Posts tagged as:

ohio

not quite half a day in put-in-bay, ohio

_ after the fear and near-death experiences of cedar point, we decided we need something more summery and relaxing, so we drove through scenic downtown sandusky and headed for the harbor at catawba island, where we caught the hourly ferry to put-in-bay.

_ put-in-bay is a small village on an island 15 miles due north-west of sandusky. you can see mainland ohio on the horizon there, just over the wake of the ferry.

_ the island itself has a bunch of beautiful summer homes and hotels, but the ferry itself seemed to be full of day-trippers like ourselves.

_ we had hardly any time, so we availed ourselves of the offer of golf carts, and took a spin around.

_ everything is within striking distance via golf cart, and so a few minutes after leaving the harbor we stumbled upon this idyllic scene. CLICK ABOVE TO VIEW LARGER, and see the plume from the nuclear power plant on the far horizon.

_ as we keep repeating, no man is an island, but if you were, in fact, an island, you'd want to be one with an airport. that basically ensures that you're a great island (as long as it's not offensively large).

_ we clipped our map to the wheel of the golf cart, where ordinarily you'd keep the scorecard, and tried to stop it from being blown away.

_ heading into town via the most direct road from the ferry dock, you pass the admiral perry statue, named after the victor of the great battle of lake erie in the early 1800's. it is a symbol of the subsequent & enduring peace between the US, canada & britain. not that these people care.

_ this, as you can tell, is *the* boardwalk of put-in-bay, ohio, and a good place to get a beer while watching yachts come in and kayaks go out.

_ edging up past the town proper, we came upon perfect little vignettes of life on an island in lake erie. here we're looking across the harbor to the perry monument. the boardwalk is just out of view behind the trees on the left.

_ and if you turn to the left, this is what you see. right behind us there was a pop and son fishing, but as we were speeding past on a golf-cart, we didn't think it safe to spin around and shoot backwards. in fact, most of the pictures in this series (apart from the last batch) were taken while driving. not terribly safe, and not that great if you like your horizons level.

_ every summer destination needs a maze, and if you don't have a maze of shrubbery...

_ ...then make a maze of what appear to be portapotty doors.

_ suitable fashions for a day of pedaling.

_ though we were under massive time constraints, we knew exactly what we wanted from our trip to put-in-bay, so we parked the cart and followed a trail through the bushes...

_ ...along the beach and inland, across a dry meadow...

_ and out onto a quiet promontory.

_ where we disturbed the birds, and kept...

_ ...on...

_ ...walking.

_ our time up, we ran back to the cart and sped back to the dock.

_ and, on the return ferry, we saw another example of this summer's most common hairstyle. astute viewers will notice something wrong with this story... tell us what it is!

Tagged as: ohio, put-in-bay

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top thrill dragster, cedar point, ohio

_ cedar point, an amusement park, sits on a peninsula sticking out into lake erie. thus you can only approach it from one angle, and the first thing you see is this wacking great beast of a rollercoaster right in the middle. called the top thrill dragster, it is over 400 feet tall, and the car itself accelerates 0-120 in four seconds. the name 'top thrill' is amply deserved. WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS

_ of course the rapid acceleration has its massive physical affects, so, when coupled with the psychotic fiddling of the hissing, clanking machinery, it becomes a pretty scary ride.

_ watching the riders go 0-120 is enough of a spectator sport for most.

_ yeah, these are 17 seconds you won't forget in a hurry.

_ the type of construction used in the top thrill dragster is unique, and puts it in the ultra-rare class of 'stratocoasters', only two of which are in existence. the other is in new jersey, at the competitor six flags.

_ the limitations of photography are always apparent, but what we most regret being unable to accurately capture is the wooshing sound and wind of the car as it zips past.

_ you can hear the throb of the motor in the video above, but it's really not the same. all sounds other than the fake throttling motor sound are created by the mechanism itself, so when you hear the hiss & clank, that's the hiss and clank of a big engine built to shoot kids into the sky.

_ and shoot them it does. we saw a lot of different reactions, from what we expected: fear, to excitement, and joy, and, quite often, proof of having gone deep into their happy place. this guy's on the couch.

_ we heard all sorts of stories. sometimes, due to weather or wind...

_ ...the launching device doesn't provide enough power to send the car right over the top...

_ ...and so, just short of the top, the car starts to roll backwards, towards the start station...

_ the designers knew about this, and installed a magnetic rig that chases the departing car, intending to slow it down it if starts to 'rollback'.

_ but cedar point superfans wait anxiously for their chance to experience a 'rollback', since this means that once it arrives back at the start station, you can either get off...

_ ...or go for another blast up the hump.

_ on other, even more rare occasions...

_ the car will fly up the ascent...

_ ...slow to a crawl...

_ ...and rest right on top. neither falling back nor going forward.

_ but those are rare occurrences. the rest of us have to find pleasure in the temporary joy of achieving an open-air speed & acceleration that would otherwise be impossible.

_ at least not with this level of comfort.

_ where you can scream for 10 seconds...

_ ...and then eat some funnel cake (with a wobbly hand shaking off the sugar).

Tagged as: cedar point, ohio, video

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sailing on lake erie, while hungover, cleveland, ohio

_ pretty much what the title describes, though you, the viewer, are spared the pitching and keeling of a ship on the open seas.

_ our fingers were fat around the ropes: jibs left to flap for a minute too long.

_ though no man is an island, you *can* live in a lighthouse, and we all wished we were sitting up there right now.

_ we found the best seat on the ship, way back and thus more stable, and suspended over the waves in case of, um, spillage.

_ but then the sea air swept in, and we felt much better (until dry land, when the sequence repeated itself)

Tagged as: cleveland, ohio, sailing

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rain after a run, 8pm, bellbrook, ohio

Tagged as: 360, bellbrook, ohio, recommended run

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the perseverance of barley, caesar creek, ohio

_ summer's day outside dayton, ohio. a friend of the family asked if we wanted to take the boat out for a while, and we said yes of course.

_ phil was our host and teacher, he was the first one to ski, and made us all feel a bit sorry for ourselves.

_ but he was beyond gracious, and waved off our compliments as he clambered back in the boat.

_ jack barley was next in, he wanted to try and slalom ski.

_ the strategy we recommended was for him to come up on two, and slip his foot out of one ski. unfortunately the shift in weight & position was a bit of a difficulty...

_ ...and thus started the falling. ALL SEQUENCES IN THIS POST ARE AVAILABLE FULL-SIZE: CLICK TO VIEW.

_ falling so often takes its toll, and it's really tiring. sometimes he just took a bath.

_ for a short while he tried to get up on one ski...

_ but that didn't work, so he went back to his comfort zone of up-on-two.

_ the he got cocky, pointing out drop points like babe ruth. but karma, our brutal friend, had its way.

_ sometimes the fall wasn't so much a flop, as a dig-straight-down, like a shovel into snow.

_ from the safety of the boat, we kept on shouting at him to 'fall like a man'

_ and, on occasion...

_ ...he obliged us.

_ he fell in so many ways that we had to come up with new descriptions.

_ like a dog to a puddle...

_ like sliding to third...

_ as if he was passing the baton at the end of a relay stage...

_ like saturday 4am, with jaeger in hand...

_or just too quick for the camera.

_ by ending on this picture, we're going to imply that he finally got it, ok?

Tagged as: caesar creek, ohio

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manbarn, bellbrook, ohio

_ on the way back from the air show, we stopped in with palmer to check out his den. it's in his backyard, by his garage, and has no bathroom. 'that way you ensure it stays a man-only place'. to prove him right we all watered his plants.

_ palmer, outside, demonstrating manliness: one smiles, the other goes stoic.

_ inside, we found all kinds of mancave paraphernalia.

_ the place is best in the winter, apparently, and a massive wood-burning stove keeps things toasty, even with inches of snow on the ground.

_ it's a spot for kicking back and not worrying too much, that's for sure.

_ but despite the illusion of relaxation and let-things-be, there were signs of a curator's eye. CLICK TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE.

_ and self-explanatory messages for the natural-iced operating work-arounds.

_ these are the master seats, in a straight viewing line of the television, and close to the fridge.

_ the garden outside was perfectly mowed and showed the hallmarks of a distinctly feminine sensibility. here, the man cave ended.

_ well, sort of. this is the 'titty tree', as you can probably tell. it's out by the firepit.

_ palmer has the best firepit in town, apparently, and here's the pile of fuel to prove it.

_ there are benches enough for a good sized party, that's for sure. ah, alright, we'll come back in the fall, if you insist.

Tagged as: 360, bellbrook, manbarn, ohio

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cornhole & an accident, bellbrook, ohio

_ end of the day, in bellbrook, ohio.

_ a suburb of dayton, ohio. we invited a bunch of people over and did what people do on fridays in the summer.

_ burgers on the grill, some beers...

_ and as the sun went down, we stepped out into the yard, put our cans down in the tall grass...

_ and held a cornhole tournament.

_ a midwestern/cincinnati tradition, cornhole is a lawn-game played either with singles or doubles teams. you can see the bag right there, flying through the air.

_ little equipment is needed, jut two regulation platforms (usually home-made) set ten meters apart, and four cotton duck bags each filled with corn feed.

_ each player stands opposite each other, beside the opposing player's platform, and throws their four bags. scoring is 1 points for a bag on the platform, 3 in the hole. there are no points for bounce-ons.

_ the game is won by being the first team to score 21. when you play doubles, only the team that won the round receives any points, and scored shots by the losing team are subtracted from the total. so, if in a single round Team A scored one bag on the platform, and two in the hole (1 + 3 + 3 = 7), and Team B scored only one in the hole (3), Team A will win the round and receive 4 points (7-3).

_ in doubles, team members stand opposite each other, and so beside a member of the other team. this leads to a lot of trash talking...

_ during our tournament there were a number of tense moments. here, the kids take on the locals. the score stands at 19- 19, all even. either team needs to win by two points on this round to take their score to 21.

_ he takes a shot. it lands on the platform... one point holding...

_ on an ohio summer night, the mosquitoes are brutal, but you just slap them away and continue. tomorrow you'll deal with the itch.

_ the locals take a swing... one on the platform, the teams end the round even, and the points cancel each other out. no change in the score: 19 - 19.

_ the trick in cornhole is to control trajectory. too low an angle and the bag will spin off, too high and it won't slide up and into the hole.

_ the bags switch sides and the two teams take turns again.

_ the kids launch one, the trajectory's good... it lands on the platform. kids are holding one point...

_ the locals have four chances... the first one goes too far. the kids take another shot, it hits the top corner and spins away into the grass. kids up by one. the locals go again, and it lands square on the platform. each team holds one point. if nobody scores again, the round will end in no change...

_ the kids try one, it misses, and the locals fail too. a disappointment, and now, at a total score 19-19 with one shot to go, it's pretty tight. one in the hole will win the game...

_ ...provided, of course, that the other team doesn't do the same thing...

_ ignoring the pressure, the kid steps up, and swings one slow and even...

_ and bang! straight in the hole! kids are up on 21... the locals have one more chance to break even...

_ but they fluff it... one on the platform. it almost pushes their first shot into the hole, but... if they had knocked just one of those in, it would have kept the gaming going for another round...

_ but that's cornhole! kids take three points for the round, and win 21-19.

_ as the game finished, we heard the distinct sound of an atv revving hard through the trees.

_ thirty feet away, lights burst up the slope and across the yard. there'd been an accident down in the river.

_ we jumped on, and sped down.

_ even before we got to the water's edge, we could see that there'd been a problem.

_ one atv had plunged off the bank into the water. the other had slid off just behind. (later we would find out that this second one had been ridden by the injured's friend - passing the site, and seeing his friend in danger, he'd jumped right off the bike without putting on the parking brake, and in the mud and excitement, it had slid into the water too)

_ we jumped in to assess the situation. one man was lying in the water.

_ he'd been trapped under his atv, and when his buddy had arrived on the scene, he had seen only one foot breaking the surface. jumping in, he pulled him from under the bike.

_ the injured was obviously in shock. we needed to get him out of the water, and up to the road.

_ as someone called 911, we tried to stand him up.

_ another atv stood at the ready, shedding light.

_ it was tough going... he never screamed out in pain, but, conversely, complained about numbness...

_ we finally got him to the bank and lay him down. he was talking calmly and lucidly as we moved the atv into position.

_once we received confirmation that the ambulance had been sent, we propped him up on the bike, and sped as smoothly as possible up the slope to the road...

_and followed, the lights of the ambulance gleaming over the hill. (update: he's fine, a broken bone (or two), and a couple days in the hospital)

Tagged as: accident, bellbrook, cornhole, ohio

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dayton air show, dayton, ohio

_ our real port-of-call in ohio was the dayton air show. the area will be forever linked with the development of manned flight (the wright brothers are from dayton), the show is bigger than most...