The Bridges of Ashtabula County

In route to New Jersey for the third time, we stopped to visit a great friend in Ohio. After learning about a neighboring county having over 20 covered bridges Tony couldn't help trekking out to take some pics.

Cell service is non-existent there so finding the bridges using his iPhone became a problem. He found some maps after stopping by a bar and a winery. Weather and time only permitted him to photo 3 of the bridges, but the last one became an opportunity for some long exposures and a really cool bridge.

River Views in Toledo

In search of a micro-brewery in downtown Toledo, we stumbled on a small park in downtown Toledo that fronted the river. The brewery didn't open until much later in the day, and since we had to work, we skipped the beer and settled for some picture taking instead.

Glass Bowl Made by Mary Lane of Toledo Glass Pavilion

We enjoyed the Toledo Glass Pavilion immensely. Toledo is know for glass making, and we thought we'd drop by and look around and take in one of the exhibitions. It was done by Mary Lane. She was very informative, entertaining, and talented.

After the demonstration Robin wished that we had asked her to see about purchasing the bowl she made. We didn't so we forgot about it.

A few weeks later we went by a bead shop (go figure), and next door there was a glass gallery. I wandered around in there and began visiting with the owner, Les, and asked if the glass was done by local artists, and he said many of the pieces were his, and some were by Mary Lane. Small world.

After some discussion, Les suggested he contact Mary and see if she could make a piece just for us. He had time rented, and if our schedules would work we would do it.

We had to stay up after working all night, but we met Les and Mary and you can view the pictures of the process. It was a thrill and we love the bowl.