Trip to Ashtabula, Ohio

Good Sunday morning. It's blowing snow today, confirming to me that it was a good idea to run my errands yesterday and a nice morning to stay inside today.  We were so fortunate with the weather last week for our trip to Ashtabula, Ohio for the Ashtabula Maritime and Surface Transportation Museum's History on Tap pub evening. Lorraine (my sister, best friend and publisher) and I enjoyed our book signing/meet and greet in September, so when we were invited to come back and speak at this special event, held once a month during the winter months, we thought it would be fun. It's difficult to commit to winter events because you have to factor in the weather and we would have to travel through a couple of snow belts to get there. From Mont Tremblant to Ashtabula there are two routes to choose from. One which travels south of Lake Ontario through the US and one which travels north of Lake Ontario. We had to pick up books from the printers north of Toronto for the event so we had to take the northern passage which is approximately 90 minutes longer totaling 10 hours and 26 minutes driving time. We left Tremblant at 07h30 with just a few snowflakes falling.

The route we took to Ashtabula with a stop at to pick up books at the printer and an overnight in St Catharines, Ontario.

The faster route.

I had my new suitcase packed when Lorraine came to my door and shared with her that I was excited to inaugurate the smaller of the two on its first trip. I bought the matching two piece set on our trip to Montreal. Both of my suitcases that I have had for years and that I pack to the bulging point everytime I go on the ship have tears in them and needed to be replaced. I liked my two old suitcases that carried my food processor, kitchen gadgets, spices, ships clothes, going ashore clothes and a few personal items to decorate my room and of course my own pillow. (I always travel with a feather pillow). I was becoming increasingly concerned each time I packed to join a vessel that the tears would widen and spill my items at the most inconvenient time. Rather than take that chance anymore I decided to buy new suitcases. As I walked around the store with Lorraine I tried to imagine how I could pack all my things in these more modern shiny suitcases. I had my old suitcases down to a science and always used the tricks that our dad shared with us of how to get some extra items in when you think your suitcase is full and not one inch of space is left. I remember as he gave us the demonstration. Fill your bag to capacity, close the zipper then stand the suitcase up. As if we were witnessing a magic trick the first time we saw him do this, an empty space appeared at the top of the bag and allowed more room for packing those extra items that only a few moments ago you were sure were not going to make the trip with you. Our dad travelled a lot for Black and Decker. He was so lucky that his frequent business trips brought him to Germany and a short distance from where he grew up so he could always stop in and visit family and friends a few times a year. My mom would sometimes go with him but when she did not, his bags were always packed with gifts or special items from Canada and the empty spaces that were left in his suitcases when the gifts were delivered to loved ones, were then replaced with German specialties including chocolate to be brought back to Canada. There would often be a kitchen item for my mom from the WMF store which was located across the street from the NordSee restaurant kiosk. My dad always made sure to make a stop in Darmstadt to the music store, the Nordsee for a herring Brotchen and the WMF store for something for my mom. I take after my mom and would prefer you purchase a gift for me from a kitchen store instead of a jewelry store. I thought the trip to Ashtabula would be the perfect  fun trip to use my new suitcase before it made its trip to the ship. We decided to break up the trip and stay with a friend in St Catharines after picking up the books. We also needed a place to store the extra books which we picked up that we knew we could not take across the border. We are only allowed to cross over the border with books that have already been sold. The Ashtabula Museum purchased books, so you can buy your book there when they reopen for the season on Memorial day weekend. It is definitely worth a trip. The first leg of the drive went really fast and after picking up the books at the printers we stopped in Grimsby for the most delicious Shawarma chicken salad from the Montfort kiosk. It was delicious and worth stopping at. I especially like the garlic sauce and curried onions that topped the generous portion of chicken which hid the salad below.

The smaller of my new two suitcases

We crossed over from Quebec into Ontario in Ottawa. In the distance is the Parliament building. My mom went on so many school trips as a chaperone and made so many trips there with company from Germany that she could lead the guided Parliament building tour herself.

Lorraine pointed out the “eye in the sky” cloud formation

The most delicious shawarma chicken salad with garlic sauce and curried onions.

We could not have asked for better weather for our short 2 hour and 44 minute drive from St Catharines to Ashtabula. Our host, Brian met us at the Ashtabula Museum, the location of September's book signing. I was beyond delighted when we were able to walk through the museum. It is closed for the winter but we were given a private tour. It was so interesting and having Brian draw from his wealth of knowledge about the pieces we stopped to look at was great. I could have stayed for hours. I love looking at the mini version of the loading dock exhibition. The details in this display are amazing. I asked if I could take some photos to share with you. Our next stop was to Halcyon. A local restaurant which has delicious homemade food. I ordered the tomato bisque (which I whispered to Lorraine, "it tastes like I made it.") and the brussel sprout caesar salad. I love brussel sprouts and when I ordered the salad, the waitress suggested I try it with the homemade maple vinaigrette and it was so delicious!

This display is a work of art.

There are so many details

Brian shared with us that this display is only a third of the full piece that a very talented (and patient) gentleman put together in his basement/or garage.

I used to come into Ashtabula years ago on the Louis R Desmarais. The coal dock is no longer there, but the memories are.

The conversations with Brian were so interesting and the time was going too fast. It was time to make our way over to the Cloven Hoof for the History on Tap event. It is the perfect place for a speaking event. I have to be honest though I was a bit nervous that I would actually be using a microphone. I think the last time I held a microphone was as a child at the Black and Decker Christmas party when we sang along to our dad playing "Jolly old Saint Nicholas" on the accordion. The night at the Cloven Hoof was fun and after a few reminders to hold the mic closer while speaking I got the hang of it. After a short talk about being the Ship to Shore Chef and how I got into sailing I invited people to ask me questions about what interested them. Each question sparked a story and  Lorraine stood off to the side and was there to help fill in if there was something I forgot. It was a fun evening and we enjoyed meeting people and signing their books. It was fun when one lady came back to see us again after purchasing her book. She had flipped through the book at her table and came across the pages and recipes from my 24 years operating our restaurant Creperie Catherine. She could not believe that I was the same Catherine that made meals for her family every time they visited the popular ski resort in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. After the event we followed Brian's white truck to our overnight location. Someone very generously offered their house by the lake for us to stay. It was beautiful.

Our host Brian. He is so interesting and showed us a wonderful time.

Our speaking event at the Cloven Hoof in Ashtabula, Ohio

It was nice having Lorraine standing there with me, helping to fill in the word or name of a place I was trying to recall.

The next morning we joined Brian for breakfast at the Lakeway Restaurant and had a great breakfast served by Brian's wife. The conversation was easy and we learned about Brian's years as a homicide detective. He is a great story teller and I felt like I was listening to the most interesting "True Crime-Whodunnit" show. We laughed and gasped at some of the stories, shaking our heads in disbelief when he recounted the dumbest criminal story. We sat for almost two hours and barely scraped the surface of his interesting career but we had planned on driving along the waterfront on our return trip and we also wanted to see some of the tourist attractions that Ashtabula has to offer so we pulled ourselves away from the table and storytelling. In the Museum there is an exhibit of the 1876 Train and Bridge Disaster and Brian took us to the actual location. It was such a beautiful day that we took the walking trail to the actual site. Our personal guided tour then took us to the beautiful Lakeshore park where they have the largest covered picnic area. You could see a couple of ships in the distance. There were four in total spending the winter in Ashtabula, two were 1000 footers. Our last stop before leaving was Smolen covered bridge. We stopped at the lookout and we could see the pedestrian covered bridge which is an exact replica of the vehicle covered bridge. Lorraine commented that we could spend a week in Ashtabula, there is so much to see and do. We parted ways with Brian and promised to come back.

We saw the display of the train & bridge disaster at the museum and Brian took us to the actual site.

The actual site of the accident that cold winter night so many years ago.

This over a 100 year old enclosed picnic area was huge. In the distance you can see one of the 1000 footers wintering in Ashtabula.

There were numerous swings hanging from the picnic area. I’m sure it is beautiful in the summer months.

The Lakeshore park is beautiful

The last part of our tour was the covered bridge with identical smaller scale pedestrian covered bridge down to the right.

There are numerous covered bridges in the area.

Following Brian and his white truck in the covered bridge.

We made our way along the lake and stopped to see the "Roger Blough" which we had heard mentioned the night before. It is not in service anymore and if I remember correctly it has a unique unloading system. We stopped at the Erie post office to mail the US books which were purchased online and then continued on our way. Before crossing back over to Canada we stopped for dinner, forgetting that it was Valentine's day and the restaurants were busy. It was a great trip and we will definitely go back.  Maybe I will get a ship that goes into Ashtabula this season. I missed going by ship to Ashtabula by two days. The Spruceglen was there December 24th 2023, two days before I joined it on the 26th in Port Colborne. We have two events coming up this week. One is a private event. I have been invited to a 4-H club to demonstrate how to make cinnamon buns. It is the first time I am doing something like this but I think it will be fun. On Saturday February 24th we will be at the Massena Public Library for a book signing/meet and greet. It will be 1pm-3pm and is located at  41 Glenn St Massena NY 13662. We will be bringing books with us.  You can order them online and we will reimburse the shipping when you pick them up at the event or we will mail them if you are unable to attend. It looks like the weather will be good and we look forward to seeing you there. Lorraine asked me to remind you that we will be mailing books to our US customers Saturday morning so if you are planning to purchase a book we will be stopping at the Massena Post Office Saturday morning.  I have been working on my cookbook every day and working on my recipes, making sure to take notes of the measurements. I am working on a breakfast sausage recipe and I am really pleased with the flavor.  I love breakfast sausages and breakfast sausage patties  but it is hard to find them made without grain fillers. My version of breakfast sausages will be in the next cookbook which will have recipes that are prepared without added sugar, grains or flour.

The Roger Blough was tied up in Erie, Pennsylvania

Erie Post Office

We had some books to mail

a new recipe for the book. Pulled pork salad bowl. This by itself would have been delicious but I made a dressing that as Lorraine would say “brought it to the next level of deliciousness”

This dressing went so well on the pulled pork salad bowl. I will make it again taking note of the measurements. It was easy and delicious.

I have been asked a few times when the next book will be available for ordering. We will do a pre-order at the beginning of March. This will give us an opportunity to determine how many books we will need to order for the first run. It's exciting for me to work on this next book and when each two page spread is completed, I send it on to Lorraine. The hardest part of writing the book is choosing the photos of ships and life on the ship. There are so many photos, recipes and stories that I want to include. As we are well into the second half of February, I know my phone will start to ring when the early spring jobs become available. I am second on the Union Board. My priority is to complete the cookbook but if the right job is called I will take it. Lorraine reminds me that I work best with a deadline so fitting in an early spring job will not delay the book, in fact it will keep me focused. My second place position on the Union board is good until June so I am hopeful to get a good summer job on good ships. Fingers crossed. Stay tuned for some new YouTube videos. While looking for photos for the next book I came across a lot of videos that I have not shared with you yet.  Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you for taking the time to spend some of it with me and my stories. See you next time. 

Neighbor Susan and her husband took us to breakfast and I laughed when I realized that my outfit matched the wallpaper in the ladies bathroom

We have lots of books in stock and will have them available at the Massena event Saturday February 24th at the Massena Public Library from 1pm to 3pm. the address is 41 Glenn St Massena NY 13662. We will be bringing books with us.  You can order them online and we will reimburse the shipping when you pick them up at the event or we will mail them if you are unable to attend. It looks like the weather will be good and we look forward to seeing you there. Lorraine asked me to remind you that we will be mailing books to our US customers Saturday morning so if you are planning to purchase a book we will be stopping at the Massena Post Office Saturday morning.