September 20-22, 2020; Cincinnati to Saginaw--Birthday #59, Friends and Finally--A Pirate Visits Michigan!

 Getting older is an adventure, not a problem. ----Betty Frieden.

A beautiful lemon raspberry cake made for Paul by Dr. John Caldwell. YUM!

The whole goal of our trip this time is to celebrate #59 for the pirate and get him to Michigan. So GOALS achieved! The rest is gravy. 

We left off in Cincinnati where we decided to explore the Riverwalk on the Ohio River. The city is named for Cincinnatus, a Roman statesman who after saving the day for the Roman Army, retired to normal citizenry and is seen as the father of civic virtue. There is a statue in his honor on the river. 

The liberty of this country and its great interests will never be secure if its public men become mere menials to do the biddings of their constituents instead of being representatives in the true sense of the word, looking to the lasting prosperity and future interests of the whole country.

They have made a wonderful greenway walking path filled with many works of art, sculpture and even historical postings about the many ships that traversed the Ohio River, particularly in the 1800. 

Homage to the ships of the Ohio River

After our excursion, we headed for Yellow Springs, Ohio. My friends John and Lynn and their two felines live in a lovely home close to Wright Patterson where they are (or were in his case) experimental PhD psychologists. They made Paul a wonderful grilled salmon dinner and the amazing cake you see above. We had a great visit that included a good walk too and a viewing of the original BLADERUNNER in surround sound!

B.C. in repose 

Halley was not enthused to get a photo taken. 

John and Lynn---great bakers and even better hosts for a birthday.

We really appreciated their kindness. You really understand missing your friends during the COVID distancing. 

The next day, we were off to visit other lovely friends-- Jen and Amanda and their beautiful foster daughter. We stopped before for a nice walk at Alum Creek Lake. 

Alum Creek Lake

We hiked a  bit along the water, but mostly through forest paths. 

Pirate shortly after turning 59

We walked along the Alum Creek Dam and through the woods. There are plenty of miles of hiking here! Additionally, the dam sits on the site of the former community of Africa, Ohio where slaves freed by a North Carolina plantation owner earned a living by working on local farms. The community dispersed after 1865 into the surrounding cities and counties, but there is a historical marker in the park to share their legacy. 

From here, we proceeded to birthday party #4 for the Pirate sponsored by our beautiful friends, Jen and Amanda, their foster daughter and Sophie the Golden Doodle and felines Roxy and George. They knew how to do it up right and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting their foster child.  She's a doll.

He even got a BANNER!

Sophie offered to share her tennis ball with the pirate.

Master Chef Amanda made this dough from sourdough starter and used a special oven broiling technique on the pizza!

Jen insisted on a pesto base.

The pirate had fun adding his own toppings.

Results. Very tasty. 

Of course, since it was the pirate, they went "overboard" in celebrating with an after eight cheesecake with a chocolate crust. This is one spoiled 59 year old!

Again, we were treated to amazing hospitality. Thanks so much to our friends 

Today, we headed to Sagninaw, Michigan. Most of our waypoints are an effort to avoid more than four hours a day in a car. This is a good stopping spot on the way to Mackinac Island. On the way, we discovered Snootie's BBQ at  a nondescript Marathon Gas Station near Sandusky. The "Q" was world class. It caused us to look for a nearby picnic table which lead us to Castalia Quarry Metropark...which in addition to picnic tables, had a number of hikes!

One of the hikes was the Gentian loop. And there actually was gentian on it. It has a long history as a medicinal plant.

Many lovely flowers along the loop hikes at Castalia. 

It's impossible to appreciate it , but these trees are full of migrating small birds. We thought it was a babbling brook until we saw hundreds lift off from the branches. 

A shady path on a warm day

Snooties makes some danged good "Q!" They had a few tables near the Marathon gas station but we were deterred by construction on the gas station and the overpowering smell of nearby manure. We appreciate the Erie Metropark system for providing a better place to eat. 

From the picnic area and loop hikes, we crossed the street to hike around the remains of a limestone quarry, the Castaglia Quarry. We are used to quarries in our own region, as Knoxville is likely on the map due to quarrying marble. This quarry operated at least sporadically from the 1870s until the 1960s. Limestone extracted here was used for general building, roads, ship ballast and construction. It's also the highest point in Erie County. The Quarry Rim Trail is a very pleasant stroll of about 2.5 or maybe 3 miles with good birding. 

Pensive Paul considers what it would be like to mine rock from this site in 1870

Snowy egret on a ledge. Never seen that before. 

Bullrushes in the quarry but no Moses!

Parts of the quarry have standing water which attracts small fish, waterfowl and frogs...and probably other stuff too!

We were looking down into the quarry and spotted this turkey vulture waiting for her next meal.

We didn't really plan this hike, but it was fun. From here we passed through Toledo, Ohio, where John Denver " spent a week there one day." Then Ann Arbor which we may explore on the way back for a peek at the university and Flint ---where we did not have a glass of water and on to Saginaw, Michigan---once the topic of an amusing country song.  The town itself was once a major supplier of components of the auto industry but has obviously fallen on hard times. I think there has been some recent gentrification and re-thinking of the economy, but it seems to still be in a slump of sorts from an external viewpoint. We got in a bit late for an in depth study, but hopefully, we will learn more tomorrow. No matter what, we made it to MICHIGAN. Woohoooooooooo!

Saginaw, Michigan by Lefty Frizzell
I was born in Saginaw, Michigan I grew up in a house on Saginaw Bay

My dad was a poor, hard-working Saginaw fisherman Too many times he came home with too little pay

I loved a girl in Saginaw, Michigan The daughter of a wealthy, wealthy man
But he called me that son of a Saginaw fisherman And not good enough to claim his daughter's hand...

Paul's Ponderings:

Despite this being a somewhat long driving date (about 4.5 hours), it was a good one.  We could not have asked for better weather when we were outside and the hike around the quarry was pretty great....nice comparison to East TN near home.   Likewise we enjoyed the BBQ and a nice dinner out at Jake's Grill in Saginaw.   I have to say that Saginaw looks a little down on its luck, which is kind of sad, even though we are staying in a lovely Airbnb that used to be a high class hotel near the river.   I'm sure COVID has impacted Michigan and that is causing issues with "downtown" such as it is.    GM and other industry used to be huge here and I think the downturn on that has caused issues, even though there are green shoots of life around.   That said, we are glad to be here and everyone we have encountered has been friendly and engaging.   It's a beautiful part of the US as well in general....lots of farmland, rivers, lakes, etc.   Hope to hit Ann Arbor on the return and see the stadium that the Vols compete with at the University!