This past week we have been parked in Oak Harbor, Ohio, near the shores of Lake Erie. Our friend Aaron joined us for the week and he and I did a lot of birding and baseball. Josie was sort of left out of the action this week but she was thrilled to do girly things. 

Oak Harbor is near a very famous birding location, Magee Marsh. Hundreds of thousands of birds migrate through here every year, particularly the colorful warblers. Aaron and I were here 12 years ago and it was just as birdy now as it was then. 

We birded everyday and were able to squeeze in two baseball games. One at the Toledo Mud Hens and another at the Cleveland Indians. One evening we all went into Toledo to eat at Tony Packo's, a restaurant made famous by Toledo born Jamie Farr, who played Clinger on the sitcom MASH. 

We drove to Cleveland on Aarons final day and birded right on the Lake Erie waterfront with the sky line of the city to our West. We then attended the Twins, Indian's game, before Aaron caught a flight back to Virginia. 

I am posting a few bird pictures from the week on Facebook at the address below. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=terry.jenkins2&set=a.10224109211945535

Tomorrow we head to Michigan 

Our first stop in Ohio was at the Eldora Speedway near the town of Rossburg, Ohio. Eldora is a well known racetrack among racing fans for its fast track and great racing. The track is now owned by Tony Stewart, the ex-NASCAR driver. My brother and I had wanted to meet here for a race sometime but with his passing last year it was not meant to be. The first night's race was rained out so they held the whole two days of racing on Saturday. The track lived up to its reputation and the racing was fast and furious. 

Our second stop in Ohio was in Springfield to check out the three huge antique and collectable malls in the area. Josie did find one bowl for her collection. From Springfield we drove east to the Ohio River and the town of East Liverpool, Ohio. East Liverpool bills itself as the Pottery Capital of the World, due to the fact that at one time there were over 300 pottery factories in the area. The Hall  factory that made the pottery that Josie collects was one of the them. It was just shut down this year by the company that bought is a few years ago, Homer Laughlin. Homer Laughlin is the only pottery left in the area and they have lasted this long due to their very popular Fiesta Ware. We did stop in and check out their factory store later in the day. 

We visited the Museum of Ceramics in downtown East Liverpool and saw many of the fine pieces of pottery that have come from some of those 300 potteries. Josie then hit the jackpot at the local antiques and collectable mall, where she found 11 pieces of her pattern. She celebrated with a chocolate martini at dinner that evening. 

During our stay in the Ohio Valley we were actually staying in Chester, West Virginia, just across the river from East Liverpool. Chester lays its claim to fame as having the world's largest teapot. Our camp site was right on the river and we enjoyed watching the tugs pushing the various barges up and down the river.

​​Tomorrow we drive north to the shores of Lake Erie. 

We had tickets for the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Oaks that was canceled, and we had not planned to go this year. Three weeks before the race we received and email from Churchill Downs that offered us the opportunity to buy tickets for this year so we decided to go. We think it was a great decision as there were only 52,000 people there this year instead of the 150,000 that normally attend. We had plenty of room and were not crowded and since our tickets were all inclusive with food and beverage the lines were very short. We went all out and dressed for the races and Josie found a great hat at an antique store for the occasion. The weather was great both days and we had a fantastic time while checking off a bucket list event. 

We stayed at the Campground at My Old Kentucky Home State Park. We took a very informative tour of the home that is said to have been the inspiration for the Stephen Foster song "My Old Kentucky Home." The lady who gave us the tour even sang it for us during the tour. 

The nearby town, of Bardstown, is the County seat for Bourbon County and calls itself the Bourbon Capital. We had dinner one evening at the historic Old Talbott Tavern. We both ordered a Hot Brown, which was first served at the Brown Hotel in Louisville and is now considered a derby week tradition. On another evening we tried out a new brewery in town that had very good beer and food. 

We drove over to the Capital of Frankfort one day, just so we could pick up a few pounds of Rebecca Ruth Bourbon Balls. We discovered them over 20 years ago and always have to stop in and pick some up. 

All of the bourbon distillery tours are on hold due to covid but there are still opportunities to attend tastings by appointment only. So, I visited two of the distilleries on the Bourbon Trail that I had not been to before. Woodford Reserve and Heaven Hill. The rackhouses of Heaven Hill are right next to the Old Kentucky Home golf course, which I played one day. The park is very nice and Josie took advantage of the roads and trails to get in a walk each day. 

We are now in Ohio for a few weeks before going to Michigan.