Another great outing with Diane!

June 12 – Plan for today was a trip to Carrollton to the last remaining Bed Franklin store.  A friend of Bill’s mother is the manager there.  We invited Diane to go and she’s been to the town but not to the store. 

Diane was due at 10:30 so I left just about 9:30 to go to the post office to mail several packages and a birthday card.  It took longer than I expected to pick packaging and label what needed it but there was no line once I got it all ready to go.  From there I took a quick jaunt to the Joann store looking for OSU fabric and again had no luck.  They had tons of fleece and flannel but that wasn’t what I was looking for.

Ben Franklin Store

I zipped home knowing I was a few minutes late and Diane was visiting with Bill.  She offered to drive again and it really is nice as she knows where we’re going and the best ways to get there.  She enjoyed browsing the store and she agreed it reminded her of the “old days”.  They have a bit of everything!  Bill visited with his friend’s mom who was at the new store next door that is all baking and decorating supplies.  I bought a few small items at Ben Franklin and a hedgehog cookie cutter next door.

We ate at a normal lunch time today for the first in a while!  There was a deli diner around the corner that was highly recommended and it was delicious!  I had a Reuben, Diane had a Turkey Reuben and Bill went with Turkey with Sharp Cheddar.  Each came with a side and we all cleaned our plates.  No dessert today!

After lunch we drove to the Ashton House Museum.  Mr. and Mrs. Ashton owned numerous

Front of the Ashton House

Ben Franklin stores back in the day and he was an original investor McDonald’s and was an extremely wealthy man.  We toured the house and it was left exactly like it was the day Mr. Ashton died.  It’s very 50's looking and he collected so much memorabilia that in itself is worth a fortune.  They have enough to change out all of the displays in a 10 year rotation.  The Curator is the step-father of Bill’s friend (husband of the manager of Ben Franklin).  Super nice folks!  Diane had never been there but she enjoyed it as much as we did.

On the drive back to Dover we made a stop at the Dover Dam.  It’s been there since 1935 and we never knew about it.  You can

Overall of the Dover Dam

walk down to the edge of the Tuscarawas River to a nice picnic area.  There were kids across the river tossing rocks in.  It’s really low right now but Diane said they have to really watch the water flow in the spring. 

View of Tuscarawas River

Diane stayed for a while once we got back but we’re not sure we will get to see here again before we leave.  She had plans with her family tomorrow and we are going to my cousin Becky’s and visit with my cousins in that wing of the family.  I’ve always had a closeness to Diane and now that Ty has retired we hope they will come to Florida for some of the winter. 

I caught up my bookkeeping and did the not so fun job of balancing my checkbook.  Getting things organized and readied to leave on Sunday.  I left a message for a campground in Vermont but not at all confident that they can allow us to come into the state yet.  If not we will spend a few days in the Finger Lakes area of New York before we head for Connecticut.

 It was a beautiful weather day and not so darn hot!  I hope we keep this weather the rest of the summer.  The point of heading north is to avoid the heat and humidty!