The Island House staff whipped up a good chai latte.

After some time lounging with Calvin in the room, we then got around for some exploration. After discovering the cart was dead, and getting a new one towed to us (my bad) we made our way over to the famous Glacial Grooves. Calvin had been dressed assuming it would be cooler out so when we got there and the sun was out, we found that after a lap around the grooves, he needed to change into something more comfortable. So back at the golf cart, we changed him and then made our way into town to the Kelleys Island General Store to get Calvin a boonie hat as a souvenir.

Aubri and Calvin standing at the Glacial Grooves.

Once we touched base back at the resort again, we took a small break before getting dinner at the Kelleys Island Wine Company. On our way there, we made a wrong turn and ended up passing by the Kelleys Island Airport again, which is this somewhat hazardous looking stop at the intersection of the runway that vehicles must stop at to yield to any possible aircraft touching down on the island. There were other points of interest as well, such as Kelleys Island 4-H Camp which Aubri remembered visiting for archery a while back. Once we got to the winery we got seated outside and my mom and I both got a ‘sweet’ wine tasting tray while Aubri got the sweetest red wine called the “Long Sweet Red” which was effectively grape juice (her preferred taste). For food, we got a pepperoni pizza and a deluxe pizza. Everything was pretty good! One oddity we found was that someone’s car alarm kept sounding off about every 5 minutes for some reason. We were not sure why or who but even the waitresses were annoyed. Otherwise, a great atmosphere on the front patio.

The patio experience at Kelleys Island Wine Co.

When we got back to the room, we decompressed from the day’s adventures, played with Calvin in the living room, and relaxed. Around 9:00pm Aub and I decided to take the cart to the Sand Trap Tiki Bar downtown for a more novel drink, but found that it was closing down for the evening. Looking for another option, we eventually made our way back to the resort where we parked the cart and walked across the street to The Villa Eatery & Bar which was a neat little outdoor cantina with garage doors opened all around the perimeter to let in the lake breeze. Aubri got the Risata Moscato wine and I got the 575 Mojito which was super tasty. After having our drinks, we walked back up to the resort where we found Calvin sound asleep thanks to Mimi Jen. At this point, vacation was effectively over. Only thing left was to sleep, wake up, get our luggage around and leave for the Seaway Marina to catch the 10:00am departure of our ferry.

The view of Lake Erie from the Villa’s bar.

This happened about exactly as planned, although we did see the Crawfords on our walk off of the ferry. They happened to be boarding for a day-away trip over to the island while we were on our way out. Overall, it was a great but short little first vacation for Calvin!

Calvin waits for the ferry while Cedar Point looms in the distance.

Calvin being a scallywag as we take the ferry over.

After leaving, we got on the island and waited for my dad to pick us up in his rental golf cart, a six seater. I answered emails and caught up on office news while waiting. Once he picked us up, we dropped our bags off at the Kelleys Island Venture Resort conference room and took a brief lap around the island while waiting for our room to finish up. We also stopped back at the golf cart pickup spot because we had some trouble with the parking brake’s sensitivity. The lady came out to check it and let us know it was just a bit sensitive and needed to be slowly pressed down to lock. We passed some key sites like the Glacial Grooves and Crusher building and then got back to the resort to stay by the pool for the remainder of the wait. Calvin got a dip in the pool and we snacked on some cubed cheese and ham while resting under the umbrella. Our room was ready by 3:00 so we went up and made ourselves comfortable. 

Aubri, Calvin and I enjoying the pool while waiting for our room.

Once our bedding arrangements were all determined, we decided upon our dinner locale, The Village Pump for perch and beer. We did a lap around the island again to get us closer to dinner time, then parked for food. I got a perch dinner which included 10ish pieces of perch, fries, coleslaw, and garlic bread. I also got a Twin Oast Kelley’s Island Pilsner. Most of us got perch except my mom and sister who got walleye and nachos respectively. The nachos came out first and looked like “they dumped the whole bag on the plate” from Elli’s perspective. It was quite a bit of food all around but tasty! 

Sisyph-‘sis’ and her boulder.

We finished eating, we took a lap to some prior points of interest for my parents like former places of stay and one of the quarries, then stopped for ice cream at Dipper Dan’s Ice Cream, right beside the putt-putt course. I got a mint chocolate chip cone and Aub got a butter pecan cone which she shared with Cal who gave his approval. After that we stopped back at the resort for my dad’s 6 o’clock cup of coffee and then rested until bed. 

A great first day!