From Little Fish to the Big House

After Christmas, we headed back to Ohio to spend some time with Oma and Papa. 

We got in a lovely walk around the Ohio University campus. It was so quiet there were a bunch of deer grazing in between buildings, not a student to be found.

Of course, we had to hit up Little Fish brewery, since our #1 brewery fan was with us! Tasty food and drinks; glad they are still in business! (H and I came in 2023.) They were good enough that it warranted a shirt to add to the collection. Lisa was trying to hide from the photographer, but we got her!

The weather was pleasant enough that the tetherball was calling our name.

We were enjoying wearing jackets and hoodies enough that we took another spin around the neighborhood. Owen played Tarzan. It was mild, but a cold front blew in on our last day that dropped the temps by about 30 degrees with fierce winds and snow flurries.

I had a crazy notion to drive up to Michigan to get our 40th state on the map, so we drove a few hours to check out Ann Arbor for a couple of days. Brr!! Nothing like Michigan in late December! That front was intense on our walk down Main Street. It was in the teens and windy, but the trees still looked cozy and festive. We popped in to the Rally House to warm up, but didn't buy anything since UT was about to play UM in the Citrus Bowl.

The next day we drove to Dearborn to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. What a fascinating place! It's amazing what a little money can collect under one roof. Where to begin...?

They even had a Lego city built with some iconic Detroit buildings, holiday touches, and a Batman Santa scavenger hunt.

We spent a lot of time in the automotive section (go figure!) of the museum. They have an impressive collection of planes, trains, and automobiles showing the evolution of technology through the years. Some of our faves were the presidential limos, race cars, and the super big boy steam locomotive.

We took a timeout to go on a tour of the Rouge Factory. No pictures were allowed, but it was a pretty amazing factory where the F-150 is made. Unfortunately, they too were on holiday, so the assembly line was not actually making anything, but we got the idea even without the frenetic productivity.

We were starving when we got back to the museum, so we got some lunch specials in the 1946 diner, complete with Detroit's own Faygo soda, or liquid sugar as I like to call it.

After lunch, we were feeling the time crunch already. So much still to see! We sat on Rosa Parks' bus, watched wing walkers, toured a Dymaxion house, saw George Washington's cot, boarded early passenger planes, and walked through massive machines.

As we pulled into Ann Arbor, we sought out Zingerman's Delicatessen on Lisa's (AA native) recommendation. It was yummy and full of personality.

We had a few hours to kill before our flight the next morning, so when in Ann Arbor... Why not check out the University? It was a snowy, quiet New Year's Eve morning on campus, and nothing was open (not even the bathrooms!). Thankfully we made it to Joe's Pizza NYC just as they were opening for the day, so we used the facilities and got some tasty slices before our walk back to the car.

As we were walking around, we noticed these leaf clusters stuck in the bare branches, but on closer inspection it was actually these super-fluffy, chubby squirrels! They were pretty cute and content in the snow.

Luckily, the pilots in Detroit are no strangers to flying in the snow. We had a pretty uneventful flight home (after the wait for de-icing) just in time for New Year's Eve countdown! Happy New Year!

 

Escape to Ohio

The heat dome over Texas has been brutal this summer - solid 100 (or near-100) temps since mid-June! The beauty of working from home is that "home" can be wherever you want it to be, so Hadley and I escaped for a week to Oma and Papa's in Ohio. First stop, Indiana. Ha! We crossed the border briefly, so that we could get a picture of Indiana in our map. Don't worry Indiana, we hope to give you a real trip soon.

We flew into Cincinnati, so we stayed the night there and took in the Newport Aquarium and riverfront the next morning. While it was warm, it was definitely much cooler than Houston!!

I didn't take too many fish pictures, since we've seen our fair share of aquariums. But yes, I did take a pic of seahorses, because they are just so fascinating!

H enjoyed posing in the tank "bubbles" and sometimes drug me with her.

These 2 pics remind me of the last time we came to this aquarium in 2015.

And the stop at the Hofbrauhaus afterward was also reminiscent of that 2015 expedition. Prost!

Oma and Papa planned several fun activities over the week while I was working during the day. One that I got to join in on was an afternoon of horseback riding! We were enamored by Gypsy and her baby, Taboo, as soon as we pulled in to Uncle Buck's.

Papa signed us up for the 2-hour long ride to the haunted Moonville tunnel and back. We had a guide at the front on Dolly, Hadley was riding Tiny Dancer, I was on Bluebell, Papa was on Stryder, and we had another guide at the back training a new horse to the trail.

The horses all wore these masks, which supposedly didn't impede their vision, but kept bugs and other nuisances out of their eyes. This was our first horse ride since Arkansas, and Hadley was very excited to be on a horse again!

Once we were all mounted, we were off! The trail was nice and shady for the most part and wound through Zaleski State Forest. Lots of green leaves in the summer, and I'm sure it's stunning in the fall with the golden colors of autumn! There had been recent rain, and we weren't on the trail for more than 10 minutes when our lead guide's horse slipped and fell on her butt. Luckily, there were no injuries, and she got back in the saddle pretty quickly, but it sure made me rethink my confidence on the trail. 😬

Our horses were constantly munching on trailside branches whenever there was a spare moment. Bluebell tried to graze even when there was no pause, and I had to keep pulling her head back to the trail every few minutes. But when the new horse's bit broke, they had a long snack break. Thankfully, that equipment malfunction was the last drama of the trail ride.

When a sub-group split off for the short trail, our horses looked over their shoulders longingly at the backs of their friends, but they stuck it out for the long ride with no complaints. Apparently, there was a settlement called Moonville here back in the late 1800s that sprang up to house coal miners. The town was later abandoned as mines closed, but stories of miners struck by trains give the tunnel its claim of being haunted. Alas, we did not see any lantern lights from the widow, but riding through the tunnel on horseback was an interesting experience.

The bridge on the other side had locks on the fence, a la Paris, a bridge of love.

Once back to the stable, the horses were glad to be home and got lots of treats. We got lots of horse slobber in exchange. Let's just say that some horses are better at eating out of human hands than others...

We certainly enjoyed our trip! Not only was the weather much improved, but we got lots of quality time with Oma and Papa: Hadley went zip-lining with Papa (I'm still working on footage from her helmet cam), book-shopping in Columbus with Oma, swimming next door with Papa, puzzling with Oma, catching (and accidentally squishing) fireflies, walking Petey (Lisa's dog), and lots of other little stuff in between. I managed to work most of a full week, surrounded by trees and wildlife, and even got in a much-needed massage.

Of course, visits with family revolve around food, and this one was no different. The Little Fish brewery had some tasty burgers and brews, and we ate with Scott and Lisa, who accompanied Hadley and Oma on much of their activities over the week.

And I still got lots of quality H time myself. 💝

At the end of the week, it was time to return to Hellston, I mean Houston. To cap off our fun girls' week, we got some Graeter's ice cream at the airport, conveniently right next to our gate. I had heard about their Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip flavor from some Ohio friends, but seriously, I might need to look up how/where I can get this locally. Yum!

This leaf from O&P's yard summed up our week quite nicely! Love you both! Thanks so much for hosting us for a week and giving H (and me) so many wonderful, fun opportunities. We cherished our time with you and hope we can come again! (Maybe all of next July? Ha!)