Blossom Time in Chagrin Falls

We left Catawba Island and headed east to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. “Shaggy Falls” as the locals call it, is the home of Jill’s sister Erin and Erin’s oldest son Chris and his wife Theresa.

The “Blossom Time Festival” is held every Memorial Day weekend in Chagrin Falls. There’s a race, concerts, a carnival with rides and a midway. But for Glenn, the highlight is the parade on Sunday.

The parade starts in the center of town and heads about a mile to the town cemetery. The town folks line the parade route and then follow out to the historic cemetery where Memorial Day speeches and prayers are held. Then the parade marches back to town.

Glenn with Theresa and Clyde, Erin’s friend (and Master Gardener), who invited him to participate.

Kelleys Island

A short ferry boat ride from the mainland is Kelleys Island. It is less than 5 square miles and most visitors get around by golf cart.

We went to the island to see the glacial striations or “glacial grooves” in the Glacial Grooves State Memorial. They are 400-foot long scratches in the bedrock cut by glacial abrasion. These are considered the largest and most easily accessible in the world.

When Jill heard that Geoff and Nike were going to take their dog Ben to the island, she decided that she was going to take Bix. He especially enjoyed the golf cart ride.

Dinner at the Kelleys Island Brewery. Nike, Ben, Glenn, Jill and Geoff. Bix is not visible but is by Jill’s feet. Bix is totally not perturbed by dogs, a fact that irritates some of them.

And as the sun slowly sets over Lake Erie, we say good by to Kelleys Island.

Glenn's K3 is on the air!

Geoff helped Glenn rig an antenna on the coach for Glenn’s Elecraft K3 shortwave ham radio.

Note the similarity to this picture taken at WREK Radio at Georgia Tech 41 years ago in the summer of 1968. This was Geoff building the now-famous “Goatmitter.”

The antenna is a half-wave 20-meter inverted-V dipole. It’s supported by an 18’ painter’s pole clamped to the hitch on the back of the coach. It's removed when driving.

We fired up the radio. The first contact was with a station in Tenerife on the Canary Islands! Pretty cool for 100 watts and a little antenna.

Catawba Island

Catawba Island is a beautiful area of Ohio on Lake Erie. After a storm many years ago, it’s not really an island any more. Glenn’s friend Geoff and his wife Nike have a summer home there. Geoff’s younger daughter, Merideth, had just graduated from Notre Dame in South Bend.

Merideth, Nike, Jill and Glenn on the shore of Lake Erie.