We parked Wild Blue Yonder on the north coast of Ohio for the Fourth of July and ran the Lake Erie shore out of Geneva-
on-the-Lake. We have family in the area, so the week folded in visits with them on the Fourth and in between our own running around.
Geneva-on-the-Lake has been drawing summer crowds since 1869, which makes it Ohio's oldest summer resort town. The lake sets the pace here, the Strip still hums on a warm evening, and the sunsets over the water are worth building a night around.
Getting there and setting up
The drive from the Hershey area to the Lake Erie shore ran us about five and a half hours, most of it straightforward interstate miles. I-90 runs right along this stretch of the north coast, so access is easy whether you are coming from the east or the west.
Home base for the week was Motorcoach Resort Lake Erie Shores, a Class A resort that sits right between the village of Geneva-on-the-Lake and Geneva State Park, about an hour east of Cleveland. You may also see it listed simply as Lake Erie Shores, since it has gone by a few names over the years.
The Strip and a stop at Ruff Life on the Lake
The heart of town is the Strip, a compact run of walk-up pizza windows, mini-golf, arcades, bars, and gift shops along the shoreline. If you have spent time on a bigger boardwalk like Myrtle Beach down our way or the Jersey shore, this reads like a smaller and friendlier cousin of the same idea. You can walk the whole thing in an easy stroll, and it has held onto its old-time resort character better than most.
Madsen Donuts is the stop I would not skip. The little shop has been frying donuts on the Strip since 1938, and it still works from Carl Madsen's original recipes, made fresh through the day rather than the night before. Order the cream-filled stick, which is the house best-seller, and eat it warm while you walk.
For dinner one evening, we found a place on the Strip called Ruff Life on the Lake, a dog-friendly cafe with a patio and, no exaggeration, a full menu for dogs. Donna and I had hot dogs and cheese curds, and Juneaux got her own plate of grilled chicken. She loved every bite of it. Her doggie bag on the way out was literally her own leftovers, which felt like the correct order of operations for once.
Geneva State Park and the sunset walk
Right across the road from the resort, Geneva State Park gives you 698 acres and two miles of Lake Erie shoreline to work with. A paved multi-use trail runs from the campground side over toward the beach, marina, and lodge, so you can walk or bike to the water without moving the vehicle. The marina is a full one, with a six-lane boat ramp and direct access to Lake Erie's central basin, and it is where a lot of the private walleye charters run out of. The park also has its own campground, deluxe cabins, and an archery range over on Padanarum Road if you want to bring your own gear.
The centerpiece for us was Breakwater Beach and the breakwall that runs out from the marina. The east breakwall is capped with a sidewalk, and there is a green-and-white harbor beacon at the very end of it. In the evenings we would drive over, park in the lot, and sit on a bench to watch the sun drop straight down into the lake. We drove rather than
biked because we had Juneaux with us. Dogs are not allowed on the swimming beach, but the grassy overlook by the parking lot is fair game, and there is a designated dog swim area at the west end of the beach if your dog wants in the water. Juneaux isn’t a fan of getting her feet wet, much less the rest of her body, so we skipped the dog swim area. She did love going over to the overlook for the sunset every night. It might have been the sunset, or it might have been the chance to smell for rabbits in the grass. Either way, she loved it.
The day-trip radius
The best argument for a full week here is everything within an easy drive of the campground. We gave our three biggest outings their own posts. Presque Isle State Park sits just across the line in Erie, Pennsylvania, a sandy peninsula that curls out into the lake with beaches, a lighthouse, and a long paved multi-use loop. It made for a full day trip and earned its own write-up.
Closer to home, Ashtabula County is covered-bridge and lighthouse country. We spent a day working through the historic covered bridges and the harbor lighthouses around Conneaut and Ashtabula, which is about as pretty a photo day as this corner of Ohio offers. Because this is the walleye capital of the world, we also booked a Lake Erie charter and came back to the coach with a limit of fish that we cooked up that same night.
Worth knowing, even though we skipped it
A few things in the area are genuinely worth your time even though they did not make our own list this trip.
The first is Grand River Valley wine country. Ashtabula County alone has around twenty wineries, and both this resort and the nearby lodge run wine shuttles that pick up and drop off, so you never have to think about the drive. We do not run the wine trail ourselves, but if you do, Debonné Vineyards is the big, well-known anchor of the valley, and The Lakehouse Inn & Winery sits right on the shore in town.
To the south, about forty minutes down, is the Amish country around Middlefield and Geauga County. We have done that day trip on a past visit, and it makes an easy change of pace from the lake, with cheese shops, baked goods, and quiet back-road scenery.
An hour west is Cleveland, if you want a bigger city day. We have spent time at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the West Side Market on earlier trips, and both hold up.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park which we visited several years ago is a little over an hour to the southwest and the Pro Football Hall of Fame is about a 90 minute drive.
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