Sandusky, Ohio - hometown of Tommy Boy

Sandusky, Ohio - also the home of Cedar Point = the greatest amusement park on earth (according to critics due to the UNBELIEVABLE roller coasters)

Our trip started with the 5 1/2 hour drive across the ENTIRE state of Ohio. All we saw were farms and small podunk towns. Mansfield was where we had to start to use farm and highway roads and get off the freeway. That place is like a ghost town..abandoned factory buildings, cool old homes...we were lucky to find our way through it.

Then finally we arrived to the Maples Motel. This place was a CLASSIC alfred hitchcock psycho motel. Lyle found it on tripadvisor.com and it had pretty high ratings for a rocking good deal, so we booked it. It was true to the pictures and description, with great customer service and an "authentic" motel feel.

What our Motel looked like.The inside of the room. I guess this was a pretty good preparation for our new apartment in New York...the bathroom didn't even fit both of us at one time. Nice.The lady at the office (which was a house next to the place) told us to take a 1.5 mile walk to Lake Erie down a little path. On our walk, we realized there was a TRAIN across the street from our motel...we felt right at home (lol).I had fun taking some sweet pictures on our little stroll. It was at dusk so it was perfect.And cotton was growing along the path!
Lyle started getting nervous about how many bugs there were and how tight the path started to get. He kept waving his hands around his body to keep himself free of mosquitoes. It was quite a sight. I didn't do that, and got bit by a few pretty big ones. I think he came out without one.
Then we made it to Lake Erie and it was a beautiful sight. Lake Erie was just not a place we ever thought about visiting (on purpose), but we're glad we did...it was amazing. There were flowers and lilypads and orioles everywhere.
There's the park from a distance across Lake Erie.
The next day we woke up ready for a FULL day of fun. We drove the "back way" from our motel and it was well worth it. It was empty of traffic and full of beautiful homes.
The park opened at 10am for us (9am for early entry - which was NOT us unfortunately). We got there at 8:30am both days to wait in lines. It was worth it...we were in the front of the line.

For some reason there were a LOT of cobwebs and I was amazed by them - not sure why.

This was our favorite ride HANDS DOWN - Dragster.
We went from 0 to 120 mph in 4 SECONDS! Then we went up 420 feet straight up and then straight back down while twisting. It was so sick!
The ride was only 20 seconds long, but it was SO worth it.

The view at night from our 2nd favorite ride - the maverick (2007's best new ride of the year).

We were only there for 2 1/2 days and 2 nights, but it was so worth it. This was Lyle's "baby"...he needed to go and would "regret it for the rest of his life" if he didn't go at this time while we were in this region of the country, but I'm glad we went too. It was fun, we had fun, and we were WASTED TIRED when we got home. Now it's back to (somewhat) of a real world where we are packing up and getting all those important things done on the to-do list.