Part 3 of the great 2009 Staycation! (Part 1 and Part 2)

Saturday and Sunday we hung out at my parents house. For some reason we didn’t really take any pictures, so…. sorry! Saturday we had some friends of ours (the Olmsteds and Broadbents) that had moved from Cincinnati to Cleveland over for a BBQ. Unfortunately the weather did not really cooperate (it rained all day) but it was still fun.

Sunday we had church and then a bunch of family came over for a big pancake / waffle brunch. We had my uncle Rick and aunt Jackie along with all of their kids and grandkids, as well as my aunt Pam and uncle Greg and family. It was nice to see all of them and have our kids play with some of their second cousins.

Monday we packed up and headed home. But not before forgetting quite a bit of things at my parents house (grrr)

First stop of the day was exciting Campbell Hill. (Well actually before that we stopped for lunch). Campbell Hill is the highest point in Ohio (1529 ft)

The high point is actually on the campus of the “Hi Point Career Center” (a vocational school). We passed it up first because we were not sure if that was it or not.

I know 1529 ft sure seems “real” high, especially for those of you out west who are used to much higher elevations. I’m sure you’ll be even more impressed when I tell you about our “grueling” ascent to the summit. (You can drive all the way to the top 🙂 ). It reminded me a lot of our trip to Reddish Knob last year in Virginia.

Here is the marker.

The fam in front of the sign.

As I was signing the logbook, Carolyn made some sort of joke about how if that was where losers like me signed in. And I said of course! and then noted that already today, 2 other folks had already been here! Kind of crazy. Also saw a group that was trying to do all 48 state highpoints in 3 weeks. Sounds like my kind of folks!

There was a grassy hill off to the other side of the high point, which we sent the kids running down and up a few times to tire them out. But then, having had NEARLY our fill of excitement, we loaded everyone back in to the hill and headed west!

For yes, one highpoint is NOT enough. Hoosier Hill is only about an hour or so west, just across the Indiana border. Kids were glad to know that Ohio “won”, since the highpoint of Indiana is only 1257 ft.

Also a driveup, though the approach is even less well marked.

Kids in front of the Hoosier Hill sign.

And here is Carolyn, showing her true feelings of contentment, happiness and joy upon reaching the highest point in Indiana.

And this is Carolyn pretending to be annoyed at having to drive out of the way to visit this exciting part of Americana!

We got home about 5:30 and unpacked and hung out and such. Carolyn and I celebrated by getting a pizza and root beer and playing Mario Kart, a nice throwback to our early married days!

Remember, the budget is $250.

Earlier days: $83
Saturday: $3 for watermelon (though that does not count the $1.92 in coins I found while out shopping!)
Sunday: nothing
Monday:

• $30 in gas
• $13 for Wendys
• $33 in gas
• $8 for the pizza and root beer

Total so far: $170