Toledo, Ohio....this may have been a nice city at one time but with the downturn in the economy this city really took a hit....one person we talked to put it in a close second with Detroit, and after driving through it one afternoon, we were thinking he was right....the downtown area had entire city blocks that were closed down, the roads were so bad...buildings just falling apart and the housing was...lets say....you wouldn't want to spend a night in one of these places...let this highway sign in Toledo tell the story....

But in this dismal city we did find the most amazing state park, Maumee Bay on Lake Erie, the camp sites were something else, nice paved sites, grass and green space everywhere

But the strangest site we have seen so far.....

You don't need your eye's checked....the water in the river here is GREEN...great for St. Patrick's Day, but not so great if you want to swim.  The water here in this area is quite shallow in Lake Erie and when everything is perfect, this is what happens.  There were signs posted along the beaches warning you not to swim.  We were told that it is not all the time, that it was okay a few weeks ago and will again clear.

This really looked like green poster paint, it was not just a dusting on the surface, but green right through to the bottom..

It was a really beautiful resort area, Marina, Hotel and Conference Area, Golf Course, swimming area with 5 or 6 Cabana's ...

but the strangest thing was this...

and the amazing part was people did carry their trash out of the park because it was spotless, everywhere you went..

And the best thing ever was, for the first time in my life and in George's life, we saw this....

FIREFLIES!!!!!!!!!!...I tried to catch one, but not sure if they were too quick or I was too slow, but in any case, we sat back with a nice glass of wine and enjoyed their beauty...