Thursday, 6/30, Sandusky, OH

After the long day at Cedar Point, we all slept in a little.  Only Naama was up
and ready in time to get to breakfast, which closes at 10AM.  But Karen and I
also made it out in time to at least snag a bunch of peanut butters, jellys, and
margarines.  We had bought a plain old 2-slice toaster at Walmart before we left
since we knew we couldn't use the dining room's toaster due to the lack of
kosher supervision.  And we  brought a few loaves of bread and some rolls.  So
it really came in handy today.  We were able to have toast with all the
toppings, including Nutella (at Josh's request).


We went to Ghost Manor Thrill Center in the morning (well, close to the
afternoon, actually).  It's a place that has an XD Theater, which is an extreme
4-D experience.  It's also a haunted house and roller skating rink.  Outside of
the building is this big dragon thing on the wall.  I had the kids line up for a
picture under it, and noticed a worker was on the side of the building who
noticed us.  Then once the kids are finally posed, the nostrils of the dragon
give this really powerful blow of air with the smoke coming out.  I won't say
which one, but one of the kids got really scared and ran away and didn't want to
go back to take the picture.  But then the worker came out and said she had
called inside to have them do the dragon thing for kicks.  She offered to take
the whole family picture, as seen below.

Future employees of Uncle Matt's funeral parlor

They have five 8-10 minute movies that are roller coaster simulations.  We did
three - Cosmic Coaster, Canyon Coaster, and Haunted Mine.  The simulation was
extremely real, maybe even a little more so than some real roller coasters.  You
really get bounced around in your seat.  It's so jarring that the flab on your
neck starts flopping around (at least for me!).  One or two movies would have
probably been enough, but who knew.  We purchased them in advance.

The haunted house was pretty cool.  I don't really remember them from the good
old days, but I guess it's the same type of thing.  You walk thru darkened rooms
and corpses and skeletons pop up at you, and there's one live costumed person
who follows you around and pops out of windows and doors to scare you.  It's
about a 15-20 minutes walk thru the whole thing.  Then we went back to the hotel
for a swim and some relaxation, and a late lunch.

Monument shop in Sandusky with a cool tombstone

We got "kicked out" of the room finally at around 4PM when the cleaning people
asked if we wanted service.  So we went out to get some ice cream and some
drinks and stuff for dinner.  We also went to one of those do-it-yourself car
washes to get all the squashed bugs off the bumper/hood and windshield.  With
the cargo carrier on top, the van is too big to go thru the regular wash, and
I'm not so sure we could even use one of those with it on top.  So I sprayed the
car down and got most of the remains removed.

After a bit more relaxation, we headed out for East Harbor State Park, which is
about 10 minutes away.  We had bought a portable propane grill and brought
hamburger patties and hot dogs with us.  The park is right on the southern end
of Lake Erie with a couple of islands just north of the park.  The grill worked
really well, and we had a nice picnic in the park.

Posing on the shore of Lake Erie

How romantic!!

"I hope Karen brought enough for the others!"

Smokin' Hot!!

Sunset on the lake

Bon Appetit!!

Cool ice cream parlor right near East Harbor State Park

We filled up with gas on the way back to get ready to head out for Milwaukee in
the morning.  But first we'll stop in Skokie to meet the Lerer cousins for
lunch.  That extra hour we'll gain as we travel across the time zone will come
in handy as we have to make it to Milwaukee in time for the Sabbath.  We can
sleep an extra hour now!!