Rollercoasters and Relatives

I couldn't drive thru northeast Ohio without birding some of my favorite spots. We drove thru Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge at sunset before setting up at a nearby Boondockers Welcome for the night. 

The next morning I went alone to Magee Marsh to relive my Biggest Week memories. I was surprised how overgrown it becomes by summer. In early May, this boardwalk is packed with birders for their annual birding festival during peak migration when warblers are easily spotted in the trees.

Looking out over Lake Erie. 

During spring migration, many birds traveling north will see this lake and decide to rest and refuel before crossing it. As a result, the trees nearby will hold brightly colored songbirds to be viewed at a close distance.

Finally we arrived to my brother's house where Asher and Journey got to see their cousins. Everyone had grown so much over the past year. Asher and Journey are 11 and the cousins are now 12, 14, & 16. 

They have a new puppy named Tia!

And their chickens are all grown up.

The nightly dog walks with my brother and sister-in-law are always enjoyable.

Unfortunately, we only managed one hike this visit, a 20 minute walk around Mud Hen Marsh. 

Journey has been playing ukelele for a year now so she was able to play along with Connie and Avery!

Journey had a chance to spend time with her cousins and finally show family her arial acrobatic skills.

Dad took my family plus Jason and Lucy to King's Island. They had a blast!

Lucy insisted on riding a super-intense roller coaster first, a plan that I feared may ruin the rest of the day, however my kids rolled with it and were brave enough to keep going. 

They took a break from the serious stuff to enjoy some more mellow rides. 

And then the girls saw The Slingshot!

And they DID IT! They were lifted so high, then pulled back like an arrow on a bow, then Lucy pulled the cord and they were slung forward thru the air! It was really wild! I'm impressed with their fearlessness.

After everyone else left, the four of us enjoyed a great show with people doing bike/rollerblade/trampoline tricks, while singing and dancing was going on. It was very entertaining. Then we too the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower and looked out over the entire park, pointing out the rides they enjoyed.

Another day we met Jane and Barry for lunch. 

We got to see Mom and Grammy a few times.

Indiana Dunes NP and a Twin Reunion

Indiana Dunes was designated a National Lakeshore in 1966, and became Indiana's only national park in 2019. Indiana State Park is right next door, and operates separately.

It has a number of dunes that stand up to 200ft tall. Take the Dune Challenge and take home a t-shirt to show your friends. 

The park has a wonderful mix of habitat from the lake, to the shore, marshes, woodlands and prairies. We did some birding on the Great Marsh Trail.

We hiked to the Bailly Homestead, the National Historical Landmark home of Joseph Bailly de Messein, a fur trader who established a trading post here and developed this region of Indiana. His trading post was the only stopping place between Chicago and Detroit.

Then hit the BEACH!  

Asher fished while Journey did gymnastics.

When Asher and Journey were tiny babies living in Las Vegas, we went to a picnic and met another family with twins just a couple months older than ours. Our families instantly became friends and the kids grew up together as best friends. We enjoyed regular play dates and sleep overs with Jett and Ava, until one day they moved away. A year later they moved back just as we were packing up for our big adventure. Well recently they moved to Indiana, so we visited them on our way thru the state. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at their home and had so much fun reconnecting the kids did not want to leave. They ended up sleeping over and we went back for dinner again the next night. We love our friends and are so happy to have spent more time together.

Michigan. 

We made a 15 minute stop just so Asher could catch a fish in Michigan. 

Illinois museums

While driving thru Illinois, I searched for a place where we could stretch our legs and Asher could fish. I found two museums in Rockford which share a good-sized parking lot along the Rock River! Perfect! Our first stop was the Burpee Museum of Natural History where we stood face to face with the cast) fossilized skull of a Dunkleosteus! (Pictured above and below.) These prehistoric fish were somewhere between 16-27ft long and with jaws like a snapping turtle, their bite force was likely on par with giant crocodiles! Remains were first discovered in Ohio's Lake Erie shore in 1867. As massive as these are, consider it's size was estimated to be 1-4 tons, while a megalodon was 65 tons!

Next we met Jane, a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, rebuilt with bones found in Montana. We learned you can tell the age of a dinosaur much like a tree. When you look at a slice of bone under a microscope, you can count the growth rings. It turns out Jane was around 11 years old when she died.

Their skull collection was impressive. It's amazing to see the armor these beasts wore.

Here we saw the comparison between prehistoric species and their modern-day ancestors. From left to right, see the white skulls of today's Black Bear, Cougar and Gray Wolf compared to the Short-Faced Bear, Smilodon, and Dire Wolf!

This area was my favorite part. There were live animals and deceased specimens to check out. 

Insects and nests

Next door is the Discovery Center, which is also part of our ASTC membership. We spent time learning about our bodies and organs, participating in challenges and testing our athletic abilities.

Asher went thru a really crazy growth spurt while we were in the center!

Afterwards Asher was able to throw a line in to fish in Illinois' Rock River.