Put In Bay Vacation: On the Ferry

The ride over to the South Bass Island is one of my favorite parts of the trip. I never grow tired of riding the ferry. Makes me think that I could really enjoy learning to sail. Or even taking an extended vacation in a house boat. Traveling down the Mississippi from the head waters in Itasca to the Gulf would be a fascinating journey of culture, history, and nature...

I know these birds are basically the rats of the air, but I love the sights and sounds of sea gulls. Perhaps I'd grow tired of them if I were around them all the time...much like I did Canadian Geese in MN (at least Geese don't poop on your head). The cool thing is the way they would follow the ferry if someone had some bread. Dive for it right out of the air. they would do this all day long - back and forth across the lake following the ferry for food.

Ethan and Noah really enjoyed throwing them some bread, even though they couldn't really get it out and high enough. Most of it landed in the water...

The scenery of the lake and the islands and the mainland is beautiful. You see the islands from a perspective you can't when you are on them - the cliffs, the homes built right on the edges, the beaches, and of course, the expanse of Lake Erie...

And if the weather is clear enough, you can usually see the other ferry heading in the opposite direction...

The view on the ferry is also entertaining. Every thing that has to get to the islands must get there by ferry. Tourists with their cars, delivery trucks, semi's, construction vehicles...

...even the garbage trucks. This is the largest thing I've ever been on a ferry with. When it drove on, the entire ship sank down several feet! Mom and Dad both said they've been on with semi's before - including trailers.

Here is Grandma and Grandpa waving to all of us up on the deck. They like to stay below to feel the spray of the lake.

The boys reactions were priceless. Everything I'd hoped for. There was no disguising their thrill and excitement. I believe they could have spent an entire day going back and forth on the ferry.

This is the dock on the mainland... the last thing you see on your way to Put In Bay, the first thing you see upon returning to the mainland.

This was always one of my favorite vacations as a child. I'm glad to say it held much the same feelings for me this time around as well. But the best part was sharing it with my boys. This place is partially responsible for my natural wonder as I fell in love with Biology here...and fishing. It is partially responsible for my historical curiosity as I soaked in information about Perry's Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. It inspired numerous school projects, I learned to ride a 2 wheeler, spent my first summer "sun worshipping" (and learned quickly that my skin tone was not the sun worshipping type...never tried that again - at least not on purpose), along with that, turned my hair green from chlorine plus peroxide (the stupid things we do as teens to try to get the attention of boys...), learned to skip rocks, and made more memories than I can even start to list with family and friends here. Erma's cookies, Grandpa and the other men cleaning the fish (and me playing with they eyeballs), Jimmy Winkler and I climbing trees and picking mulberries until we were sick, campfire stories, collecting rocks and "lucky stones" from the Sheephead's, catching walleye and bass, riding our bikes to Dairy Queen for a Dilly Bar, shopping, the practical jokes played on one another, my brother Brandon having to be flown off the island for an injury, getting to drive Poppie's boat, the storms that could blow up in almost an instant...the list goes on. And of course, bringing back enough fish to last until next year.

It was kind of weird to spend several days on the island and not go fishing. Maybe next time! Don't forget to pack the Hot n' Tots!!!!