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25 August, 2003 Here's a little tip for leaving the Portland show. Be the last!!! It's a lot easier to watch folk driving away, than be the ones leaving. By mid-morning on Sunday, the showground was all but deserted. Many of the food concessions had closed, but we still managed to get a good meal before we too left and headed east. We had a pleasant drive through the northern Ohio countryside, managing to get stopped by a State Trooper for speeding (we got let off with a warning!), stopping for the night at Medina, pronounced by the rest of the world as "Med-e-na", and by the locals as "Med-i-na". We finished the day by eating a melon we'd bought from a stall in Portland, and what better place to eat a juicy melon than in the bathroom? All motels are well supplied with leaflets advertising the local attractions, and while idly reading through them, I found two places of interest to the French family. Prior to this holiday, Tom and Chris had worked hard to earn spending money and I'd promised to find Chris a model train shop where he could spend his. Medina boasted a model train shop and museum right in the centre of town. We left some hours later with one very satisfied customer! The other place I found in the motel literature was one I'd heard of before, Lehmans Hardware Store. It wasn't exactly on our route, but we decided it was well worth a visit. The route itself supplied some interesting features, as we passed several working oil wells and some attractive old barns. Lehmans was like stepping back in time fifty or more years. The store itself had obviously expanded many times over the years, and as a result is now a collection of rooms full of treasures. Genuine antiques are on display alongside the new goods for sale. As a lamp collector, Jim was particularly interested in the lamps they had, and the spares area yeilded many items which are difficult to get in the UK. I was fascinated by the candle-making equipment. Although candle making is a growning hobby, I don't imagine there's anywhere else where you can obtain such an assortment of wicks and other necessities! The kitchen department took a while to cover, with items ranging from two long rows of cookie cutters in every shape imaginable, to stationary engine powered ice-cream makers (and yes, this set up was for sale). The solid fuel stove department was worth making the trip to Kidron on its own!!! The only real planned destination on this part of our trip was to get to the Thousand Islands, in north New York state, and as our route would take us reasonably close to Niagara Falls, we decided to make our third trip there, so from Lehmans, we drove north and east to find a motel within easy driving distance of Niagara. This meant driving within signposting distance of Sharon, PA, which, as Arnie frequently reminds me, is home to the largest shoe store in the world. But sadly, due to the time of day we were unable to make this side trip. No complaints, I noticed, from the males in the party at this omission from the itinery ...
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