Call It What You Want...

alternately titled "Just how nerdy am I?"

On Wednesday of our vacation week, Tara offered to watch the boys while Tim and I took a day off. We had a lot of choices of where to go and what to do, but we chose a trip over to Kelley's Island. (The nickname "An Island for all seaons" is a bit of an exaggeration, since the ferry stops at Thanksgiving and doesn't start again until April, so if you want to get there in *some* seasons, you have to fly.)

Why, you might ask, did we choose Kelley's Island?

Um. As I mentioned in the previous blog, it was because of a recipe in the Buckeye Cookery, a cookbook we use in our 1886 farm, the delectible Kelley Island Cake, written by Miss Greeley Grubbs: One cup butter, two of sugar, three of flour, four eggs, half cup milk, three tea-spoons baking-powder; bake in jelly-tins.
For filling stir together a grated lemon, a large grated apple, an egg, and a cup sugar, and boil four minutes. Did I mention how absolutely wonderful this cake is???

We caught the ferry at Marblehead, having purchased our tickets at 8:31:58 for a boat that leaves on the hour and half-hour. That was okay; we had a nice little wait and Tim took pictures of trucks and cranes at the conveyor for the quarry, an obvious marketing extension for the e-coal-conveyor business in western Kentucky. A 20-minute ferry ride with our bikes brought us to the island.

We arrived at 32 (just below the "downtown" square) and rode our bikes north on Division Street to 42, the Glacial Grooves. After our visit there (see the previous post for a photo), we continued up the road to a hiking trail that took us through the woods and around to the rocky shore on the north side of the island. NIIIIICE.

Then it was back onto the bikes and down Titus Road (just south of the Grooves) to Lakeshore Road to Kelley's Island Brewery for lunch (that's 34 on the map). The proprietor let us know it would be about 20 minutes for the fryer to be ready to make our walleye and perch (what's island dining without fish?), so we settled in with a glass of their Island Devil and a game of battleship and lake views. (Did I mention NIIIICE?) It was a bit of wait, so the nice lady solved the question of whether to order another of the handcrafted beers by giving "Tim" a refill.

After that, it was a ride back into downtown to check out the shops and Historical Society (43) then, later, a ride out to Kelley's Island Wine Co. (35). Back into downtown, we got our obligatory ice cream (mine was coconut cream pie, Tim's was... um, I don't remember. Mine was good enough to forget Tim's), a souvenir for the #1 fan of Kelley Island Cake Dave A., some fudge for Tara (to share with us, of course!)... and back to the ferry to head back to Lakeside for dinner.

We were as tired as could be, but it was a lot of fun and quite relaxing. Is it a place I go back to every time I go to Lakeside? Hmm, probably not, though the Kelley's Island Brewery was gooooood. And the weather, though hot, was perfect, as the lake breezes kept us nice and cool on our bikes.

Yep, that's me, all happy and looking at pretty water. :)