Swimming in Erie, shredding in Kettering

We awoke late on the morning of the 28th cozily swaddled in our sleeping bags at east harbor state park, on the shores of Lake Erie. The sky was partially cloudy, there was a pleasant breeze in the air, and besides an RV city that I had a feeling had been the since last fall, we were the only campers in the entire joint. You could almost call it idyllic...if it weren't for the bugs. Holy sweet mother of pearl, the bugs. Clouds of mosquitos filled the air, making breakfast feel like Chinese torture. It seems that mosquitos were migratory animals, and lake Erie was where they head for the winter. It was like being in the depths of Amazon. It felt like being in the depths of whatever bug infested tropical rainforest they have on planet bullshit. There were so many i was worried they were gonna band together, lift me off the ground take me to the hive. If you haven't guessed by now, we were wildly unprepared, and subsequently wildly itchy.
Nonetheless, we managed to soldier through it, and make the mile trek from the campground to the lake shoreline, a beautiful sandy beach nestled on the edge of surprisingly crystal blue waters of the great lake Erie. If it weren't for the strange Dr. Seuss trees of Ohio, it would look tropical. Again, this late in the season, we found ourselves completely alone.


Seriously, what is that BESIDES a Dr. Seuss tree?

The girls went for a swim in the great lake, however I actually like to enjoy myself when traveling so I opted out of a dip in the frigid cold waters. Not surprisingly, as soon as we reached the beach, the sky opened up and the day turned blazing hot, leaving me sweating like a stuck pig in jeans and a flannel while the girls frolicked in the (very small) waves. Briefly, we contested the idea of running to the store and grabbing some margarita mix, and really making the most of the tropical optical illusion.




greetings from acapulcohio!

We quickly opted against this idea. The road was calling! Besides if we didn't get out of there soon the ranger might realize we were camping there and actually make us pay money, and we hate paying money.
So away we went, pulling once again into traffic, and driving on, not west toward the glittering jewel of Chicago, not north to the beautiful ruins of Detroit, but south, to Kettering, Ohio.
In every way, Kettering, Ohio is an unspectacular place. Charming, sure, but unspectacular. I am sorry to everyone who loves Kettering, Ohio, but it's true. At least it's true to 99% of the population. Kettering is maybe a spectacular place for University of Miami Ohio students to buy weed, and undoubtedly a spectacular place for skateboarders.
A couple of years ago, Rob Dyrdek, a very famous and very rich skateboarder teamed up with the city hall to build a skatepark for his hometown of Kettering. With the city's trust in their clean cut Ohio boy, and Dyrdek's knowledge and passion for skateboarding, something incredible emerged: a skatepark built by a town that is actually fun to skate. And not just fun, the most incredible, shredtastic park in the Midwest. The Rob Dyrdek DC Shoe skate plaza is a 40,000 sq ft cathedral of skateboarding. It replicates famous skate spots from all over the world. Pier 9 in San Francisco, the ARCO building handrails in LA, the Barcelona gap in Spain. Skate spots that normal skateboarders could never dream of riding, and due to skateboarding's poor image, have been remodeled so that no one will ever be able to ride them again.





The Sistine Chapel has nothing on this image.


So there is the truth. I am a skateboarder. I'm ousted. I have ridden since I was a mere twelve years old, and I still love it. The girls, however, are not. Nonetheless, they drove the four hours with me down to middle of nowhere Ohio so that I could pay my homage to the great skate gods, and sat by the water fountain like a trio of soccer moms while I got my fill and giggled like a school girl. They are the greatest travel companions ever.









They can sing along to Taylor Swift for the rest of the trip for this.


- O'K

Location:Lakeside, Ohio, Kettering, Ohio