  Millersport United Methodist.

 This is a terrible photo, but this is the school I attended

from 5th grade through graduation, my senior year.

Across the street from the hot dog place is the post office

where my mom worked.  Our PO Box was #36 (I think) but I don't remember

the combination anymore.  My sisters probably do...

This is the Ohio-Erie Canal that feeds into Buckeye Lake.

My dad's boat dock was on the canal and we would

ice skate from our dock out to the lake in the winter.

It was much prettier 50+ years ago (and deeper).

From downtown, we had a 1:00 meeting planned with some of my classmates!  I hadn't seen three of them since graduation!!  Thanks to Facebook, where we are all connected, we arranged the meeting at Weldon's Ice Cream Factory that I've mentioned before as the place where I worked for two summers during high school.

 This door is to the private home above the store.  That is where

I took piano lessons from old Mrs. Weldon when I was 12 or 13.

Weldon's is across the street from the Millersport Marina.

The Factory Special is six dips of ice cream in six different

flavors.  It was a popular choice back in the day and was 60¢ 

back then.  Today the cost is $9.50!!!!

  

This is the jukebox (same one) where all of my tips went.

A quarter got you three plays!

And here are my classmates!  Mike, Wanda, Mary, Norma, and Patty.

Mike & Wanda are married.  Norma and Patty are both married to 

upperclassmen who also graduated from Millersport High.

Mary's brother, Bill, was a year behind us but it was fun catching

up with him and his wife Donna, too!  We visited for nearly three hours

and we did indeed have ice cream while there!

The Sweet Corn Festival didn't open until 5:00 on Friday. We drove by for a couple of photos of where everyone eats their corn...standing at those tables.  Unfortunately, it wasn't yet 5:00 and it was also raining.

We headed back to Jo Anne's house in time for her to get home from work (she is a teacher), and also to wait for my niece, Sara, to arrive from Cincinnati.  Her husband is doing his internship/residency there and she is teaching and going to UC for her Master's Degree.  Matthew wasn't able to take time off, but we were thrilled that Sara came to see us!  We all went out to dinner at Jo Anne's favorite Italian restaurant. It was delicious!

We woke up Saturday morning to rain. More rain. Not good for spending time at the festival and I felt bad for Joe because he really was looking forward to having a funnel cake.  It was still an enjoyable day because my cousin, Bob and his wife Patti came over to visit awhile.  My sister, Patti and her husband Greg and our niece Kelly also arrived.  We had a very fun reunion!!  I'm so mad at myself for not getting a photo of Bob and Patti but here they are from a couple of years ago...

Later that evening, after Bob & Patti left, the rest of us went out for Mexican food.  We ran into a good friend of Jo Anne's and her husband, who joined us.

 Above photo, front to back:  My sister Patti,

niece Kelly, niece Sara, and friend Mary

 Front to back:  Joe, brother-in-law Greg, Jo Anne

and Mary's husband Dave (I think that's his name).

 Above are Joe and me and below my sister Patti and me.

I'm stopping here because this has gotten way too long.  I'll start tomorrow with Sunday when we celebrated Joe's birthday and then left for the other side of the state and my sister's house.

Thanks for getting this far!!  Peace & hugs.