In my quest to get away without going away, I knew the Portage Lakes had to be a stop. I don&Apos;t have a boat or friends with a boat so I had never seen the lakes from the lake itself. That&Apos;s what Portage Princess Tour Boats does. Nothing too fancy, just a nice hour and half or three hour boat ride through the glacier-made lakes.

We met Captain Jack at the tour boat dock as he was coming back to the pick-up point with a group of wind blown, but smiling people who&Apos;d set out an hour and a half before. We weren&Apos;t the only ones waiting for the Saturday afternoon excursion. Just the only ones with an excited 2 year old ready to plunge in the water.

As two other couples boarded the boat with us, Captain Jack was quick to alert us to the location of the life jackets in case the boat flipped over again. After an awkward moment to digest his joke, everyone laughed but his ice- breaker hung in the air as an important reminder that these could come in handy should anything happen.

Captain Jack began to show us some of the points of interest while weaving in colorful stories from the silly to the serious while we sat back and soaked up the sun. It was easy to relax and take in the natural beauty of the Portage Lakes and admire the spectacular homes that dot it&Apos;s shores. The breeze off the lake was most welcome on this hot and humid Sunday. A group of tanned and bathing suit clad boaters waved to us from a tiny and almost hidden drinking hole that looked to be for neighbors only.

Did you know that Gloria James, mother to LeBron James lives on the lake? Some say it took 2 or 3 years to complete the beautiful white and glass structure that is said to include an elevator. Magician David Copperfield&Apos;s manager also lives on the lake as well as many other notable Akron-area names.

All too soon, we were aiming for the dock and my husband was off to the 27 hole golf course across the street as I had a date with a long island iced tea at the Olde Harbor Inn&Apos;s patio right on the water.

We felt refreshed and sure didn&Apos;t have to go far to see our world from a different point of view.

Vitals:
$20 bucks a person and only 16.2 miles from WONE Studios on West Market Street. That&Apos;s what I call a no tank trip.

Recommended!