Alum Creek Dam

August 18th: The kids and I went up to Galena, OH this week to visit our friends Jodi, Zoe, Hailey, and Kayla at their new house. On the way there and back, we passed the Alum Creek Dam and when Rich got home from work, Drew told him that we just had to go there and check it out! So, that's what we did this weekend, we had a nice picnic and toured the dam! Here's Ali, enjoying her picnic...

Here are Drew, Katie, and I enjoying our picnic lunch as well! The picnic area is at the foot of the dam, so we got to spend a lot of time talking (answering questions to be more accurate) about how the dam functioned and how the water stayed behind it, and how some of the water flowed through, and why there was a little river at the base of the dam if the dam stopped the lake from flowing...on and on and on!

Here are Daddy, Drew, and Katie just beyond the little bridge, heading toward the dam.

Getting closer...to the right of the dam is a narrow stairway up to the top...that is where we are headed!

Here, they are about halfway up the steep stairs! Daddy is carrying Ali, and I am carrying her new super lightweight stroller that folds up and has a carrying strap...genius! And perfect timing, since I didn't know what was at the top of the stairs...and I wasn't going to go stroller-less and risk Ali jumping into the lake, because that is just the sort of thing she would do! The stroller only weighs 11 lbs...beats carrying the 26 lb. toddler up the stairs! Anyway, Drew and Daddy counted 116 steps...I lost count somewhere around 70.

They all made it to the top! Oh, and I must add here, before I forget...that Katie dressed herself this day...I did not choose an orange shirt and pink flowered shorts...our independent-minded 3 year old chose that all herself!!

View of the lake from the path at the top of the dam...

Another view of the lake and the path we were on...there were a lot of joggers and a lot of them that were just going up and down the 116 stairs by the dam!! Crazy!

Here is the path facing the dam...there was an interesting pully system that arched over the dam there...and there were 3 long grates that the pully moved over and it either lifted something or lowered something...we weren't quite sure...we speculated it was for dam maintenence, and Drew was okay with our answer!

A view down over the dam...and our picnic spot is way down there on the left side where the clump of trees are!

The kids and I on the dam...the sun was shining right into our faces...which is just part of the reason we all look so silly.

And, finally, back down the stairs!

After we got back down, I let poor Ali out of her stroller. She was so happy to finally be free and run...it was too cute, so I had to catch a little on video...pardon the shaking, I was walking behind her with the stroller while trying to record...