Where IS that?

I wonder how many people have ever heard me say that I was going to "Mayleville" and thought it really had its own zip code. You can Google it, and some items will, in fact, pop up.

My maiden name is Mayle (pronouned 'My-lee"). Mayleville is where 'we', the Mayles, reign. Mayleville is my happy place.

All I have to do is smell the Lake Erie air, at Mayleville, and I am in that happy place. It does not matter what my 'real' life has for me at the moment... Mayleville makes everything all right.

Here is the scoop.

My great grandfather, Louis Mayle, and my great grandmother, Minnie, built eight cottages on a piece of land on the shores of Lake Erie in Port Clinton, OH during the depression. One for them, and one for each of their seven children and families.

At that time, Louie owned a tool and die company in their hometown of Fremont, OH, and when work was slow (remember, it was the depression), his employees were able to continue working by helping to build the cottages.

My father's generation and my generation... and of course my children's generation... have been able to enjoy Mayleville every year, every summer... In fact, it is most family members' happy place, too. It is also many wanna-be Mayles happy place.

The Mayle family just rocks. With all of its dysfunction, it still rocks. We rock.

Today, I was at Mayleville cleaning my grandfather's cottage. He is long gone (he passed away in 1998, along with my father) however we all use the cottage for summer getaways. His cottage is on the left in the picture above. The other cottages are the right of it (if you are looking at this photo) and behind it and to the right. Two rows of cottages... 4 across....

And, I took some video... I purposefully did not talk during it, because the sounds of Mayleville (or the lack thereof) are a part of what makes Mayleville special.

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Let's not lose the momentum! Keep on voting... and maybe one day, I will invite you to Mayleville!  If you ALL click on the brown bar, I will be at #18 in no time at all! H to the O-L-L-A-R!  Thanks loves!