Finding extras beyond the obvious pleases me, especially on a visit someplace new. On my way to Cleveland, Ohio I found a whole new destination.

Put-in-Bay is the village name, on South Bass Island. Ten miles to Canada.

I only lunched and poked around a bit, but if I’d known the cuisine, the calm, lake shore history, fishing and abundance of bed and breakfast inns, my plan would have included an overnight bag.

Consider a night here, and in several other enticing communities on the shores of Lake Erie. This is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, the one that freezes, so forget about taking the Miller Ferry if you go in January or February.  

Pleasant ride for vehicles and pedestrians the rest of the year. I chose May but part of Put-in-Bay’s charm is the ice fishing, ice harvesting and ice travel history.

These are hardy people who mostly stay put in the winter, 400 or so happy souls who delight in choosing to live here. I like happy on my holidays.

Bernie Meyers is a resident; he drove the tour van that meets Miller Ferry passengers like me, and likes to say his island is “the Key West of the mid- west.”

 Resident means he’s new. Islanders are the people with generations at Put-in-Bay.

Didn’t matter to tourist me; maybe it would if I moved in.  Robbie Morrow is the second person I met and he was born and raised on this island. He also spent lots of time in California’s Napa Valley and the three-course lunch he serves at the Doller House was paired with wines suggesting he studied well.

Local perch or walleye is my recommendation for Slow Food locovore eating here. Capers and fresh baby dill seasoned mine. These are fish they catch through the ice too.

Out back of the 1897 Doller House is a cheerfully painted ice fishing shanty. It’s on skis, waiting for winter, part of the interesting Island Life Museum, all about the evolution of winter travel on ice.

Here’s the place to find the island’s last-standing ice storage shed.

Blocks of ice traveled by ship in sawdust to my South Georgia town a century ago; seeing the tools and photographs of this Lake Erie industry connected me to the oak ice boxes I like as furniture today.

Named for the family of Mayor Valentine Doller, this two-story Victorian Italianate house is filled with original furnishings so the tour is delightful.  Seems the mayor had seven daughters and six never married.

Don’t expect interesting tales to be told because the will of the last daughter stipulated all the family papers must be burned.

Wine tasting happens here and if you want Chardonnay with a red steak, that’s fine with General Manager Robbie Morrow.

“Just have fun,” he encourages, pouring up tastes of four wines he considers to be “food friendly.”  I had a light Merlot with prime filet dusted in roasted coffee.

Morrow is comfortable talking about his taste buds, so ask about his USA road trip hoping to eat in every five-star restaurant. Made it to half of the 65, he says.

“When I eat something, I know what’s in it,” he says. “I can tell the seasonings, taste all the ingredients.”

Victorian storefronts fill downtown Put-in-Bay, along the waterfront. In-between is a big green space, grand for picnics or sitting and staring. Calm can be good.

Meyers says Guinness Book recorded the world’s longest bar here, twisting and turning inside the Beer Barrel Saloon, and he pointed out the thatched-roof Mojito Bay with swings as bar seats.  

I found family fun too with 18 holes of miniature golf and nine for regular golf, plus bicycle rentals at the ferry dock and in town.

South Bass Island, where you find Put-in-Bay village and harbor, is three and a half miles long and a mile and a half wide so bikes are efficient.

The western shore is windy and cold; that’s where hearty fishermen sit on buckets to ice fish in January, or set up a shanty. The thaw starts in mid-March, Morrow says.

He should know since he and his wife, an islander with relatives coming here for years, live on that western shore.

Calm and easy doesn’t mean nothing to do; Put-in-Bay’s people are fun to chat with, including passionate volunteers in the Butterfly House.

Sixty varieties from Costa Rica and Malaysia live in this 6,000-square- foot indoor garden, as many as 800 butterflies on any day.  Stay as long as you like.

A combo ticket gives access to a 20-minute narrated tour underground of the cave where Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry reportedly discovered drinking water for his troops.

Funny side note: Perry’s Cave is across the street from Crystal Cave which is underneath Heineman Winery.  Hmm, water, then wine.

Put-in-Bay people believe Crystal Cave is the world’s largest geode.  I didn’t get inside but I did pursue the Commodore Perry story.

Can’t say I recall much about the War of 1812 but the National Park Service tells the story of the Battle of Lake Erie on Sept. 10, 1813 when Perry defeated the British and  returned control of the lake to the U .S.

Captured the entire British fleet on Lake Erie – all six ships.

What they’re really proud of is the 352-foot tall International Peace Memorial, the only one in the National Park system. It’s a Greek Doric column celebrating lasting peace between America, Great Britain and Canada.

Only 10 miles from Canada, the island is a celebration of peaceful borders as the memorial points out, or misery if your cell phone turns to international roaming charges like mine did.

This Peace Memorial is 47 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Cheerful little South Bass Island; long tall reminder of peace. Nice combination for a holiday.

Glad I also reached Cleveland for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Great Lakes