Kirtland, Ohio
Both Eric and I had ancestors come through Ohio in the mid-1800's, traveling by boat on the Erie canal and landing near Cleveland. His eventually followed the Oregon trail to Idaho and Oregon and mine moved with the Mormon pioneers to Utah. My extended family has a reunion every two years for some of these ancestors and this year the reunion was in Kirtland. It is only 2.5 hours from us so we decided to join. We didn't know anyone there but it was still fun to learn about these ancestors and what they did in Kirtland.
Cadie and Eric learning how to chisel rock at an old limestone quarry.

A really cool water-powered saw mill:

The extended family worked on service projects at an old historic farm, including planting lilac bushes that were taken as trimmings from our great... grandmother's plant dating back to the 1850's.

We were able to attend church services in the Kirtland Temple. This beautiful building is 175 years old and was originally built by the Mormons in Kirtland. It is now owned by another church that conducts tours but it was really special that our extended family received permission to hold meetings inside.

During non-reunion time we wanted to check out Lake Erie. Did you know that Lake Erie has some pretty great beaches? I did not. Too bad we didn't have our swim suits handy. This place deserves another visit in the future. When I am less large. Especially since we found an awesome burger/dawg/ice cream place nearby.

On the way home we took a little time to explore Cuyahoga Valley National Park and found a... drum roll please...
SKI RESORT!

This is what a ski resort looks like in Ohio and yes that is the entire park.
Well - we will have to visit Cuyahoga again but probably not with skis (unless they are cross-country). There are hundreds of miles of bike trails and a passenger train that goes through up to Cleveland. All in all a great extended weekend.