Saturday

 We all got up at different times. Dorothy had stocked our cabin with enough breakfast foods to get us going. Our bed had just a light cover.  I did not sleep well because I was cold all night.

Sunrise through the trees

We are just by a pond

Our cabin

The cabins are not all close together.

Number 16

We headed over to Cottage 4 to connect with the rest of the gang.  Number 4 is about 1/2 mile away from number 16. It was cold when we went over.  I wish that I had brought my warmer jacket.  It was in the upper 30s.  I had layers.

George, Martin, Robbie

Dorothy with both grandkids, Ivan and Amelia

George with Amelia

Madeline with Ivan

Then we headed over to the Lodge to see what was offered there. It was another 1/2 a mile walk.

There was a nice indoor playground.

They even had ping pong

While we were in the lodge they announced that there would be a talk about the solar eclipse.  They had this cool gadget for seeing the reflection of the sun without hurting your eyes.  It only costs about $600.  They also had a demonstration on how quickly you can damage your eyes by looking at the sun during an eclipse.  They used a balloon.   

Sunspotter solar telescope.

It is interesting that Maumee Bay State Park is in Oregon, OH!!

George and I headed into town to go to Krogers for some groceries, mostly lunch fixings.  We had lunch when we got back.  

Trumpeter Swan.  There are 2 of them hanging around one of the ponds.

There was some game playing and kid activities and nap time.    Martin and Robbie went to play golf. I walked back to our cottage to get my tablet. Nathan did the walk around the larger lake.  We headed over to the nature trail around 4 pm. We explored the nature center first.  It tuned into a gorgeous day and warmed up nicely.

Snapping turtle

Sculpture in a pond.

Some red winged black birds and a grackle at a bird feeder.  (Working with the zoom on my phone camera)

Once we were all gathered we did the short loop on the nature trail boardwalk.  The larger loop was closed due to damage on the boardwalk.  There have been fires and then flooding. 

The trees were damaged from a previous fire and this whole area is a wetlands.  

Mostly cattail rushes and other grasses.  The perfect habitat for muskrats.

This muskrat was very well hidden.  It was hard to get a picture.  Plus it kept moving.

Note that the boardwalk has a railing on just one side.  

I was turning around to watch Ivan who was going in the opposite direction and I tripped over the short side lip and fell 2 feet down into the grassy swampland. My shoes went flying.  I just missed being impaled by a stump.  Luckily, no permanent physical damage just embarrassed.  The grasses did do a number on my hands though.  

We had a 6 pm dinner reservation for 12 people.  Nathan and I decided to go to the Icebreaker lounge to have a drink and play a game or two to pass the time.  I am not sure where everyone else went.

Nathan had a Glass City Lemonade

I had a Lemon Meringue Pie Martini.  It was delicious. 

We played Boggle and we were just ready to start another 2 person game when Martin joined us so we switched to Rummikub.  When we ordered another round, Nathan liked my drink so much he switched to have the same thing.  Martin had a Mojito.  When it was time for dinner at the Water's Edge we took our drinks with us.

Ivan, Madeline, Roman, me, Martin, Robbie, Ed, George W, Nathan, George S, Amelia, and Dorothy.

I had the steak (the full moon special)

Nathan had the walleye.  We had a lot of food with appetizers and main course.  No one wanted any dessert. We tried the tempura Brussels sprouts.  They were not as good as I was hoping that they would be.

After dinner some of us went back to cottage #4 to play 10, 9, 8 but some took the young ones to the pool and splash pad.

I think they they had a good time.  

George W, Robbie, Martin, Nathan and I played 10, 9, 8.  I lost.  We played another round when George S and Roman joined us.  I lost again. George W had made brownies in the afternoon so we had that and ice cream for dessert.

No wine glasses here but that didn't stop us from enjoying the wine. (I had bought it in the Portland airport after going through security)

With all of the walking back and forth from the lodge and both of the cottages, I got my steps in.  At one of the times we were at the lodge, we asked for more blankets.

By the end of the day my left hand was almost back to normal instead of the burning and  tingling it had been feeling.  It is funny because looking at my hands I can not see any damage but maybe I have some micro cuts and some toxin reaction.  I was warm at least with the extra blanket, so I slept better.