Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial in Put-in-Bay, Ohio

July 12th took us to Put-in-Bay, Ohio for a fun day of exploring the island.  Put-in-Bay is located on an island just north of Sandusky on Lake Erie and the site of the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812 although it was not an official village until 1877.

This was the first place that we had to boat over to see a national site. We got up early and took the ferry over to the island from Port Clinton, a short 10 minute drive from our rig.  When we got there, the harbor was filled with these ugly creatures!  When we bought our tickets at Jet Express for the 8:30 a.m. boat departure, I asked the lady at the counter what these ugly things were and she said they were called, "May Flies", "June Bugs" or "Canadian Soldiers" depending on what month it is.  I always wondered what a June Bug looked like.  They are born and die within 24 hours.  What a depressing life.  They stick to EVERYTHING they touch - building, roads, cars, people, etc.  You have to pick each one off.  Yuck!

At 8:25 a.m. we boarded our boat and by 8:30 a.m. we left the harbor en-route to Put-in-Bay.

At 9 a.m. we arrived at Put-in-Bay and from what I read, most people either walk the downtown area or rent a golf cart to get around the island.

The boat lets you off right in the heart of downtown and you can walk to most places but since Perry's Victory didn't open until 10 a.m., we rented a golf cart and drove all over the island to see the sites!  We simply fell in love with island life! 

This was our tour cart

We decided to drive around downtown to check out the shops and then around the city square park first to get our bearing.

Then, we opened our cell phones to get a map of the area and drove along all home routes to check out the cottages, houses and a mansion on the island and also see the vineyards on the island.  I'm having trouble getting my two videos to upload, so I'll add those when I figure it out.

After that, we went to South Bass Island State Park to look around on the opposite end of the island.  Here there is a lighthouse, fishing, camping, RVing, playgrounds, swimming and a harbor.  Fun place.

Here are a few other photos of the island on our drive.

Soon, it was 10 a.m., so we drove over to return our golf cart and walked back to the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial.  I wasn't really sure what this was but was excited to find out.

As I mentioned earlier, Put-in-Bay and Lake Erie was site of a naval battle during the War of 1812.  On September 10, 1813, Master Commandant, Oliver Hazard Perry scrawled "We have met the enemy and they are ours..." on the back of an envelope and sent them to Gen. William Henry Harrison (who later became President of the United States) at the end of a dramatic naval battle on Lake Erie.  Throughout the summer, the US Navy's Lake Erie squadron, anchored at Put-in-Bay, effectively cut of British supplies heading to the Detroit River valley.  Because of this, the British were at a cross roads: either retreat and abandon their Indian allies or strike from their own naval base.  They chose to attack.  For the US, it was their first fleet action and it didn't start out well.  Perry hoisted his battle flag to the flagship's main truck that crudely inscribed the words on the navy blue banner, "DONT GIVE UP THE SHIP".  It was the dying last words of Captain James Lawrence, who was killed on June 1, 1813.  Perry's ship, the US Brig Lawrence (named after his friend) became so disabled after only two hours fighting and Perry boarded the Niagara with flag in hand to resume fighting.  Within 15 minutes, he forced a British surrender making Oliver Perry a national hero.  The surrender enabled Harrison's forced to invade Upper Canada and defeat the allied forces of Great Britain and the Indian confederacy led by Tecumseh.

The Visitor Center had a nice, simple display as well as an informative movie to watch.

Peace Quilt in the Movie Room

Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial was established on June 2, 1936 to honor those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie and also to celebrated the long-lasting peace among Great Britain, Canada and the United States.  The monument rises 352 feet above Lake Erie and is situated 5 miles from the longest  undefended border in the world along Lake Erie.  The memorial is reached by ferries from Catawaba Point, Port Clinton and Sandusky from April through November.  The Memorial also honors those all who fought and died during the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 and the War of 1812.  You can go to the observation deck, but we elected not to.

Once we finished here, we walked back toward downtown passing an appropriate sign that read, "May Peace Prevail On Earth" and grabbed a bite to eat at a cute little shop called Dairy Isle and looking at all the cute flowers and fun local sites before returning to the boat at 12:30 p.m. to return to Port Clinton. 

We loved walking back down the Boardwalk and the scenery on the way back to Port Clinton.

Behind is one of many outdoor cafes on the island.

When we got back to Port Clinton, there were hundred of those June Bugs all over our car!  Yuck!  This would have been a perfect place if not for these pesky bugs.

I think the best part about today was that Scott came with me.  Since we were on east coast time, we got back at 1 p.m. and he could start work which was 10 a.m. California time.  That was a real treat and I loved spending the morning with him.  We also learned that we LOVE the island life and being near the water or coast.  Scott had a couple of meetings and then we enjoyed some dinner and a little campfire at our campsite in the early evening hours.  It was a fun, fun day.

Crystal Rock Campground in Sandusky, Ohio

After Kirtland on July 10th, we drove over to Sandusky, Ohio to Crystal Rock Campground, our next RV park right on Lake Erie.  Crystal Rock used to be an old KOA that they turned into a beautiful campground.  It was so clean and tidy.  We actually rated this campground a 5 on our scale.  We're right up in the north central part of Ohio now and LOVED this wonderful campground!  It was a complete 180 from the last location and only a 2-hour drive away, but I was grateful to be away from the last campground.  I was disappointed in that I didn't get to see the First Ladies National Historic Site in Canton...but we'll get that another time...another reason to return to Ohio.  There are many sites in PA we didn't do, so we'll just add Canton on to the next return and then I can go to Wooster, where my family used to live in the early 1800s.

We were assigned A-9 (left green area) as our spot and we parked in the pull-through sites, as we normally do.  We're so long that back-in sites are only when we can't get a pull-through.  The park is divided into two sections.  The left section is the cabins and pull-throughs and the right side is the tent camping and back-in sites.

Our Rig in a beautiful, secluded spot - Isn't this a much better view?!

The amenities are plentiful including:

• Pull Through Sites
• Back In Sites
• Tent Sites
• Cabins
• Gravel Pads
• Full and Park Hookups depending on site
• Dump Station
• Laundry
• 1 Bathhouses on each side of the park for a total of 2
• Shade Trees
• Grassy Areas
• Picnic Tables
• Community Fire Pit
• Private Fire Pit
• Close to 2 National Monuments
• Bike Path
• Sand Volleyball
• Basketball Court
• Gem Mine
• Tetherball
• Kids Playground
• Game Center / Club House
• Camp Store
• Pavilion

Even though there isn't a pool, this is a campground and the cleanliness of everything and friendliness of the owners made this a 5-star park in our book.

Here's some photos of our side of the campground:

View from our site looking toward the Camp Store, Laundry and Bathhouse

Bathhouse

And these are photos from the other side of the campground:

I know I took photos of the camp store and the laundry...but I couldn't find them.  The laundry only had 2 washers and 2 dryers attached to the back of the registration building, so that was a bit difficult but the camp store was amazing!!  I'm glad we chose this site.  The only thing this place didn't have was a swimming pool, but it is a campground, and at campgrounds, a pool isn't required in our book.  We stayed here for 4 nights and we were supposed to go to Tall Timbers Campground only 7 minutes here in Port Clinton the night of the 14th.  I didn't want to leave this campground, but we had already booked the other, so we had to go.  I thought it was silly to drive 7 minutes away to an unknown site, but, oh well.