Put-in-Bay Day Trip

We had a couple of tentative plans for how we wanted to spend my birthday weekend, but the weather was not in our favor. We were looking at hot, humid, and thunderstorms in one location and rather chilly and thunderstorms in the other. When life gives you rain, explore other plans... We spent a considerable amount of time on Google Maps and Weather.com trying to find an acceptable alternative location; ultimately, we just decided on a day trip to Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. Birthday drink from Starbucks and birthday pastry from Panera Bread in hand, we set out on the several hour trip Saturday morning.

You can check out our vlog of the trip here:

We arrived around lunchtime, so our first stop was Rudder's Cafe in Port Clinton.  We shared a Mega Veggie Wrap with broccoli, edamame, carrots, romaine lettuce, sunflower seeds, candied almonds, and chopped apples.  It was a little bland, but that was probably best given that we would shortly be hopping on a ferry [and lord knows I don't have the best luck when it comes to being on the water, {see: Why We Won't be the Wynns}].

Surprise, surprise, there was quite a line waiting to buy tickets to the ferry. Go figure, what with it being Saturday/summer/4th of July weekend.  [Could my birthday fall at a better time?]

Oh, someday we'll be retired and can travel when we want and avoid other people as much as possible. Someday soon would be splendid?

I'm not really a beach person, but I still love being near water. Feeling that lake breeze as we made the 20-minute crossing to Put-in-Bay was invigorating.

Arriving on the island and beginning the >2 mile walk to the Boardwalk...not so invigorating. It was hot and sunny. Everyone else was smart enough to rent a golf cart or take a bus/taxi downtown. Live and learn, eh?

Well, at least we got our exercise on what was otherwise a lazy weekend!

Our long, sweaty walk eventually led to the downtown area of Put-in-Bay, which was chock full of lively bars and restaurants. Definitely seemed like a party island - a great place to celebrate with friends!

After exploring the area, we stopped at The Old Forge Cafe & Creperie for dinner.  I had the specialty cocktail of the day, and we shared the G Monster Crepe (avocado, arugula, goat cheese, almonds, and a balsamic reduction) along with an order of Parmesan Truffle Fries.

We didn't give much consideration to walking back to the dock, so we hailed a taxi ($3 each) and rode back to wait for the next boat.

It was a short trip, but it was nice to explore a new part of the state together.