Midwest Guest

Midwest travel links for August 2010

Check out these great Midwest-related stories I've read online this past month:

• Colorful Caribbean Floats-Charlie spotted some beautiful flashes of color while riding his bicycle through Detroit recently, discovering a workshop and artists creating floats and costumes for the city's Annual Caribbean International Festival Parade. Check out his story and photos of the workshop and the subsequent parade at Bikes, Books & A Little Music.





• Chicago and Milwaukee: Large Public Art and Placemaking-Public art pieces in Chicago like The Bean and a huge American Gothic sculpture are big tourist draws. Jeramey takes a look at <heh> Chicago's latest piece of public art and argues that Milwaukee could benefit from emulating Chicago's penchant for large pieces of statement art. Oh, and check out Milwaukee's Bronze Fonz, which is exactly what you probably think it is-the Fonz of Happy Days fame immortalized as (you guessed it) a bronze statue.

• Backyard Adventures: 100 Acres at the Indianapolis Museum of Art-Check out this outdoor arts park at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Arrows Sent Forth. Traveling with kids? This story also has some great tips about the terrain, rest rooms, parking, picnicking at the museum, and more.

• Evansville Otters Baseball for Southwest Indiana-There is still a bit of time to take in a baseball game this season, and Erik takes readers to a game with the Evansville Otters of the Frontier League at Indiana Insider Blog. I enjoyed hearing about the team's historic 95-year-old ball park and its connection to the movie, "A League of Their Own".

• Thriving in the BWCAW-Join Rob and his family on a canoe adventure in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It's been a while since we visited the area ourselves, but I vividly remember the quarter-mile downhill portage and the quarter-mile uphill portage we did during one of our day trips, so I can feel Rob's pain as he talks about two miles worth of portages during his trip at The Intense Traveler. But it's all worth it!





• Looking at the End of Summer from the Lighthouse Steps- The marble, Albert Kahn-designed William Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse on Detroit's Belle Isle is a real beauty, so I particularly enjoyed taking a closer look at this unique tower at Belle Isle Home.

• Road Trip Music: Indiana-Kerry explores the Midwest and its music at Music Road. Check out this profile of Indiana folksinger Carrie Newcomer (born in Michigan, by the way) and other Midwest musician profiles at Kerry's site.

• Discovering Musical History on Race Street-Michael takes us to historic Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, in his Soapbox Cincinnati story. Popular music legends like Hank Williams, Patti Page, Flatt & Scruggs, and Bull Moose Jackson (an early R&B artist whose song, "Big Ten Inch Record", some music fans may remember best as an Aerosmith cover) all recorded at Herzog Studios.

• Highway 100-Travel the length of this Minnesota highway via video in a matter of minutes! I enjoyed this little virtual vacation at the Nokohaha blog.





• 7/79 video takes views on unique visual tour of Cincinnati's center-Driving into the Ohio River? Seeing Cincinnati-area landmarks like the Roebling Bridge or The Ascent in nearby Covington, Kentucky, from the air? Randy posted this virtual vacation on Urban Cincy.

Do you know of any other Midwest-related blogs I should check out?

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Back to school at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio

It's back-to-school time, so I thought it would be nice to visit one of the Midwest's oldest and prettiest campuses at Ohio University in southeastern Ohio near the Appalachian foothills.

Ohio University traces its roots to the early days of the United States when a group of Revolutionary War veterans, figuring it might take a long time to receive payment for their war service, asked the government for one-and-one-half acres of land in lieu of cash.

The group, established as Ohio Company of Associates, received land under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Manasseh Cutler, a Yale graduate and member of the group, insisted on a provision in the agreement emphasizing the importance of education and setting aside land for a school of higher learning.

Visit Ohio University campus and you'll find a passage from that agreement engraved on a stone plaque near the main entrance.

Settlers first arrived in the area in 1797, choosing Athens as a school location because of its location between Ohio's original capital, Chillicothe, and Marietta.

The Northwest Territory legislature and its governor, Arthur St. Clair, approved the school's charter as American Western University in 1802. Ohio became a state in 1803, so the state legislature approved its own charter for the university in 1804.

Ohio University became the first university established in the Northwest Territory, an area covering much of the land that eventually became the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

The first building appeared on campus in 1807, and a sundial marks that spot today. Three students enrolled in 1808. Early students most likely took classes comparable to today's high school-level classes due the lack of highly trained teachers in the area.

The school awarded its first two bachelor's degrees in 1815, and Ohio University began offering traditional college-level classes by 1822.

The school experienced slow growth through much of the nineteenth century. The university only had 496 graduates by 1886 (a year when they had 26 men and 11 women enrolled in classes). Growth in the student population accelerated after World War II, and today Ohio University has more than 28,000 students.

Legend has it that more than a few ghosts also call Ohio University home, and the school has a reputation as being the most haunted college campus in the country.

The many early nineteenth-century buildings, and the network of red-brick streets and walkways crisscrossing campus, make Ohio University's campus especially appealing. We've visited the campus a few times, and it's easy to spend most of the day wandering around and taking pictures.

Cutler Hall, a late-Federalist style building dating from 1816, has an interesting history and a couple of close calls with demolishment. Lightning struck the building in 1818, and it only survived because of heavy rains. The building housed dorm rooms, class rooms, labs, a library, and a museum over the years but eventually fell into disrepair and some university officials called to demolish it. It was restored it to its original appearance in the 1940s and earned designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1966. Today the university president and other senior university officials have offices in the building.

The red brick so prevalent on campus speaks to the importance of the brick-making industry in the Hocking Valley during the nineteenth century.

Plentiful clay and shale deposits in the Hocking Valley fired the start of brick making in the area during the early 1800s. Early area brick makers practiced the craft much as Europeans did for hundreds of years, making bricks for specific structures and baking them in the sun or makeshift kilns.

By the 1870s, more modern brick manufacturing began in the area. Walk around campus and see how many bricks you can find engraved with the brick company names or marks.

 

Want to learn more about the school's history? Check out Ohio University 1804-2004: Spirit of a Singular Place by Betty Hollow.

Athens by Richard A. Straw is an Arcadia Press book chock full of vintage views of the town and information about its history.

Want to know more about the ghostly tales surrounding campus? Check out Guide to Ohio University Ghosts & Legends by Craig Tremblay.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail Highlights

Driving along the shoreline is always a special treat for me, and I'm particularly fond of the designated routes encircling the Great Lakes.

We live close to the Ohio border, and we've traveled the Lake Erie Ohio Coastal Trail many times. The 293-mile route is primarily Ohio's portion of the 660-mile Lake Erie Circle Tour and wends its way through a variety of nature preserves, historic sites, big urban centers, and small towns.

You can drive the entire route in a day, or you can easily spend several days exploring the trail. We're close enough to the western end of the route that we occasionally do a portion of the route just east of Toledo as a day trip.

The Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail earned its designation as an Ohio State Scenic Byway in December of 2004, and became a National Scenic Byway in September of 2005. The Lake Erie Circle Tour earned its designation in the early 1990s.

The Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail runs from the Michigan border near Toledo, Ohio, and on through Conneaut, Ohio, to the Pennsylvania state line.

Here are some highlights of our travels along the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail:

• Toledo-Stop by the legendary Tony Packo's for a Hungarian hot dog and some fried pickles and peppers, tour the city's Old West End neighborhood with its stately Victorian-era homes, and visit Toledo Museum of Art with its outdoor sculpture garden and renowned glass collection. Take in a Mud Hens' baseball game, or do a little shopping at the city's Farmers Market and the Libbey Glass Outlet.





• Maumee/Oak Harbor-Spend a night at the Maumee Bay State Park Resort or an afternoon on the resort's nature trail, where you can spot the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse in the distance. Nature lovers, hikers, photographers and birders will enjoy visiting the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge just east of Toledo. Don't miss the Ohio Bicentennial barn along the route near the wildlife sanctuaries.





• Sandusky/Marblehead-Most people know the Sandusky area best for the Cedar Point Amusement Park or island destinations like Put-In Bay. It's been quite some time since I've been to either place (which gives me more excuse to travel out this route yet again), but other favorite places in this section of the route include the city of Sandusky itself with its Carnegie Library and a trip out to the tip of the Marblehead Peninsula to see the Marblehead Lighthouse.

• Cleveland-Cleveland clearly rocks with us, as we've been there multiple times. I bought a charter membership to the city's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum, so we make it there quite often. You might not think of a cemetery as a trip destination, but Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery is an especially interesting stop for those who love history and taking photos. While you're at Lake View, don't miss the President Garfield Memorial or the Wade Chapel (the chapel's Tiffany-designed interior and windows earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973). President Garfield's home in Mentor, Ohio, is just east of Cleveland and another must-see for history buffs.





• Ashtabula-There is plenty to see in this city near the eastern end of the route. Catch a glimpse of the Ashtabula Lighthouse or check out Point Park with its great view of the city's bascule bridge. The Hubbard House was an important Underground Railroad terminus and sits on a quiet side street within sight of Lake Erie.

I expect we'll travel this trail many more times as there are plenty of other places along the route we've yet to see, so don't be surprised to see a sequel to this post sometime in the future!

We have a GPS, but I still find a good map invaluable when we travel. Delorme publishes a series of map books covering each individual state, with each book including listings of features like parks, historic sites, museums, campgrounds, and other great information. These books are a must for road trips, and I've worn out several of the Michigan and Ohio Gazetteers from use over the years. Check out the Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer before heading out on the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for July 2010

Here are a few interesting Midwest-related stories I've read online this past month:

• A Visit to Round Island Lighthouse-This little gem of a lighthouse near Michigan's Mackinac Island opens to the public one day each year, so is a special treat when Jennifer shared these photos of her recent visit to the lighthouse with her friend Bree on Bree's Mackinac Island Blog.

• The J.W. Wescott II mail boat-A boat with its own Zip Code? Read about it at Sweet Juniper as Jim writes about the Detroit River Post Office aboard the J.W. Wescott II, the only boat in the world dedicated expressly for mail delivery to vessels along the Detroit River.

• Cincinnati's Dramatic, Multi-Billion Dollar Riverfront Revitalization Nearly Complete-Urban planner Randy Simes details this Ohio city's riverfront $3 billion transformation from an aging industrial space into an exciting mixed-use district at the Urbanophile. We visited completed components of this revitalization like the Great American Ball Park and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center during our last visit to the city.





• Milwaukee, A Walker's Paradise-Andrew takes readers on a tour of walkable Milwaukee at Urban Out, checking out some downtown bars, eateries, shopping districts, and residential neighborhoods.

• Chicago's Grocery Store in the Sky-Wayne takes us to one of Chicago's most exclusive stores, a grocery store on the 44th floor of the John Hancock building called the Potash Gourmet 44. Visitors must pass a lobby security checkpoint, pass the 44th floor lobby receptionist, and be a building resident (or with a resident) to go shopping there. Or you can enjoy this virtual visit with Wayne.

• Wayne County Treasures: The Levi Coffin House-We learned a bit about Levi Coffin and his role in the Underground Railroad in Ohio when we visited the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, so it was especially interesting to me to learn a bit more about his earlier days with the Underground Railroad in Indiana. Check this story by Andrea on the Indiana Insider Blog.

• Flint Portraits: Lloyd Copeman-Next time you fill up your glass with ice by flipping ice cubes out of your flexible ice cube tray, you can thank Flint-area inventor Lloyd Copeman. The flexible plastic ice cube tray earned this prolific inventor an astounding $500,000 during the late 1920s. Gordon writes about Copeman and his many inventions at Flint Expatriates.

• Jolly Green Giant Statue-Beth and her family visited the big green guy in Blue Earth, Minnesota. Read about their visit to this 55-foot-tall landmark and roadside attraction at The Vacation Gals blog.

• Two Miles an Hour-Did you ever wonder what it was like to cross the prairies in a covered wagon? Join Andrea at Horizontal Lines as she takes on a day-long trail ride in northwestern North Dakota to relive her immigrant ancestors' experiences as they settled into a new land.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for June 2010

Here are some interesting blog posts about the Midwest I read in the past month:

• 18th Annual Detroit Concert of Colors July 16-18, 2010-Tim previews one of our favorite summer events. Check out his story and fabulous photos from recent Concert of Colors festivals at The Wandering Photographer.

• Crossroads Guitar Festival brings guitar legends and their contemporaries together-I enjoyed this quick recap of this Chicago festival to benefit Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre (a rehab facility in Antigua) at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Rock Hall Blog.

• Around Cadillac Square-I've driven past this spot, and gone past the Cadillac Center stop on Detroit's People Mover, many times, but I've never really seen Cadillac Square up close. Let Belle Isle Home show you around this great little urban gem.

• Biking in Detroit: The City on Two Wheels-Most people think of cars when they think of the Motor City, but there are a lot of other great ways to get around Detroit. Let Becks of Detroit Moxie show you how to use some pedal power to get around the D.

• Exploring the Cleveland Metroparks-I've seen a bit of Cleveland's much-loved "Emerald Necklace"-a chain of parks that pretty much circles the city. Check out this story at What Locals Like About Cleveland Plus to find out more about the parks and the vision of the young engineer in 1917 that resulted in this beautiful green legacy enjoyed today by residents and visitors alike.

• Flint River Kayaking-I enjoyed this story of a river's rebirth from at Flint Expatriates. Gordon rediscovers this great little river near Flushing, Michigan, and learns something about second chances and stereotypes.

• June on the Farm-I appreciate the value of being a tourist in my own town, so I really appreciated Linda giving us this great look at spring on her Minnesota family farm at Travels with Children.



Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens' great ball park


• Fort Wayne Tin Caps Baseball is Great Family Fun-I've written about the joys of minor league sports and advocated those events as budget-friendly alternatives where you can usually score a seat much closer to the action than you can at a big-league venue. Join Erik at the Indiana Insider Blog for fun on a Friday night in Fort Wayne with the Tin Caps baseball team.

• Falling in love at White River State Park-Amy gives us ten great reasons to fall in love with this urban park, chock full of green spaces and waterfront, in Indianapolis at the Indiana Insider Blog.

• The Ford Bridge Then and Now-You know that a post about a great bridge will always catch my eye, so I enjoyed this story about the historic Ford Bridge that spans the Mississippi River to connect Minnesota's Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis at the Nokohaha blog.

• City Profile: Milwaukee by UrbanMilwaukee-Milwaukee is another place I've only driven through on the way elsewhere, but it's a place I've always wanted to spend some time visiting. Meanwhile I can visit the Ubanophile blog for virtual tour of the city that includes photos of their striking art museum from Dave of UrbanMilwaukee.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Photo Friday: Ohio Bicentennial barn, Ottawa County

We recently drove by one of the Ohio Bicentennial barns along State Highway 2 between Toledo and Port Clinton.

Ohio's Bicentennial Commission conceived the barn project as a unique way to advertise the state's 200th year as a state in 2003. Seven years later, this Ottawa County barn still stands as a reminder of the anniversary, and it got me wondering how many other Ohio Bicentennial barns are still standing.

Scott Hagan was barely 20 years old when someone with the Ohio Bicentennial Commission saw a picture of a barn painted with an Ohio Buckeye logo, and the group began to consider a statewide project with barns in every one of Ohio's 88 counties painted with the state's bicentennial logo.

The Buckeye-logo barn in question belonged to the Hagan family, and the son who painted their barn soon found himself with a new career as a barn artist.

This is the other end of the Ottawa Ohio Bicentennial barn

Scott Hagan lived near renowned Mail Pouch Barn artist Harley Warrick in Belmont County, Ohio. The young barn artist talked with Warrick, who taught him some of the secrets of the craft of barn painting before he died in 2000 at the age of 86.

Hagan began the Ohio barn project in 1997, sketching each logo freehand before hand painting each barn. He painted the 88 barns, one in each county, plus a dozen more barns to make it an even 100 painted barns by late 2002.

Hagan used 100 paintbrushes, 645 gallons of paint and put 65,000 miles on his truck as he traveled from barn to barn throughout those five years. And no two barns are exactly alike.

This particular barn is actually the second barn painted in Ottawa County. A tornado blew through and destroyed the first barn when it was nearly finished.

Today, Hagan estimates his painted barns as numbering well over 300 barns in 14 states. His new goal is to paint at least one barn in every state.

 

Travelers who enjoy waymarking (a hobby similar to geocaching, except there is no physical cache involved) can record a find at this barn.

 

Looking for more information about the project and surviving Bicentennial barns? Check out the Bicentennial Barns of Ohio Facebook page.

 

You might also enjoy these books about the Ohio barns:

 

Ohio's Bicentennial Barns by Beth Gorczyca, with photos by B. Miller or Bicentennial Barns of Ohio by Christina Wilkinson.

 

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Toledo

Midwest travel links for May 2010

Check out these interesting blog posts about the Midwest I've found online in the past month.

• Honey Bee Market La Colmena, Est. 1956-Who says there are no great grocery stores in Detroit? I loved this great feature about a third-generation, family-owned market in the city of Detroit by self-avowed "Gentleman of Elegant Leisure" Jim at Sweet Jupiter.

• Street Artist Banksy Tags Detroit-Detroit Moxie's Becks managed to catch the work of internationally known street artist, Banksy, at a couple of Detroit sites (in one case just hours before it disappeared from a brick wall). The removal of Banksy's work ignited a great deal of discussion in the city, and the comments on this blog offer a bit of that discussion.

• Heidelberg Project: Art Calling-Kath checks out this Detroit landmark at the Great Lakes Gazette. Is it art? Innovative reuse of discards? A political statement of some sort? Take a look and decide for yourself!

• A Fascinating Neighborhood-Charlie takes us to Detroit's Creekside Neighborhood at his blog, Bikes, Books & a Little Music. This serene oasis in the big city with its lighthouse, beautiful riverside homes, and parks draws plenty of fishers, bicyclists, families, and others wanting to enjoy the view of Detroit's downtown skyline in the distance.

• River Water & Wine in Grafton, Illinois-Perceptive Travel's Tim turns a planned bicycle ride derailed by heavy rain into a wine tasting tour and a chance to check out the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.

• Oliver Winery Fits in Bloomington with a bit of Everything-Join Marcia at Wine and Spirits Travel as she visits Indiana's largest winery and its Creekbend Vineyard.





• A Weekend in Chicago with Kids-Carrie finds plenty of family-friendly fun in Chicago. Check out some of her family's favorite things to do and see in Chicago at Travel Savvy Mom.

• The Historic Westin Columbus-The Smiths, a Kentucky family of five, write about their visit to the oldest Westin Hotel in North America in Columbus, Ohio. Check out the great architectural details like marble floors, ornate woodwork, and original stained glass in this vintage 1897 building.

• Southwest Michigan Offers Great Parks-Tina lists some of her favorite parks in this corner of the state for the Pure Michigan blog. Dunes, beaches, camping, bicycle trails, wildlife sanctuaries-they're all here!

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Photo Friday: Ohio's Magee Marsh is for the birds

The Biggest Week in American Birding kicks off this weekend with International Migratory Bird Day on Saturday, May 8 and a full schedule of events at northwestern Ohio's premiere warbler watching sites along Lake Erie that include the popular boardwalk trail in Magee Marsh.

Check out my previous stories, Lake Erie is for the birds: Ohio's Magee Marsh and Lake Erie is for the birds: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge to see what draws scores of birders and nature photographers to this marshland area along the lake, particularly during peak times for spring and autumn bird migrations.

Today, I'm posting a few more photos of Magee Marsh that I didn't post with my original story about that nature area.

Tim enjoyed visiting Magee Marsh and shooting a few photos along the boardwalk trail.

I climbed up onto one of the observation towers along the trail

We also spotted the nearby Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant tower in the distance as we drove along the Magee Marsh causeway

You don't even have to be a birder or a photographer to fully enjoy Magee Marsh

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for April 2010

It's time again to share some links to some of the interesting Midwest blog posts I've read online in the past month!

 

• Alexander Calder's 'Flamingo'-I've written about Alexander Calder's stabiles in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio, so it was especially interesting to read Lee Bey's story about Calder's "Flamingo" stabile in Chicago, Illinois.



Calder's 'Stegosaurus' in front of the Toldeo Museum of Art


• Gulo Gulo: The Wolverine and Why Michigan is the Wolverine State-I always wondered about Michigan's designation as "the wolverine state", especially with the recent death of Michigan's only known wolverine existing in the wild. Andrea shares a bit of information about this animal and shares some possible reasons for our state's nickname at Michigan in Pictures.

• Highland Park's Craftsman Bungalows-I love reading about Charlie's two-wheeled explorations of the Detroit area at his Bikes, Books & A Little Music blog. I enjoyed reading about his bicycle ride around Highland Park, Michigan. That city was home to Ford Motor Company's manufacturing plant, the factory where Henry Ford first offered the then-generous $5-a-day wage in 1914 that drew scores of workers seeking a better life for their families to metro Detroit. Charlie tells us that Highland Park is home to one of the largest concentrations of Craftsman Bungalows outside of California, and he includes photos of some these beautiful Highland Park homes with this story.

• Ruins, Revitalization and Rust on the Riverfront-Regular readers of Midwest Guest know of my fascination with bridges in general, and the Cincinnati, Ohio, Roebling Bridge in particular, so it should come as no surprise that this post by Gordon (a.k.a. Ronny) of Queen City Discovery intrigued me. Did I ever mention that I also dig alliteration?



John Roebling Bridge


• COSI: The hands-on museum for kids-Join this Kentucky family of five as they enjoy a great day at Columbus, Ohio's COSI (Center of Science and Industry) Museum on their Backseat Traveler site.

• Background!-Visit Cindy LaFerle's Home Office as Cindy throws the spotlight behind the scenes of Michigan's now-starring role in the movie industry. Cindy tells us about her experience as a background extra in feature films and the hard work required to score that "15 seconds of fame" on the big screen.

• Fighting Crime, One Doughnut at a Time-Check out Kath's story at Great Lakes Gazette about a group of cops in Clare, Michigan, who saved a bakery that served the northern Michigan community since 1896 by purchasing the business to keep it from closing down. The cops obviously have a sense of humor, judging from the T-shirts they offer for sale in a shop next to the bakery.

• Visiting the beauty of Traverse City & its wine-I always try to keep a bottle of Michigan wine in the house, especially my favorite Late Harvest Riesling from Chateau Grand Traverse. I've visited many of the wineries along Michigan's Old Mission and Leelanau Peninsulas over the years, so I enjoyed Marcia's story about some of these Michigan wineries at Wine and Spirits Travel.

• Hiking Trails of Northwest Indiana-Join Jonathan at the Indiana Insider Blog as he shares five of the most-loved, and possibly least-known, nature walks in northeast Indiana.

• Hormel's SPAM Museum-So, "spam" often gets a bad rap online these days, but readers should enjoy joining The Vacation Gals' Beth as she visits Hormel's homage to the real deal at the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota.

• Fargo-Moorhead's Unusual "Celebrity Walk of Fame"-I love quirky roadside attractions like this "walk of fame" just outside of the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau building. Join Brian for a quick video tour of the walk, which features hand prints and signatures from luminaries visiting the area that include Bill Gates, Weird Al, the guys from Metallica, and Bert & Ernie (What? No Grover?)

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Photo Friday: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Early May brings the Biggest Week in American Birding to northern Ohio, a birding festival celebrating the peak of spring warbler migration in the marshland area along Ohio's Lake Erie shore.

The festival promises to draw crowds of birders and nature photographers to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and Magee Marsh Wildlife area. We visited both refuges earlier this month, so I can give you a quick sneak peek at this beautiful natural area and some of the early avian arrivals.

Be sure to check out my stories about the Ottawa and Magee Marsh areas I posted earlier this week:

Lake Erie is for the birds: Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge

Lake Erie is for the birds: Ohio's Magee Marsh

Today, I'm posting a few more photos of the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge that I didn't post with my original story.

Nesting goose


Visitors' Center

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved