Lakeside

Pat and I drove to Lakeside and it's been awhile since we took Rt. 13 and then Rt. 250 and then Rt. 2 there. The route through Richland county seemed familiar but most of the rest of the way wasn't. In Milan the route doesn't go through town anymore and Norwalk has grown. I was telling Pat, when we were kids, we would shout out "first to see the stone walls," when we saw the farms with low stone walls by the road. That meant we were getting close to the bay. I didn't see any stone walls this time because the route was newer and the old route is probably a county road now. Then it would be first to see: the bay, the bridge, the lake and finally the cottage. Of course there were arguments on who really did see these places first!

We drove to Marblehead and walked around the litehouse and it was refurbished and still a picturesque scene. Marblehead still has the quarry and the conveyor over the road had a sign which said "100 years of continuous use." There were some new business there, mostly eating places and a few shops. We tried to get in the east gate but they told us we had to buy our tickets at the west gate. On the way there we noticed Mystery Hill is gone and Prehistoric Forest is closed and in much need of repair. We paid $44.50 to get in for the day and parked on Fifth Street in front of Wesely Lodge. We walked all around and everything looked much the same and we could tell many people were keeping up or remodeling their cottages - now pretty expensive.

We ate at Hotel Lakeside and enjoyed the view. We walked along the lakefront and noticed many beautiful flower beds in front of the houses and also along the sidewalk (lake side) - very nice. The pier was busy and on the west side of the pier, next to the building, they hauled in sand and made a sandy beach with access to the lake by the short pier - attached by the metal bridge. Many bathers were sprawled out on the pier and out farther were the fishermen. We walked by 202 Plum St. and the cottage looks nice, but different. It is now vinyl sided with vinyl windows throughout. The front porch is closed in with windows and they have added a garage to the south and more living area behind it as well. They had the street between second and third streets blocked off, in front of where we used to buy Eskimo Pies, and a farmers market was there from 9-noon.

From Lakeside we drove to East Harbor and noticed the park needs some tender loving care. The bath house was in disrepair and out of use and so they set up port-a-pots close by. The beach was not clean and the water next to the beach was murky. We could see sand bars and people were walkiing around almost to the stone piles separating the beach area and the lake. On our return, just south of Sandusky on Rt. 250 is a large indoor water-park and convention center. Driving through Norwalk we came to the fork in the road and I remember one time when I was a new driver, I was following the signs and was going to veer left when Dad suddenly said "left!" I must have panicked because I then veered right and of course I never heard the end of that one!

We drove home Olivesburg Rd. and went through the land of our ancestors and past roads named after some of them, Pittenger, Osbun etc. We passed Franklin Church Rd, where Dad's grandparents are buried, the Osbun Pittenger cemetary where we went for the dedication years ago, the Richland Shale Rd. and then past the Reformatory, which is open for tourism and it is said to be haunted! We drove down Wayne St. and up Myers Ave. past Dad's old house, around on Newman St. past the park that used to be the Newman School and then St. Mary's. We also went past Tappans and Westinghouse and it is a sore sight. They are in the process of raizing most of the Westinghouse complex and the Union Hall where Pat and were married is now closed.

We enjoyed our trip down memory lane and returned to our home in Woodland with all the mature trees and we are grateful for our home, our wonderful family, and our time together!