Friday, 12 December 2025
Grocery shopping almost always tops the chore list after a trip, as it did this morning. I looked in the fruit fridge display and thought, hmm, blueberry prices are cheaper, just a bit, but cheaper. Then, it hit me: the packages are the same, but now they have 11 oz, not 12. I’m still hot about it. [I tried to include the “flames” emoji, but my software won’t post it.]
Thursday, 11 December 2025
Snow granules. Indeed, we found snow in Asheville, not enough to be visible anywhere but odd spots like cracks on our car’s body.
We fitted in one more loved-ones stop in SC, and zoomed home, negotiating one last Atlanta traffic slow-down en route.
So glad we went. Turns out that we managed to find the best weather window that there was, although we didn’t know it at the time.
Wednesday, 10 December 2025
I find it always special when I’m rolling along a mountain road and find a pull-off vista-view. Here’s one…
…with snow outlining every little trail and logging road. This is a close-up of that “triangle” on the right side above.
Our tourist stop of the day was at (one part of) New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, in West Virginia. We first saw the gorge from these windows in the Canyon Rim Visitor Center.
Truly a gorgeous gorge—even with rain starting to fall.
Here’s the high bridge crossing the gorge…
…and here’s the high bridge from the low bridge, which is the one we crossed.
The rest of the day was rain, never a blinding storm, but constant, mile after mile. We hear that we may awaken to snow tomorrow here in Asheville, despite being so much farther south than the southern Lake Erie shore.
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
We motored east sometimes close to Lake Erie, sometimes a few miles inland, and finally saw Cleveland in the distance.
Over on the east side, we met up with a college buddy of The Guru at a lovely Thai restaurant. My dish: Siam salmon…salmon wrapped in a napa cabbage leaf with veg and a rich yellow curry sauce. Oh, just yum. Perfect. Thanks, FK.
We continued east, still under the lake effect smear, and, while in Amish territory dodging horse-drawn buggies, spotted this pair of planes that looked to me as if they were slowly degrading. I did not see a for-sale sign.
Then we turned south, and outran the snow-smear, and are now on the PA side of the OH/PA line, enjoying temps just a smidge above freezing. We understand that a winter storm is headed this way tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll be out of here before it ramps up.
Monday, 8 December 2025
We rear-view-mirrored our A2 friends, and spent the afternoon (plus) with friends in one of the Grosse Pointes. We laughed a LOT, great fun.
This isn’t supposed to be frozen, but the heater conked out and the replacement didn’t work, and the replacement’s replacement is still in transit—if I have it right. Instead of sipping, the birds were busy at the feeders, and the squirrels were patrolling beneath them because they could not access the protected feeders.
We even got a chance to see their daughter’s new (to her) house, in which she’s installed an audio mixdown setup (I’m told that’s what it is). Need an album recorded? In our circle, she’s the one to call/text.
We’re on the move this evening, and I type this as we motor along parallel with Lake Erie’s southern shore. Yup, we sleep tonight in Ohio.
Sunday, 7 December 2025
It started snowing sometime when it was still dark, big lazy flakes, and kept it up almost until noon. In the background, you can tell our host was busy with the snowblower, cleaning sidewalks and driveway. And a parking spot by the curb for us. Thoughtful man.
It was NOT froggy weather.
Saturday, 6 December 2025
Fast and _what_?
This was a manufacturer display we saw at a Meijer. This misspelling was on two of the four shelves.
Friday, 5 December 2025
Northern Ohio is criss-crossed (sorta; more east-west than other directions) by train trax. Here’s a parallel pair.
You may not know the Maumee, but it’s a major river in NE Ohio. Note the geese STANDING on the ice on the river.
We stopped for lunch at a…unique…luncheree, shall we say, although we ate inside where it was not quite freezing, and not at this table.
We ate this evening near this cider mill that I visited every fall when I was a kid and into my teens. I think in those days the only building was the part on the right. Inside, it reeked of fresh apple juice, and I thought the smell emanated from the beams and walls, and not just the mill, because the odor was so intense. On warm days, I remember worrying about the buzzing hornets/yellow jackets/whatever attracted by the apple-sugar.
Thursday, 4 December 2025
Sometimes the wild blue yonder is really shades of blue, or perhaps grey-blue if you’re picky.
We’re northbound, after a snow-storm, which is a better time than during the storm. Duh. This is a northern Kentucky rest area.
Full moon rising over Cincinnati.
And, by the time we got to the outer Cincinnati suburbs: demurely hiding moon. If anthropomorphizing is permitted.
We did see about five minutes of wan sunshine, and a few minutes of snow blowing across the pavement, but otherwise: dry roads, yay.
