The Youngstown Crab Company

We are on a short two-day trip to eastern Ohio and stayed at a hotel next to The Youngstown Crab Company, 3917 Belmont Ave. Youngstown, OH. This was a pleasant surprise. The Bucket of Alaskan Crab legs, at $54 seemed a tad expensive so Lynne had the Seafood Platter and I had the Shrimp Gumbo followed by the broiled Haddock. We were suprised that the total bill, including two drinks, came to $54. Great service, but the crowd was light, even for a Monday.

Twin Grove Campground, PA

Super camp site at bargain rates! We backtracked from Pottsville to stay here, and were well rewarded with the experience. Beautiful grounds, large pools with swim lanes and slides. Immaculate plumbing facilities. Given the scarcity of campgrounds as one travels to the northeast, this is a true gem.

Also, a very good restaurant with a wide selection of individually prepared dishes, at very reasonable prices. Do not miss this.  http://www.twingrove.com/

Gaido's Restaurant of Gavelston

After an afternoon on the beach with Lynne, and our showers completed, we looked up a restaurant in the visitor rag. There was one with just a simple listing and no big advertising -- Gaido's Seafood. On the strength of that combination, I figured we should give it a try for an early dinner. We have not been out for dinner since early January -- before departing Columbus.

One of the first things we noticed was that it was huge, occupying what looked like a city block on the waterfront, Also, it was old -- in continuous operation for 99 years. What I immediately liked about the menu was that it featured smaller portions in a complete meal for the a la carte price -- what a concept! What we soon found out was that the "smaller portions" were only marginally reduced. For example, the dinner with eight shrimp was down-sized to five. It seemed like all the other courses were full sized -- at least to our current eating habits.

The second thing you notice about the menu is that they know how to prepare and serve fish. Everything was fresh and hot, served by a dedicated kitchen runner so as no to be sitting around waiting for the waiter. And Wow what they can do with shrimp. Mine were stuffed with pickled jalapeno peppers, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, and stuffing, dusted in seasoned flour, wrapped in bacon and then pan-sauted, and basted in a brown sugar-chipotle glaze. "Amazing" does not do it justice.

The meal was introduced with a loaf of warm, soft bread and oil and herbs,  and a hot gumbo which was also loaded with whole shrimp. On the main dish there was a bed of rice and the fried onion rings I had selected along with slices of summer squash. The piece d'resistance was the desert of brownie and ice cream or crustless pecan pie -- either unbelievably scrumptious.

So, if you are ever looking for a place to eat in a strange city, you now have my fool-proof selection method, or if in Galveston, just head for Gaido's at 3900 Seawall Boulevard.

Cathedral City, California

Today's trip was far shorter than normal: about five miles, most of which was heading west to cross I-10 and then coming back to meet an old school mate from high school and college who now lives in Fairbanks. The drive was highlighted by last night's new snow on the mountains and a crisp clear desert's winter day. The wind farm was an amazing sight, especially how close to the road they were sited. They all seem to rotate in the same direction. I would have thought that alternating the direction of turning would have increased efficiency like in a turbine.

The Alaskan spends February in the Palm Springs' Cathedral City suburb. When we met at an impromptu reunion in September, we said we would try to make the connection again in February, and so we did. We drove to Mimi's Cafe for lunch. Lynne and I both had the $10 two-course lunch which was wonderful. She had the spinach dip appetizer and salmon hibachi. I had the zucchini spears starter and shrimp po' boy wrap which was outstanding -- highly recommended.



Along about three, we said our goodbyes and headed for the closest AAA campground: Outdoor Resorts - Palm Springs. Imagine our surprise when the lady at the desk quoted us a price of $76 per night. She asked if we wanted the list of other RV parks, but I declined -- I had to see what made a campsite so valuable. A few items of note: thick lush grass everywhere you don't drive, everywhere you do drive is paved with concrete or asphalt,  upper-class clientele who invite you to their wine and pizza party as soon as you back in, huge pool and whirlpool, tennis courts which are reserved in advance, no working cable TV, ridiculously early check-out of 11AM, perfectly manicured grounds with lights wrapped around every tree trunk. A very skewed value proposition which undoubtedly works well to keep out the riff-raff -- just sayin'.

Weather Hold

Saturday came -- and went. The freezing cold is penetrating to central Florida. No point in trying to travel in such mess and cold. So we sit tight and run a few errands.



Our traditional first Saturday night of the month is Gallery Hop in the Short North. So we do that in a snow storm and get a few pics. A few more effortless available light grabs with the Canon S90. I am continually impressed by these results. It's hard to believe how hobbled I was with the Pentax Optio Wpi.

We were blocked out of Buca di Beppo -- no matter. Dinner at J. Liu's in Worthington was very good -- having the best Pad Thai in Columbus -- recommended.

Happy New Year

The celebrations are now behind us. We wait now for only the completion of the Rose Bowl. Tomorrow, Saturday we will head South unless the weather is just too stacked against us. I would like to make for Pensacola, but that too has a weather contingency attached to it.



On Christmas day, my brother drove down from Cleveland and we went to our favorite restaurant McCormick & Schmick's. Once again they delivered a magnificent dinner. We went back there a few days ago to get a gift card for some friends, who later suggested that we stop there for dinner after our traditional New Year's Eve movie. That turned out wonderfully. We had a table of 10. I was the only one to order the celebration dinner which came with a flute of champaign. When it came time for the bubbly they served it to all ten of us at the table -- that is really classy.

Holiday Feasts

In the great tradition of the Christmas Holidays, we have been meeting with friends for dinner, conversation and viewing of the lighted decorations. One surprise was how reasonable a shared dinner and desert was at the Cheesecake Factory -- someplace we have to get around to a little more often. Also a really great dinner at McCormick & Schmick's with our wonderful house-tending neighbors.

Put-in-Bay, OH

On Monday, Morty crawled the short distance to Catawba Island for the ferry to Put-in-Bay. I was last there in about 1948 at the age of 4 on a day-trip with my grandmother. Some vivid memories of that trip: an all-day affair from Cleveland and back again; time for just an elevator ride up the tower and walk back to the ship; she packed butterscotch brownies; I was asleep by the time we were back in port.



There are two competing ferries, a longer faster one which would have cost $120; and a shorter slower one which runs more frequently and costs $26 for 2 round trips. This is what competition is all about, I think.

This trip up the tower was our first opportunity to get the Senior Pass from the National Park Service for lifetime free admissions -- pretty good deal.

We had been seeing ads for the best lobster bisque in the state. So we went to the Boardwalk Cafe and tried it out. It was indeed wonderful -- must be the fresh local lobster right out of Lake Erie. We rented a golf cart for the day and covered just about the entire island. Stopped for a dish of Buckeye Delight icecream before the trip back.

When we returned to Morty, his map had one thing to say: the distance to the next campsite is not much different from the distance home. Also, staying in Ohio Parks was getting painful to be reminded that if we had our Golden Buckeye card, the daily fees would be cut 50% from Sundays to Thursday -- something to remember for the next go-list. So that was it for this trip. We are now home for a spell, trying to catch up with the backlog of mail etc.l

East Tawas City

Stayed for another day -- it's just too pretty and comfortable. Had the 99 cent breakfast at Mulligans: two eggs and bacon strips with toast -- wow! Went biking through town and found the forest on the north side. Then found the road out to the point where the Coast Guard and lighthouse are situated. This put the bike miles on this trip well over 100. Got some pretty good pictures with my little camera.

The pavement painters came through in the late afternoon for the campgrounds roads. We got a straight ahead arrow in front of us and a left turn arrow behind us right into our side. Might be time to leave, before someone follows the second arrow literally.



Had dinner at Ginii's again: pork chops and fish and chips -- excellent and very reasonable again. Walking back to the campground, we noticed the gulls all over the beach suddenly get agitated and take off. Then we look up and see a huge blur through the gap in the trees. Then a moment later it comes back and, wow, bald eagle. Got a picture, not a great one but finally something to remember it by.

East Tawas City Park

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 emerged as cloudy, windy and cooler, so as we finished up our 99 miles down Route 23 to Alpena, we decided it was the perfect day to extend another 60 miles to East Tawas. This was right along the shore of Lake Huron, and was a very pleasant drive. The unusual name's history is explained on the city's web page.

Yesterday's neighbor, mentioned this place as "required" stop on Morty's sashay South. Why East Tawas City Park? It's also pretty unusual: very few open sites, even though hardly anyone is around this time of year -- meaning many people pay full freight to keep their choice spots; full hook-ups including free cable TV; right in the heart of the city -- next to restaurants, Wal-Mart, and fast food of all types; right on the Lake Huron beach; great bath houses; lovely shaded sites; low cost; no reservations -- you can keep your site as long as you pay for it. It's as if they were using the city's capital resources, without having to earn a market rate of return -- oh wait, that is the deal here. Great for the happy campers, not so much for the good citizens of East Tawas. Maybe the business that is brought to town is the clincher -- it would be interesting to see the actual numbers. The Wikipedia entry  has no mention of the campground.



Dinner was at Ginii's Family Restaurant, practically next-door. We were tempted by the fresh local fish, but ended up with oriental -- Moo Goo Gai Pan, and Thai Pad shrimp. Both were very good, and extremely reasonably priced. I guess we need a little more courage to go with the local specialties, due to recent experiences. Mulligan's on the main downtown street looks to be the place for a 99 cent breakfast -- also on the list of the former neighbor.

Now were ahead of the daily mileage curve. We're targeting Grosse Isle south of Detroit for a Saturday meet-up with an old friend

Leaving Letchworth

Happy Independence Day, all.

Friday morning, we slept in, moseyed on back to the Glen Iris House restaurant for lunch, watched the staff prepare for another wedding, and then decided, rather that tangle with the holiday weekend campground throng, we would head for home with a stop inDamascus to check in on Lynne's mom -- who is looking marvelous.

We saw more deer on this trip than any other, probably because we went so late into the evening. Sadly, no pictures of this day. Lynne did her share of the driving on a couple of legs. We were amazed to find the price of gas just inside the Ohio border to be 40 cents cheaper that our last NY fill up. We monitored the progress of the corn crop with some amazement -- from six inches or even less in much of New England, to nearly 4 feet tall in lots of Ohio.

So we're home again as of about 10:30 last night. We parked Morty in the driveway, unloaded the refer and a few essentials, and set about catching up with the snail-mail. So it's back to normal for a few more weeks, probably til I head up to Oshkosh to see planes at the end of the month with Morty, and neighbor Bob. Morty need a bath, and a few more enhancements for his next trip.

Thanks to all who provided feedback and your own updates. Keeping in touch was great for us too!