From Detroit to Marion, OH

Today was a busy day again.

I shot out of bed with a charley horse about 15 minutes before I was ready to get up. There was no need to go back to bed. I wandered into the kitchen and found coffee and joined the boys and Mark while Aiden and Luke were finishing oatmeal with raisins. That was fun. I had coffee. After we took some wrap-up pictures, the boys were off to school and Mark and Courtney were off to Minnesota. Earla and I had toast with peanut butter and apples for breakfast, packed the car and we were on the road by 9:45. Mark and Courtney had left us sandwich fixings, so we had provisions. We wound our way to I75 and were on our way south through Detroit. Somewhere along the line, we got a little confused and found ourselves on highway 10. Luckily, we found it on the map and were reassured that we would get back to I75. We took that through Michigan and into Ohio where we picked up highway 2 because it looked like we would travel near Lake Erie. We didn't see Lake Erie, but we did see a lot of farms, trees, cows, etc.... all the things we've been looking for. We stopped for gas, Ghordetto's, and no bananas. We stopped again, just so we could get bananas hoping that that would help the leg cramps. We took highway 2 over the bridge over Sandusky Bay, and picked up highway 4 into Marion.

We got to Marion about 2:30 and found our way to Maria, Cameron, Owen and Ruby's house. Maria is a close friend of Earla's daughter, Lara as well as Earla. Maria's mother is a mutual friend of mine and Earla's. We were greeted with great joy and hugs. This is so wonderful. Owen is 6 and Ruby is 18 months. They are so much fun.

We unloaded the car, got caught up a little and headed out the door once more. Maria, Earla and I stopped at a wonderful little shop in downtown Marion. It featured a variety of teas, coffees, knickknacks, soaps, tea pots, etc.. On the way we noticed the incredible fall colors. Even though some of the trees are losing some leaves, the colors are amazing and so varied.

From this shop, we went to the drive through liquor store, open even on Sundays. Even though it is a drive through, we could go in and did. After I broke a bottle of wine, I found the one I wanted very quickly, paid for both and found my way out of the store.

After the liquor store, we wanted to pick pears at a place Maria had heard about. She had the address, so she programmed it into the GPS... WELL, that was a bust, so we stopped to ask directions. That lead us closer, but there was still some confusion, so Maria called someone who knew the exact location. We discovered that the primary problem with finding the pear trees was that the street name was missing. We did find the spot which is some one's home, which not only has pear trees that are loaded, but a very cute little house. Maria and Earla picked pears and I took pictures. It was quite successful.

From there, we came back to the house. Maria fixed dinner while Earla and I continued our Scrabble tournament. We stopped in the middle of the second game for pheasant pot pies (incredible!!!), a very nice mixed green salad, and a little wine. After dinner we finished that game. During the third game, we were treated to hot home made apple pie and ice cream. It was indescribable. We finished three games --- two of which Earla won - one was truly mortifying for me.

Two of the best things about being here are that Owen is willing to share his toys and conversation and Ruby is a hugger.

More tomorrow from Marion, OH.