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Friday was one for the books.  My Dad and I started the morning off fishing and fiddling around the dock at the lake.  By the time it was over my Dad had it looking spectacular (Thanks Dad!) and we had caught zero fish. I guess you can’t win ‘em all, especially when we were using makeshift bait and had Dexter :) 

After a yellow-jacket bite,  Mom and I decided it was a good time for a pedicure before we headed to Cleveland for a tour of the Great Lakes Brewery.  So, after the longest pedicures of our lives (although our nails do look good), we headed toward Lake Erie to Put-In-Bay Island (only 2 hours behind schedule).  It’s a ridiculous story, but luckily we weren’t stranded for the night until the ferries started again at 7:30 in the morning.  You see, despite what I had read online and heard from friends (and even the conniving little old lady who sold us our ferry tickets)…Put-In-Bay was still “closed” for the season.  Apparently, they are still waiting for spring on the island even though they advertise events and festivals starting in March….Uhmmmm. You can check out their website here @ http://www.putinbay.com/ or even the ferry schedule here @: http://www.millerferry.com/schedules/put%2Din%2Dbay/ to better understand why one might feel deceived.  And why do they have ferries (yes, plural) running to an island that is “closed” anyway?!?!?!?

So, once we arrived we had to check the line for the last ferry back to South Bass, otherwise we were stuck for the night.  Luckily, there were only 3 cars in line.  Phew!!!  That’s when we decided to cruise around and check out all the sites/sounds.  Let’s see…Crystal Cave=closed! Heineman winery=closed! Perry’s cave=Closed! Beer Barrel Saloon=Closed! Boardwalk=Closed! Boathouse Bar and Grill= Closed!  You get the point.  Everything was closed and we had to drive around the island to one closed place to another to figure it out, because the website says everything is open, the ferry boat was completely full of cars and people, the parking lot for people heading over to rent golf carts was full, and the lady selling ferry tickets just told us not to miss the last ferry.  Geesh!!  But you know us…we made lemonade with the lemons we were dealt.  We found this gem of a bar that was actually open…Joe’s.  Their motto, “Where beer is food”.  As we enjoyed a beer we found out that it was their first day to be open. Go figure, right? We signed our names on the bar right under the heading, “First beer of the 2012”.  HaHa!  Anyway, we made it back to Cleveland a little before 9 and opted to head to Kent for drinks and dinner at Mike’s.  We figured with our luck, the brewery tours would be sold out (especially since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Induction Ceremony was this weekend).  Best choice ever because I looked online today and they were completely booked!  But geesh…”What an adventure our trip to Put-In-Bay turned out to be”