It’s basically never too cold to keep me away from Lake Erie.
Except maybe tomorrow when the temperature is supposed to be a whopping one degree. I think I’ll just stay home and drink coffee, cozied up under a blanket in my office instead.
xoxo
Special thanks to Lake Erie Shores & Islands for sponsoring this post! 
Massie Cliffside fishing dock
If you follow me on instagram, you probably caught wind of the awesome little trip I just got back from (or at least I hope you did!) I promised a massive blog post recap, and that’s what I’m here to give ya today!
I was recently contacted by Lake Erie Shores & Islands about a little campaign they were doing that focused on two things I love very much – Lake Erie & unplugging. Obviously, I was quick to say ‘yes!!’ Armed with a Polaroid camera and a hefty list of places to visit over a three day weekend, we set off to have one incredible trip. Each day we made a conscious effort to pick up our phones as little as possible.
We packed a lot into three days. It’s honestly pretty amazing how many new places and things there were to experience just an hour away from home. A lot of people don’t realize how big Lake Erie is. It can easily be mistaken for an ocean. Travel just over an hour west of Cleveland and you would think you were on the Atlantic coast. There are several islands and coastal towns along the shore, each with plenty of restaurants and attractions. I think the best way to go over everything and share some of our new found favorite places is just to start from the top…
left to right, top row; watching the waves at Put-in-Bay beach, Lake Erie Island Historical Society Resale Shop. Bottom row; Massie Cliffside Preserve, Exploring Put-in-Bay (even the kind of flooded spots) via golf cart.
Friday
Our little adventure started out with a trip to Put-in-Bay. Put-in-Bay is a small (2.5 by 5 mile) island in Lake Erie. I had never been there, nor did I know much about it but I ended up having a blast.
We took Miller Ferry (my first boat ride!) to the island and immediately picked up a golf cart from E’s Golf Carts. Although you can bring your car over on the ferry, it seems like most people opt to explore the island via golf cart. Holy cow, what a blast that was. Wade brought along his portable speakers and we spent most of the day bopping around and waving at other people in golf carts. We ate the most delicious brie, chicken and arugula pizza from Frosty’s, browsed the resale shop, checked out the island’s two cemeteries, and enjoyed mochas from the Chocolate Cafe & Museum.
Highlight of our visit to Put-in-Bay for me though? Dinner at The Boardwalk. Jeff has literally been talking about their lobster bisque since we met. It was incredible! (Also, my first time having lobster!) I ordered the crab and shrimp eggrolls which were so tasty. I would legitimately go back to the island just to eat there again.
We took the last ferry back to the mainland so we could head to our hotel, Country Inn and Suites in Port Clinton, for a good night’s sleep before the next day’s adventure. I was honestly sad to leave. The island isn’t that big but there’s a lot to do and explore! Everyone we encountered was super friendly, including the parents of a pup named Captain Jack in a pirate costume. (Clearly, that was a highlight of our visit too.) Just good island vibes all around!
left to right, top row; Macey the giraffe at The Watering Hole, bumper boats at The Watering Hole. Bottom row; Massie Cliffside fishing dock, sunset at Huron Harbor Lighthouse.
Saturday
We started the morning at Tin Goose Diner which is an authentic 1950’s diner that was trucked in from Pennsylvania. It’s now part of the Liberty Aviation Museum. Typical diner food (aka my favorite!) and judging by how busy the place was I’d say a lot of other folks think it’s pretty tasty too!
After fueling up, we headed to The Watering Hole Safari and Water Park at Monsoon Lagoon. I’ve actually driven past here a few times but had no idea all the fun that was to be had there. Putt putt, go-karts, a water park, bumper boats, and a petting zoo. We were most excited about the zoo because… well, animals. Duh! It was nothing short of amazing. I’m honestly shocked I didn’t cry happy tears. I bottle fed baby goats, held an armadillo, touched hands with a lemur, fed a giraffe, and CUDDLED A BABY SLOTH!!! It was clear that all the employees really loved the animals, and that the animals felt a connection as well.
After that, we checked out the water park section of the park. Happy to report that it was really fun, even for an adult! We stayed just long enough to cool off and test out each of the water slides. (Five of them – all super fun! One that was even a little fast for me.)
We made it out of the park just before the sky started to fall, and had lunch at The Original Margaritaville. I had their shrimp tacos which were out of this world. I highly recommend getting yourself some of those. It continued to rain on and off for a while, and we were all feeling a little drowsy after swimming (swimming always takes it outta ya, eh?) so we stopped for coffee at Gathering Grounds Coffee. Get yourself a sparkling lavender lemonade. Holy cow!
The city of Huron has a super cute little waterfront area. It’s a great area to walk around. Live music right on the water, a bunch of food options, and a super cheery vibe. Our hotel, Comfort Inn River’s Edge, was so close to all the action you could even hear the music from our room!
Dinner on Saturday was at Bar North Bistro. This was the one time we had reservations, and coincidentally we were still full from all the food earlier in the day. I figured we’d just get appetizers until we looked at the menu. We each got a huge meal… and devoured it. Everyone really enjoyed their food but I think we can all agree ‘devils on horseback’ is where it’s at. (That’s dates stuffed with brie and wrapped in bacon. SO GOOD!)
The evening ended with sunset on the Huron pier. We hiked out to the lighthouse and watched as the sky treated us to beautiful colors. It was busy on the pier. Not crowded in a bad way though, the kind of crowd where you can just tell everyone out there is just enjoying life. It was lovely.
left to right, top row; walking out to Huron Harbor Lighthouse. Bottom row; Granny Joe’s Ice Creamatorium, building cairns Sherod Park Beach.
Sunday
Sunday morning we woke up and headed 20 minutes east to Vermilion. Vermilion is somewhere Jeff and I have been before a couple of times just to geocache. Every single time we visit one of us ends up mentioning how nice it’d be to move there. It’s just such a sweet little town. Plus it’s home to Granny Joe’s Ice Creamatorium! A cozy breakfast joint and ice cream parlor housed in what used to be a funeral home. A short walk away Lake Erie awaits! We wandered around Main Street Beach and checked out the beautiful lighthouse before hopping into the car to head to Sherod Park Beach.
From the parking lot, Sherod Park Beach doesn’t look like much but once we got down to the beach I quickly realized this could easily become one of my favorite beaches along Lake Erie. Tons of gorgeous rocks cover the shoreline. I’m not a huge rock hound but I do appreciate pretty rocks and usually, end up finding a few to bring home anytime I visit the beach. I was already carrying a few rocks when I happened to glance down and a marble caught my eye! There wasn’t much beach glass there so I definitely wasn’t expecting to find something as awesome as a glass marble, especially sitting right on the top of the rocks like that. All my time spent on the beach and this was my very first marble! I’m definitely interested in heading back for some more beachcombing… like right now.
A short twenty-minute drive away from Sherod Park was our next adventure, Common Ground Canopy Tours & Zipline. The four of us had never ziplined before but we were all over the moon at a chance to give it a shot. I presumed it would just be like one platform to another and then you’re done but it was SO much more. Seven ziplines, thirteen tree platforms, three ariel bridges, two spiral staircases, and a floating staircase! The course takes about 2.5hrs to complete. We had a blast! Our guides were so nice and felt like old friends by the end of our visit. They even take photos throughout the course so you never have to touch your phone but still have photos. I cannot recommend Common Ground Canopy Tours highly enough!
We had all worked up an appetite by the end of our ziplining excursion. Everyone at Common Ground recommended the same restaurant, The Feve in Oberlin. It was AMAZING. Honestly, the whole weekend was packed with delicious food so it’s hard to pick a favorite meal buuuut my breakfast burger was easily the best breakfast burger I’ve ever had.
Vermilion Lighthouse
Clearly a jam-packed weekend. We ate a ton, saw a ton, and spent tons of quality time together because no one had their phone out. It’s amazing what magic awaits just an hour away from Cleveland and how much of it you’ll experience if you just stop checking your phone every fifteen minutes.
I love our beaches here but visiting all the ones we did over the weekend truly felt like a vacation. I kept thinking “okay, and what time do we need to get to the airport again?” because it felt like we were a lot further away from home than we were. Lake Erie is pretty incredible!
xoxo
Are you guys familiar with cairns? A cairn is literally just a human made pile of rocks. Sometimes they’re used to mark trails, or signify someone has died in a certain spot. In certain areas they’re used as a hunting implement to direct animals toward a game jump. Other times, and in this case, they’re made just because they look really awesome. Basically there are tons of reasons one might build a cairn, and tons of places you might find one!
I remember the first time I saw cairns. I was on a camping trip, and we were kayaking down the river. We rounded a corner and, to the left, the rocky shoreline was covered in these stacks of rocks. There were TONS of them, and some were taller than me. I didn’t know what they were, or why they were there but I instantly loved them. I excitedly took a few photos. It was another year before I saw another one which I shared a photo of here! Four more years passed, and finally last week I spotted another while walking on the beach. It was only three rocks high, so hardly a cairn at all but it inspired me.
Before I knew it I had built a whole bunch of them. Our beaches here in Cleveland aren’t very rocky, at least not the ones I frequent but we do seem to have an abundance of bricks. I used a combination of rocks, bricks, logs, driftwood, styrofoam, and even trash to make mine.
They’re just piles of rocks but I can’t get over how awesome my little creation looked. I built them on a section of the beach that sometimes completely disappears when the tide comes in. I doubt my structures lasted more than a day or two but I hope someone spotted them before they washed back into the water.
Don’t be surprised to see if you see more of these popping up on the blog later this summer. I’m hooked! I’m excited to go back and see what I can do with a little bit more time, and on a day when there are more large pieces of…well, whatever waiting for me! Building things on the beach is easily one of my favorite hobbies.
xoxo
Check out my found on the beach tag for more interesting beach related posts!
Earlier in the week I was sitting at my desk typing away when I happened to look out the window and notice that the steeple on the church behind my house was completely hidden by fog. I was already planning on getting out to take photos but seeing that got me moving a little bit quicker. I raced downtown only to realize that a. I really stink at finding free parking and b. that the skyline was basically invisible in the fog. I put a quarter in a parking meter to get fifteen measly minutes that I squandered looking for the perfect shot.
I got back in my car and headed to Edgewater Park, the place I always go when it’s foggy. The closer I got to the water, the foggier it got. I really don’t know what it is but fog makes everything seem so much more magical. I wandered around the park snapping photos for nearly an hour.
I searched for “fog” here on the blog because I knew I had shared photos last time it was super foggy here and oddly enough the post from last year went live almost one year ago to the day… and the post basically starts the same too. Guess I can count on being out there photographing the fog again this time next year and probably typing the same thing yet again. Hehe!
xoxo
Last week as I was sitting in my office, pecking away at the keyboard I happened to look up and notice it looked kind of weird outside – either there was a huge fire or it was insanely foggy. I live just around a mile, as the crow flies, away from the lake and even though that’s super close I normally don’t see any fog up here. I immediately packed up my camera bag, jumped in the car and headed to the lake. As soon as I got to the first cross street I hit the wall of fog. Just the densest, craziest fog I’ve ever seen. The closer I got to the lake the thicker it was. It was beautiful. I was in heaven. Maybe it’s because we don’t get enough of it up here but I swear it never loses it’s charm for me. Must not for everyone else either because for the first time since the end of summer the park was full of people. Everyone was out photographing the fog.
After leaving the park I drove around Cleveland to see how far the fog reached. I found a few other spots to pull over and jump out for photos but my favorite of the day has to be the one below! Plus I met a cat a few feet away so win/win!
Even if it kind of stresses me out to have to rush around before the fog disappears, I really enjoy the adventure of it. It’s like being a storm chaser – except WAY less dangerous. Okay, it’s nothing like a storm chaser but it does involve weather and a camera so that’s fun. Fingers crossed there are lots more foggy days for me to run around like a nut trying to photograph.
xoxo
You can find photos from the last time I photographed fog at the lake here.
I really love Cleveland. I think we’re a totally underrated city, and I want to do my best to help spread the word that this should be a place you visit at least once. Last month I shared some of my favorite spots in Cleveland, and before that, I spilled the beans on my favorite beachcombing spots in the city. Now, I’m back to talk about my favorite cemeteries.
One of the very first things I do after choosing a location to take a trip to is search for their best cemeteries. I wanna check out all the coolest headstones, and wander the oldest graveyards. Trouble is, without putting in a ton of research, it’s not that easy. Unless a city has a wildly popular memorial or is known for their cemeteries (hey there, Salem!) most people don’t necessarily go around posting lots of photos or information.
Buuut this is The Dainty Squid, and it’s October so here we go!
▴ Lake View Cemetery
12316 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH
Cleveland’s most popular cemetery! The kind of place that even if visiting cemeteries in each city you visit isn’t something you regularly do, you might come here. 285 beautiful acres, many famous interments including a former president, tons of beautiful headstones, and even a few geocaches. It’s a wonderful place to spend an afternoon – although it would take you a whole heck of a lot longer if you wanted to see everything. Every single time I go I find something new!
Must see memorial – The Haserot Angel, of course! A bronze sculpture of the ‘Angel of Death Victorious’ who appears to be weeping black tears. Lake View is pretty large and he’s easy to miss but the good news is you can simply use your GPS. The ‘maps’ app has The Haserot Angel listed as a landmark. Using the directions will only get you to the cemetery, not the memorial. Once inside you can use the location pinned as The Haserot Angel and yours to work your way closer.
Another favorite of mine is the weeping woman a few photos below. She’s life-sized and honestly, one of the most haunting statues I have ever seen. I am not superstitious nor do I think cemeteries are creepy but I’ll tell you what, I don’t like turning my back on her. My photo doesn’t do her extremely detailed and realistic face justice.
▴ Monroe Street Cemetery
Monroe Street Cemetery is a historic cemetery on the West side of Cleveland, until the late 1890’s it was actually the only public cemetery on the West side. It is said that burials began in 1818 but the earliest headstone that can be found is 1827. There are currently over 31k people buried on the 13.63 acres, over 500 of which were soldiers. During the civil war, soldiers who died at Army camps near Cleveland were often buried here. There are also two mayors, as well as many notable folks who helped build Cleveland and Ohio City buried here. My favorite fun fact about the cemetery though? It was fenced during the 19th century to keep out wandering hogs.
Must see memorial – This isn’t one specific memorial but since the moment I spotted them I’ve been enamored with the headstones that line the fence closest to the junkyard. When you enter the cemetery they’ll be to your far right approximately half way down the fence. They’re old and often, the greenery around them keeps them mostly hidden. The rest of the cemetery feels so open and inviting but this line of headstones feels so tucked away and secretive.
▴ Riverside Cemetery
Riverside Cemetery is 102.5 hilly, green, tree-covered acres. Riverside was the first major-sized, non-sectarian, garden-type Cemetery established west of the Cuyahoga River. The cemetery is just over 140 years old and offers a wide variety of memorials. Just like Lake View, on each visit I find something new and interesting.
Must see memorial – One of my favorite headstones in Riverside is Thomas Baran’s. It’s an interesting collage of seemingly random items. Easily one of the most unique headstones I have ever seen! Multiple portraits of Jesus, book covers, telescopes, planets, and so much more can be found on the headstone. I have a few more photos of it located in this post. If you’re entering the cemetery off of Pearl Road, stay to your left and about 3/4 of the way to the back of the cemetery, it’ll be on your right side.
Two notable mentions –
▴ Erie Street Cemetery is the city’s oldest existing cemetery. It’s fairly small but definitely worth a peek if you’re out wandering around the city. Although they aren’t all marked, there are nearly 18,000 interments!
▴ Not in Cleveland but worth a stop if you’re traveling through or up for an afternoon drive, Willoughby Village Cemetery is home to ‘the girl in blue’. One of my absolute favorite headstones. Read more about her here.
I’d love to hear about your favorite cemeteries in your city!
xoxo
I’ve spent a few days over these last few weeks hanging out at Lake View Cemetery. Lake View Cemetery is what I would consider Cleveland’s best known cemetery, occasionally referred to as “Cleveland’s outdoor museum.” It occupies 285 acres and more than 107,000 people have been laid to rest there, including President Garfield.
In 2013, before living in Cleveland was ever even a spark of an idea in my mind, I drove up to photograph the cemetery. I was enamored! I wished so badly it was closer to home. Now I’m a mere fifteen minutes away… and never really spend anytime there. Then I saw that there were more than a handful of geocaches located in the cemetery. That was just the motivation I needed to get out and do some more exploring!
After two days of wandering around the grounds I still haven’t gotten all of the caches and definitely haven’t seen all of the cemetery. I’ve been parking my car in a random section then just walking from cache to cache (gotta get them steps on my Fitbit!) which is fairly exhausting. Lake View is very hilly, and the caches aren’t exactly close to each other. All that walking has given me lots of time to check out headstones. There are tons of incredibly interesting things to see here but I just kept noticing the statues of women. Some angels, some represent deceased, and others are mourning lovers. The detail is just mind blowing. I can’t even imagine how much work it took to carve these or how much money it cost.
Although the post is titled “Ladies of Lake View Cemetery” I had to add these two. Above is the Haserot angel, or sometimes also called “The Angel of Death Victorious.” He holds an upside-down torch to symbolize a life extinguished. Due to weathering he has tear stains running down his cheeks. It’s one of the cemeteries most notable monuments. Not far from the Haserot angel I found the dude below who, in my opinion, is just as creepy! He also looks like he’s crying and I swear those eyes followed me everywhere I moved. The Haserot angel seems like he’s slightly less than life size… or maybe he’s just smaller than me but the guy below was life sized and it felt like he could just walk over to me when I wasn’t expecting it. I’m not one to be frightened by cemeteries, headstones, or anything like that but I was definitely happy to get my shot and get outta view of him.
I’m sure I’ll be back at Lake View again sometime soon to find the rest of the caches and take more photos. It was fun to choose a theme to photograph since it’s easy to be overwhelmed with what to shoot in there because of the size. Until next time, Lake View…
xoxo
Special thanks to the Lift Bridge Community Association + Ohio. Find It Here. for inviting us out & sponsoring this post!
Recently Jeff and I were invited to explore the historic Ashtabula Harbor area. I couldn’t hop on the opportunity quickly enough! We’ve been in full-on house renovation mode for nearly a year now so a mini-vacation was definitely in order. One night and two full days was barely enough time here. We squeezed so much in! Here’s a little peek at our trip –
Where we stayed…
We spent the night in the cutest Air BnB! It was a charming 1930s home filled with the coolest decor. Seriously, look at that table made from an old sign! It had a fire pit and the garage had been converted into a summer room. It’d be the perfect spot to rent with a couple of pals. They’re even pet-friendly.
Best of all, it’s within walking distance of not only Bridge Street, the main strip of Ashtabula Harbor, but Lake Erie!
What we did…
Eerie Harbor Ghost Walk! As a lover of all things spooky, this was surprisingly my very first ghost tour! The tour was heavy on the history side of things, as opposed to pushing ghost stories which I really enjoyed. It was neat to learn more about the area with some spooky lore mixed in! Our tour guide was energetic and enthusiastic.
We rented kayaks from Harbor Yak which I cannot recommend highly enough. I love kayaking to begin with but being out on the lake as opposed to in a river is such a rad experience.
Before sending us out into the water they gave us a little rundown of the different things we could head to while out on the water. There is a massive ship docked in the harbor waiting to be scrapped so that was my obvious choice of which way to head. We also made our way out to a sandbar where someone had made a cool little structure out of driftwood.
If kayaks aren’t your jam, Harbor Yak rents hydro-bikes, paddleboards, and canoes as well. You can, of course, go out on your own but they also offer a sunset tour as well as a few other group activities.
Besides having some absolutely top-notch restaurants, the Harbor is also home to many cute shops along Bridge Street. From curated vintage finds to handmade chocolates and of course, locally made art – there is absolutely something for everyone to enjoy. I recommend walking the length of each side of the street in its entirety and popping into each. There are so many neat things to discover.
Pictured below – Farmhouse Vintage + truffles from Marianne’s Chocolates.
Ashtabula County is home to many wineries. Needless to say, a wine tour was a necessity. We visited Laurello Vineyards, M Cellars Winery, and Kosicek Vineyards. I’m going to be completely honest here, I didn’t start drinking wine until maybe a year ago and my taste was quite cheap. What’s up $5 bottles from Target! Visiting wineries 100% changed my tastes. I didn’t realize what I was missing, truly! I had an incredible time learning more about how wine is made, all the science that goes into it, and obviously tasting was fun.
Perhaps best of all, we were chauffeured from winery to winery by Richmond Limo. Y’all, I have never even been in a limo before this. I had SO much fun! Our driver, also named Jeff, was so nice and funny. If you’re looking to safely do some winery hopping without having to choose a friend to be your DD, this is absolutely the way to go. I honestly can’t wait for another excuse to get a limo.
For more info on local wineries, be sure to check out NeoWineries!
Five minutes away from our Air BnB is Walnut Beach. We went early in the morning and nearly had the whole place to ourselves. The shoreline, covered in small pebbles, is prime for beach glass hunting. If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, I hope my love of Lake Erie has been apparent! It’s just so underrated.
What we ate…
Where do I start with food? I seriously ate some of the best food of my life over these two days.
Bascule. Shown above. We were able to try a sample platter of their appetizers which actually worked out perfectly because I don’t know how else I would have been able to choose from their menu. Wasabi shrimp? Confit duck wings? Drunken dates? Gosh, yes, please!! My favorite ended up actually being their roasted cauliflower which are made with a house-made curry powder, eggless aioli, lemon, and EVOO. So tasty! Make sure to save room for dessert too! That’s not even a posed photo of me above – that is literally just a gal STOKED about her chocolate pot de creme.
Briquettes Smokehouse. Shown above. This was the perfect spot to grab lunch after kayaking all morning. They have a beautiful patio but we opted to sit inside to hide from the sun for a bit. Their upstairs seating area has a great view of the river!
Jeff had a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw on the side. (All their meats are smoked in-house!) I filled up on their buffalo chicken dip. It was delicious! I will absolutely be craving it.
Rennick Meat Market. Shown above. Rennick was actually our last meal of the trip. Nearly everyone we talked to at different spots around the Harbor listed Rennick as their number one spot to eat. I was definitely looking forward to it, and I had very high hopes… which were completely blown out of the water.
This truly may have been the best meal of my life. Each item we ordered was, without a doubt, the best version of that thing that I’ve had. If (no, when) you visit, definitely make sure to order the caramelized onion dip and the fried brussels sprouts. Also worth noting – our leftovers reheated beautifully. I don’t think that I’ve ever been so pumped to eat leftovers.
We also grabbed coffee at Harbor Perk and a decadent cupcake from Little Charlie’s Bake Shop! I’ve, sadly, reached the age where sometimes things are too sweet so normally giant cupcakes like this aren’t something I’d go for. Jeff is a peanut butter addict though so we had to try their peanut butter cup cupcakes. Y’all, I did not want to share. It was perfect. The frosting isn’t overly sweet so I could have easily finished one on my own (and probably wanted another!)
Ashtabula Harbor is a hidden gem! It may not show up at the top of lists of places along the lakeshore you must visit yet but it’s truly only a matter of time. They have everything – beaches, history, culture, incredible food and lots of wonderful shops!
For years and years, I’ve been picking up trash on the beach and collecting interesting pieces. I never meant to start a trash collection but there was just something about all the colorful pieces I couldn’t resist. Any trash trash like wrappers, balloons, plastic bags, etc goes into a garbage can. Toy soldiers, hair clips, and fake food? That sort of stuff comes home with me.
I’d always knew I’d like to do something with it but just never really felt very motivated to do so. I have a large tote bag jam-packed full of goodies that has moved with me from apartment to apartment. When we bought our house, I briefly considered tossing it all before moving but just could bear to part with my potential art supplies.
I’ve been working hard on renovating the house since the day we moved in. Literally, the first day in the house we started kitchen demo! Over the past eight months, my focus has been more on renovations as opposed to actually decorating but recently, I’ve been bitten by the decorating bug. I’ve become super motivated to finally hang things on the walls. We had too much stuff to hang on the walls of our apartment but the house is so much larger that we are in serious need of some new art.
The main focus on the walls in my office is two large prints from my favorite graffiti artist. See a peek here. The color scheme is a little bit different than what I’m normally drawn to for things I’d decorate my own space with so needless to say, I didn’t really own anything else that fit with them. I’ve been hunting down art with similar colors but kept coming up short on something large… so I made something of my own!
I could not be happier with how this turned out. The colors work perfectly with the rest of the art in my office and it’s so nice to see some of my trash actually get used. The only downside here is that shadow boxes aren’t cheap and now I’m obsessed with the idea of making more.
CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!
If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.
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