Day 3: December 24, 2019
Fog to Lake

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This was just about the most unscenic drive of a scenic byway I can recall. Between Steubenville and East Liverpool, OH-7 is part of the Ohio River Scenic Byway and for most of that distance is -- conditions permitting -- within sight of the Ohio River. Conditions were not permitting today. The heavy fog apparent in the first picture began to vanish just a few miles of where I took the second picture at OH-7's end in Conneaut.

OH-7 ends just a few blocks -- no more than half a mile -- from Lake Erie. I continued to the shore and grabbed a few photos. The third one is from a park I pulled into shortly after heading west.

Geneva-on-the-Lake is bracketed by overhead arches. The first picture is from the east end of town from when I first reached it. The second is was taken from the driveway of my destination on the town's west edge.

It was slowly registering that my choice for where to spend Christmas this year definitely had issues. You might have noticed that I took no pictures when I first drove through town. These pictures were taken when I drove back through to verify what I had seen: absolutely nothing was open. I guess I wasn't really surprised, but I had been hanging onto a sliver of hope. A few places, such as the brewery, were closed for the holiday and would reopen Thursday or a few days later. But most were closed for the season. This is, after all, a resort village on Ohio's north coast. It's at roughly 42 degrees north latitude; A lot of very cold water is right next to it; There is virtually nothing to interfere with a north wind that wants to come calling. There was no doubt that these businesses had seen and would see some seriously fun times -- but not today, not in December.

So here is where I'll be spending almost all of my time over the next couple of days. The Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake is a great looking place that appears ready for Christmas. It has a very nice lounge and a restaurant with a good reputation. And it is definitely on-the-lake as the third photo, taken from the lounge, shows.

I did drive through the state park which, like most things in the area, is oriented towards big water and warmer weather. And I made a pass through Geneva (not-on-the-Lake) and found everything closed except for drug stores and gas stations. A carry-out near the lodge was also open. The lodge restaurant had a buffet operating tonight. I believe reservations were required but even if I could have talked my way in, I had no desire to. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow.

A small but quite respectable menu is offered in the lounge. I opted for a chicken Caesar before retiring to my room where dessert again awaited.


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