We'll Always Remember Mentor

We'll always remember our day in Mentor . . . and we liked it enough to consider coming back someday.
Had a nice breakfast at the Residence Inn and then drove to the James Garfield Home just after it opened at 10 a.m. We were there for at least a couple of hours. The home is beautiful. His heirs donated it and its furnishings to the local historical society, so most of the items we saw were originals, not reproductions. It is a huge, beautiful home, made larger by Garfield's widow after his assassination. He had lived there himself, of course, managing the huge farm where it sat and also running his campaign for president from there.

The James Garfield home

We learned a lot about him. "He is a forgotten man," our excellent guide told us. It seems certain he would have been a great president had he lived. He knew six languages and had fluency in five of them (English, German, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew--the last was the one he knew least).
He was the first (and, I think, only) president to be elected from the House of Representatives.
He was the first presidential candidate to conduct his campaign by going directly to the people instead of working through spokesmen. He greeted scores of students and other citizens who came to hear him speak from the front porch of the house we visited.
His wife created a presidential library with all his papers and books here after his death. It was the first such presidential library.
He was a brilliant man, an accomplished and competitive student. In his lifetime he worked as a farmer, professor, preacher, politician, and more. The house and grounds surrounding it are shaded, cool, and beautiful, and we really are glad we made the visit.

The naturalist pointed out the swallowtail butterfly and
encouraged me to get a picture of it.

In the afternoon we went to Holden Arboretum, a 3600+ acre spot a short drive away. We were led in a
tour through the butterfly garden and then took a walking tour through many of the trails surrounding the visitors center. We saw fields of blooming perennials and many bushes and trees that were new to us. It was an absolutely beautiful day, sunny but not too hot--the perfect day to spend so much time outside. We were there from about noon till almost 3:30.
Then we drove to a state park on the shore of Lake Erie and walked across the sandy beach to stick our feet in the water. We spent more time cleaning the wet sand off our feet back at the car than we spent on the beach, but at least we could say we had sampled Lake Erie.
From there we drove a few minutes to Brennan's Seafood House, a restaurant I had researched ahead of time. It's certainly not a fancy place--all wood paneling and sailing kitsch. But it is a local and tourist favorite, and we enjoyed it. We split the Fisherman's Platter--shrimp, scallops, perch, whitefish, and a crab cake--and then split a piece of key lime pie to finish it off. It was a huge amount of food, and we were glad we shared it.
We had done all of that by 5:30, so I suggested we catch the first evening showing of Helen Mirren's new movie, The Hundred-Foot Journey. We really enjoyed it. In spite of a few implausibilities in the plot, the acting was wonderful, as was all the attention to food! We'd recommend it.

Our Minivacation

Evelyn and I are taking a little long-weekend trip, starting this afternoon. I'm writing from Mentor, Ohio. Tomorrow we're gong to visit the James A. Garfield home, a National Historic Site. Garfield, before he was president, was one of the Christian leaders who worked together to start Christian Standard, and when he died, the Standard's first editor, Isaac Errett, preached his funeral. (Found this article about Garfield published in Christian Standard.) I've always thought I'd like to visit his home sometime, and when I purchased a Groupon for a stay at a bed and breakfast in Millersburg (Amish country), I decided to combine the two destinations into one trip.
We'll visit the Garfield home tomorrow and maybe visit the Holden Arboretum, try to see some sand beside Lake Erie, and do whatever else we can find to do around here. I'm looking forward to a Saturday in a place I've never visited before.
We left home about 2:30 and stopped at a Mansfield exit for supper at Der Dutchman, a place we used to stop on the way to or from Grove City, PA, when Jennifer was in college there.

Earlier this week (Tuesday) we got to spend the evening with Wendy Wagoner who came the spend overnight with us. She will be the missionary in residence at CCU first semester (starting August 18), and she was in town working out some details with them. It was great to visit with her and sense that she's doing well.
Wednesday night we had Dan and Cindi Cooper at our house for our weekly dinner and Major Crimes evening. We really enjoy the series, a spin-off from The Closer, and the weekly fellowship with the Coopers is something we always look forward to.

Wednesday at work we sent the September issue of Christian Standard to the printer, and Jim Nieman has been working since then to get the digital version ready to upload to the new Christian Standard app.

Our tomatoes are starting to come on. Evelyn gave a bunch a of the grape tomatoes to the neighbor before we left, and a few of the regular tomatoes will be ready when we get home.