The (covered) bridges of Ashtabula County

PLAN A: This afternoon we left home about 3:00 pm intending to go to Michael's track meet; however, due to some misinformation, we ended up at the wrong high school about 50 miles from the meet, which was actually at the home track (Don't ask! The explanation is too confusing). Anyway, the meet was about to start, and there we were 50 miles away in Ashtabula County, nearly to the Pennsylvania state line. What should we do? Obviously we weren't going to make it back home in time to see Michael run, so we settled for Plan B.

PLAN B: Ashtabula County is well known for its large number and variety of historical covered bridges, and the northern part of the county is bordered by Lake Erie and many miles of scenic highway. So we set out to see it all. In the north, towering over the Lake Erie shores we saw a sparkling white windmill, one of the modern kind that have begun to pop up in many countries around the world.

Then we headed south and followed signs marking a covered bridge tour, the kind you drive yourself just by tracking down the signs. The bridge in today's blip is the longest covered bridge in Ohio and is on the National Register of Historic Places. If you want to know more about its history you can read it on the historical marker I blipped and posted, along with a few other pictures from today, in my smugmug gallery.

Turning toward home, we ended our adventure with dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant where I enjoyed Bruschetta pasta with shrimp and linguine and a wonderful glass of local wine (Ashtabula County is both the covered bridge and winery capital of Ohio). So that was plan B. Plan A didn't happen, but Michael has another meet on Thursday. I hope we make it to that one.