D. and I grabbed lunch on the water at Six Pack Bar & Grill this Sunday. It was my first visit to what I imagine could or may be a hopping party spot on the Maumee. It was previously called The Lighthouse, and earlier Frank Uncles—which would have been the last time D. visited, years ago.

The outside decks were fairly expansive, including picnic tables, a couple bars, docks for boaters and even hammocks. We shared the great view of the river with only a few more tables/patrons. According to D., Six Pack seemed a bit ‘rough around the edges’ since his last visit. But I see a lot of potential and think we’ll come back with friends for an evening of drinks sometime in the future.

Our pub food was pretty good for what it was—a grilled cheese (on thick texas-style toast) and side salad for me while D. thoroughly enjoyed his “black and blue” burger and onion rings.

Six Pack on The River | 2605 Broadway St | (419) 381-1140

I met my wonderful friend K. for lunch today at Ranya’s–a small-ish Mediterranean spot Downtown, only open during the week for lunch. It’s been a year plus since my last visit for no particular reason… outside of me being an idiot because the food is AMAZING.

K. and I arrived at noon and the place was packed, so I would suggest visiting a little earlier or later if you are turned off by crowds.

We both asked for the Mjadara Brown Lentil & Rice Casserole which was accompanied by an incredibly delicious soup. In the past I would order the same thing, over and over again–the Mediterranean Tuna Melt. Not sure why, but it’s pretty great if you’re into tuna melts.

Ranya’s | 608 Adams St | (419) 242-7462

We were only gone for a week–L.A.–and it seems that our garden went totally bonkers. I’ve had to trim back a bit some of the huge leaves from a zucchini that was overshadowing peppers. But wow.

Would anyone happen to need some chard?

And oh, hey! Unrelated question: Who left the tree sapling on our porch this morning… and where should we plant it?

Our lazy weekend included pasta and vino outdoors at R. and M.’s place…

A leisurly dinner at the Real Seafood Co…

And a Sunday Brunch at Manhattan’s. Hope your weekend was relaxing… not too sluggish.

We also did a little ‘Toledo Economic Development’ by giving a tour to a new friend from NYC, who is interested in moving to our awesome city. He seemed pretty impressed so we may have a couple new Old West End residents soon.

This Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7, the Old West End opens it’s doors (literally) and invites you to festival weekend. Come and enjoy The King Wamba Parade’s 100th Anniversary on Saturday, beginning at 10:00 am. Immediately following will be The King Wamba and Queen Sancha Coronation Ceremony at Mansion View. There will be a Classic and Antique Car Show in front of the Park Lane, Saturday from 9am to 3pm.

Both Saturday and Sunday, house tours will be featuring beautiful historic homes. Also to enjoy: an art fair, live entertainment on a stage at Woodruff, children’s activities, food, and of course yard sales.

More information is available on the Old West End Association’s site.

Below is a Google Map of the parade route on Saturday:

Old West End/Ottawa Tavern Thursday strikes again! A group from the OWE met up and rode our bicycles for a bit, and met up with other cyclists at the Ottawa Tavern for food, drinks, and music.

The camaraderie inside the Tavern was great but I was really impressed by the camaraderie outside…

…beginning with this wonderful coupling.

Sweet handlebars.

Nice groupshot!

And more…

Parking permitted, this side of sign!

Adult tricycle! I feel like I’m in Florida.

Thanks to the Dirty Damn Band for tonight’s entertainment.

We spent quite a bit of this weekend on the water, thanks to our gracious hosts J. and A.

J. invited us out to enjoy Friday’s sunset as a double date with her beau A.

Enjoy the sunset is exactly what we did.

After dinner and some hijinks we slipped along back home.

We regained our land legs and went back out on Sunday, closing the weekend.

After learning of my “future” home plans, J. navigated us straight to The Toledo Lighthouse. We circled it a few times before moving on…

…moving on to West Sister Island. The word is this island’s for sale? Another rumor is Jimmy Hoffa’s corpse rests there? According to Wikipedia, it’s mostly bird droppings and poison ivy.

Good enough to anchor for lunch and some brief swimming!

D. beat me at backgammon. I’m convinced cheating occurred but sadly cannot prove it.

We later ended up at The Docks, where we bumped into and joined our friends S. and E. for dinner. More Toledo serendipity!

Dinner at Tango’s was great as was our final leg home. Toledo is beautiful at sunset. Our soundtrack for the weekend was the Talking Heads.

Toledo Habor Lighthouse | West Sister Island | Tango’s at The Docks (turn your computer speakers off)