Special Mom’s blog

Many years ago I used to watch a reality show called the amazing race. Participants start at one place in the US travel around the world and are eliminated as they travel along. I loved every part of the show since the adrenaline rush is high. Visiting different places, doing different activities, meeting different cultural people and in the end winning a prize.

Today I did something similar with my family. I downloaded the Hello Erie App and took a challenge of finishing 5 activities from their bucket list of places to visit. Checking in at 5 places would make me eligible for a 250 dollar gift card at a mall. Check more about it here.

I pre selected nearly ten places from their list two days back and we started the day trip. I had to make sure my aged parents enjoy without taking them to crowded places. Yes, a piece of my heart is still nervous about covid. I needed to engage my special boy but that should not bore my younger teenager. My husband who started out the day with enthusiasm had his back problem return back just as we were leaving. So I was not sure if we would be able to complete visiting five places. But we did leave the house with lot of snacks and home cooked food. With gas prices still high I definitely did not want to spend on restaurant food.

Our first stop was at Asbury woods. The challenge was to see the Grandfather tree in the wooded area. It was an easy walk on the trial (just around a mile) and checked in near the tree and took lot of pictures.

From their we drove to Presque Island to visit the light house. Pictures were taken and we checked in there. My younger one wanted to climb up the light house and we were the last ones to make the trip up. I am so nervous about heights and climbing down is harder. But the 79 steps up and down was really an adventure I was thrilled that I completed the task. (I could have just stayed down with my parents, but I did take the risk of climbing up. No pictures on the way up or down. I was not so sure of those spiral stairs).

The third check in was at a bike rental. We rented a beach surrey bike. Ha Ha, I thought this would be easy since four of us would be biking. I was so wrong. Half way through the trail, I realized I had no sensation of my lower extremities. The four of us somehow managed the one hour bike ride through all the ups and downs.

The fourth check in was an easy one. Ice-cream treat at a restaurant. Sara’s restaurant is supposed to be famous for their orange vanilla twist and after the bike ride this was worth the treat.

The last check in was at the bicentennial tower. This is the place my plan didn’t work out properly. We couldn’t find proper parking spot. My husband said he would drop me in front of the tower and I could check in. But my younger one and my Mom enthusiastically joined me and as I reached near the tower I checked into the app. My app congratulated me saying I had completed my challenge. I didn’t win any prize at the moment, but I felt I had finished the amazing race. We didn’t climb the tower. But me, my younger one and my Mom enjoyed the Lake took as many pictures. We then called my husband who came and picked us up.

Today both my boys got physical activities, my parents enjoyed the beautiful lake and I loved doing the challenge. This is just a short day trip. Next month, second week of August we are going on a 1200 mile road trip for a very special cause. I don’t want to jinx it by writing about it now. So this trip is just teaser for what is to come next month.

I thought I had taken pictures of the food we got today since my special one helped a lot in the kitchen today. Oops , I had not even made one click. It was all yummy and everything was gone.