Wednesday was the Grand Trip to Toledo- a city that, outside of zoos, Ft Wayne could learn a lot from. We started with a stop at the Botanical gardens.
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| "No, we STARTED by abandoning ME for the day. HMPH!" |
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| This was the first time thru the "turbine zone" that not a one of them were moving. Not. A. One. The trip back they were making a full rotation about every minute and a quarter. |
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| Welcome to da Botanical Gawdens, just off of Elmuh Street. |
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| I thought maybe Francis of Assisi from a distance. Actually, "The Lady With The Birds." |
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| They had a yuge Herb garden... |
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| Love that inscription |
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| This slab had a whole lot of rocks with words on them. You were supposed to make art shaped sentences with them. Kind of a cool kids thing. In Ft Wayne, the stones would prolly all be through someone's window. |
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| A 3D style metal scene at the end of Sycamore Allee` |
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| They had a creek that wound its way around a small lake. |
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| Dude taking a pic of a big fish |
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| I just got wee little ones. |
From there, it was off to the day's true goal...
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| There! There it is! |
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| My Hot dog and "add another for $1.99", Laurie got the Paprika Chicken. And for a change we got to sit under the M*A*S*H cast picture |
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| This was new, I believe |
And after acquiring shirts for the occasion, it was off to...
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| ...the beach! |
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| Laurie got a good shot of a whale. |
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| A red-tail hawk patrols the area |
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| Water was a lot worse this year- lots of floating algae |
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| This was my buddy. We sat and talked for quite a while. |
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| Then Laurie decided to feed the seagulls some Tony Packos Carmel Corn. Her entourage went from 2 to 2 dozen in about 15 seconds. |
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| "Hey! Ya missed me, girlie!" |
Next a stop at the nature center, where we found not feasting deer but...
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| Mr Fatty here. |
This was one long walk, but a beautiful day for it (compared to the 95+ degree day we visited last year). In fact, instead of last years' spaghetti-superhighway induced orbit around Toledo's anus, we had no trouble finding anything- with the minor exception of a construction caused side trip through the U of Toledo campus, which was okay because it netted us a journey part-way around the famous Glass Bowl, home of the Rockets. The combination of not listening to Google Maps the first time and buying a brand new Rand McNally that was much better than its 2009 predecessor worked like a charm. And all crammed into one 10-hour trip! I had plenty of time to throw in a power nap, open a cold one with my brand new Batarang bottle opener from the Hall Of Heroes, and even get Boofus his treats before writing this up.
Tomorrow- Who knows? The major stuff is off the list, but close-in stuff is still available.
Chris:
ReplyDelete---Aw, poor Scrappy. (great picture of him, btw)
---Wind turbines NOT moving? what a frigging waste!
---That herb garden puts ours to shame!
---Nice sundial...and you never have to WIND them at all!
---You got that right w/ the stones.
---That botanical garden is pretty dang AWESOME!
(love that cell door in the wall thing)
---Tony Packos... a very nice homage to M.A.SH.
---Yes...the beach. Nice to not see waves like the ocean. Must be a lot quieter.
Algae blooms? Didn't seem hot enough for those.
---Seagulls...the pigeons of the shoreline.
All you have to do is feed ONBE...just one, and in no time...you've got a FLOCK.
---That nature center looked cool, too. That boardwalk makes getting around much easier, it would seem.
---Ten hour trip (total), a nap AND a batarang bottle opener for a cold one.
Sometimes, life can't get much better...can it?
A very enjoyable travelogue.
Thanks for sharing.
Stay safe (and content) up there, brother.
Usually at least a few are moving. There are dozens, and none were moving on the way up, and you had to look close to see 'em move on the way back.
DeleteI don't think the blooms have as much to do with the heat as pollution level. The water I did get into, though, was bathwater.
I thought about getting you a bottle opener too, but with the shirt and my OTHER little surprise, you'll be well taken care of.
That metal sculpture was awesome. We have a turbine "farm" by us and rarely are they moving when I drive by.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your week!
Elsie