A Fishy New Year's Eve
For New Year's Eve, M and I checked out the Walleye Drop. You read that correctly. Port Clinton, Ohio, bills itself as the "walleye capital of the world". In that spirit, instead of dropping a ball one New Year's Eve as they do in Times Square, they drop a 20 foot fiberglass walleye (nicknamed Wylie) as the clock counts down to 2017. This was the 20th year that they have done this. M found out about it and rightfully said this was something she wanted to experience.
The weather on New Year's Eve was unseasonably warm, and our hotel conveniently had a shuttle to Port Clinton's downtown area, so it took basically no effort beyond driving the hour west to Port Clinton to achieve this.
First we reconnoitered the downtown. Port Clinton has maybe 5000 people and makes most of its money in the summer as a tourist destination, so this didn't take long. Aside from a few food trucks and some small shops, the predominant feature of the area was a bunch of bars, all of which were showing OSU's pathetic showing in the semifinals. This event presumably kept the early crowds down, as virtually nobody else was around at 9pm. After checking out assorted parks and statuary and snapping some pictures of Wylie (both the featured one and the guy in the Wylie mascot outfit), we ducked into a local Mexican restaurant for nachos and beer.
Upon exiting the eatery, we checked out a few more of the shops, and then headed to an outdoor lakeside bar that was clearly set up to cater to the boating crowd. Although the unseasonably warm weather had eliminated any snow or ice, no boats were to be seen, but the bar possessed the virtues of being cheap, near Wylie, and relatively empty so M and I had several rounds (gin & tonic for her, beer for me) by the warmth of the propane heaters as the clock moved along.
At 11pm, Wylie was hoisted into position by a crane. The OSU game had finished and quite a substantial crowd was filling the plaza next to Wylie while a DJ played music. Fireworks went off every 15 minutes as the clock counted down. We left the bar and moved to the plaza. When the clock his 11:59 Wylie began his slow descent from the top of the crane to the ground while the crowd cheered. A large fireworks show went off over the lake. After it concluded I bought some fried oreos from the food truck and we went back for one last round. When we went to the shuttle stop at 12:30 the plaza was practically empty.
M has all the pictures locked down so I can't easily link to them and you'll have to take my word for it that this happened. I had a fine time, although I am definitely glad that it wasn't too windy that night. I wouldn't mind heading that way in warmer weather to check out the lighthouses and other lakeside attractions.
The weather on New Year's Eve was unseasonably warm, and our hotel conveniently had a shuttle to Port Clinton's downtown area, so it took basically no effort beyond driving the hour west to Port Clinton to achieve this.
First we reconnoitered the downtown. Port Clinton has maybe 5000 people and makes most of its money in the summer as a tourist destination, so this didn't take long. Aside from a few food trucks and some small shops, the predominant feature of the area was a bunch of bars, all of which were showing OSU's pathetic showing in the semifinals. This event presumably kept the early crowds down, as virtually nobody else was around at 9pm. After checking out assorted parks and statuary and snapping some pictures of Wylie (both the featured one and the guy in the Wylie mascot outfit), we ducked into a local Mexican restaurant for nachos and beer.
Upon exiting the eatery, we checked out a few more of the shops, and then headed to an outdoor lakeside bar that was clearly set up to cater to the boating crowd. Although the unseasonably warm weather had eliminated any snow or ice, no boats were to be seen, but the bar possessed the virtues of being cheap, near Wylie, and relatively empty so M and I had several rounds (gin & tonic for her, beer for me) by the warmth of the propane heaters as the clock moved along.
At 11pm, Wylie was hoisted into position by a crane. The OSU game had finished and quite a substantial crowd was filling the plaza next to Wylie while a DJ played music. Fireworks went off every 15 minutes as the clock counted down. We left the bar and moved to the plaza. When the clock his 11:59 Wylie began his slow descent from the top of the crane to the ground while the crowd cheered. A large fireworks show went off over the lake. After it concluded I bought some fried oreos from the food truck and we went back for one last round. When we went to the shuttle stop at 12:30 the plaza was practically empty.
M has all the pictures locked down so I can't easily link to them and you'll have to take my word for it that this happened. I had a fine time, although I am definitely glad that it wasn't too windy that night. I wouldn't mind heading that way in warmer weather to check out the lighthouses and other lakeside attractions.