Families visiting Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio look forward to experiencing some fast-moving thrills as they rush around the popular amusement park seeking to enjoy as much as they can during their day there.
But what happens at the end of the day when everyone is hot, tired and cranky?
Greg Hill has a good answer to that question.
Hill is president of the Sawmill Creek Resort, which is just five short physical miles from Cedar Point, but a world away from the hustle and bustle of the park when families want to re-connect with each other after their exciting day enjoying the amusement park's rides and attractions.
I recently visited Sawmill Creek with a group of Midwest travel writers, photographers and bloggers where Hill told us how guests enjoy some quiet time to enjoy a meal, take a post-dinner walk, or chill in one of the resorts pools after a busy day.
It was easy to see Hill's point as I wandered around the 240-room lodge set on a 235-acre campus that includes amenities like an 18-hole golf course, a 176-slip marina, indoor and outdoor pools, several restaurants and snack concessions, shops and direct access to the neighboring Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve with its wild life, wild flowers and barrier beach.
Sawmill Creek Resort opened in 1972, and its 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed golf course debuted in 1974.
The resort has its own cruise boat, the "Dispatch", a retired ferry that once carried passengers to Cedar Point from Sandusky. The boat accommodates up to 60 passengers and regularly sails for sunset cruises and group excursions from the lodge's marina.
There is also a network of walking trails on the grounds that allow guests to circle the golf course, head on out to the lake and walk the nearby nature preserve.
The resort works well as a relaxing getaway, but with its 50,000-square-feet of flexible meeting and banquet space (which can seat more than 1,500 guests); it looks like it would work equally well as a venue for large events like weddings or conferences.
I wished we had more time to tour the lodge and the grounds, but we landed at the lodge after a full day at the Cedar Point amusement park. We had just a short time to wander around the main lodge a bit, relax, meet with Hill and head on over to the Sheldon Marsh Nature Preserve before having a picnic on the beach catered by the resort.
Several of us managed to take a short golf-cart tour of the marina and lodge campus with a lodge staff member after dinner, but it was unfortunately too dark by that time to take any decent photos.
I did make time to check out the lodge's must-see collection of Woodland Indian artifacts. The collection spotlights the Wyandot and Iroquois tribes native to Ohio. The artifacts fill sixteen large museum-quality glass display cases and include numerous rugs and other wall hangings.
A lodge staffer saw me taking photos of a Native American rug in the first-floor lobby and told me to be sure I got up to the second floor to see more of the displays, which included one of his favorite pieces, a stretched hide map showing the distribution of northern Ohio's tribes in the 1700s.
I wanted to linger a bit longer by the fireplace in one of the lodge's many common rooms, but it was nearly midnight and we would be off the next day to visit more of the Lake Erie Shores and Islands region after a buffet breakfast at the lodge's Salmon Run restaurant.
What I did manage to experience at the lodge during our short visit, made me want to return for a longer visit with Tim.
Thanks to the Lake Erie Shores & Islands Visitors Bureau for sponsoring my visit to the Lake Erie Shores and Islands area, providing lodging, meals, and help arranging visits to area attractions for my review, with no further compensation. I was free to express my own opinions about the stay and experiences, and the opinions expressed here are mine.
© Dominique King 2014 All rights reserved
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