put-in-bay

When I was younger I used to go sailing with my parents at least three weekends every summer. But as I got older I loved the weekends my parents would sail away because it meant I had the house to myself. I swear, I never had parties mom, just small "get togethers."

So when my parents invited Rob and I to go sailing with them this weekend I was pretty excited. I have loved Put-In-Bay (party island in the middle of Lake Erie) since they first brought me there at the age of fourteen (bad parents!) Rob has been once with myself and my dad when we did Shakedown in 2012 (race to the island, then race to the bar). On Friday night we loaded up the boat and set sail with fingers crossed that the rain would hold off. Unfortunately we did get a little wet, but nothing to cry about. We docked at Pelee Island (known for their wine) for the night and enjoyed a dinner of shrimp and scallops, washed down with Pelee Island Lighthouse Chardonnay.

We were up bright and early to have breakfast. The day before I made peanut butter and banana sandwiches with chocolate chips and wrapped them in tin foil. We popped them onto the hot grill in their foil wrappers and toasted them up. I can't tell you how delicious these are! You could also throw the foiled sandwiches into the coals of a campfire for the same toasty, goo-ey, wonderfulness!

The sail to Put-In-Bay was just beautiful and we enjoyed a quick lunch before heading onto the island. The boat was on a mooring ball in the harbour so we took the water taxi onto the island.

The island was hectic. It was Christmas in July and everyone and their brother was at the Bay. Drunk Santas, elves, and Mrs Clauses were stumbling all over the street and it was only 2:00pm. We decided to avoid the maddness and rented a golf cart to cruise around the island. We then ducked into Frosty's (my favourite bar) and headed to the new patio for some frozen mojitos and beer. After getting smoked out (I forgot how many people smoke in the States), we headed to Tippers for all you can eat prime rib, another PIB favourite. The liquor was flowing and we witnessed an almost bar restaurant fight. No shortage of action on this trip. 

It had started cooling down a bit so we headed back to the boat to get some warmer clothes. And then back to the island to do some people watching and get ice cream cones.

A guy was walking around with a big sign that said "Love Doctor" on one side and "Wanted: One Night Stand - Females Only" on the other. He saw us taking a picture and thought we needed his prop.

One last trip on the water taxi. We spent the rest of the night playing Monopoly (one of Friday's yard sale finds). Dad won, as per usual. 

We had a great sail (well we motored because there was no wind, but the weather was beautiful) back to Kingsville on Sunday. It was nice to get away with my parents. But next time, we will make sure we go to Put-In-Bay when it's a little less wild.