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Published: October 30th 2012
Not Yet!! (But soon)
Sign in the state park where we camped. Last year, a bit later in the season, we DID have snow here. Our plan was to leave while we still had leaves.We left Wooster and after our brief stop in Medina to visit my sister's grave, drove to Geauga County and Punderson State Park where we had reservations at the campground. We had stayed there last year and again got a beautiful site overlooking the lake and close to the bathhouse for warm showers. After getting in and set up, we drove to Aurora to see my folks and spend time with them. The fall colors were peaking and we enjoyed peeking at them.
Among the many things we wanted to do while in Ohio was to see family, see friends, visit some historic spots, and of course, eat some yummy food, both at Mom's and at a couple of favorite eateries. My folks had appointments and meetings, so we coordinated to make sure we didn't interfere with one another and didn't impose too much of a burden on Mom.
One of our first stops was at a Geauga County park near where I had grown up and near where Trish and I had lived our first couple of years we were married. It is called West Woods and had a marvelous museum and nature center.
Teaching at West Woods
One of numerous teaching stations at just one of the many Geauga County Parks. The whole system is environmentally friendly and focused on helping people learn and appreciate. Dad had recommended it a couple of years ago and we drove in but somehow didn't see the nature center. This time we were astounded at the progressive approach taken by the county. The building has a green roof...literally. It has grass and wildflowers growing on it to keep it insulated and cool in the summer. There is a learning center inside which educates on the local area historically, geologically, and environmentally. There is also a large meeting room which was hosting an art exhibit of metal sculptures. And, there were seats for bird viewing and lots of feeders right off the main entrance. We had no idea what a great job the county had done. We started picking up literature on the various parks in the county and found that they were all over, ranging from small plots of land for day use picnics to secluded acreage on rivers and streams where herons nested to a large park in the northeast part of the county that had an observatory and was rated as a Tier 2 Dark Sky area, one of only 8 such places in the United States!! In fairness to our amazement, most of this was acquired
Bird viewing
West Woods park has feeders outside the huge windows with a microphone and speaker system to hear the calls. They have comfortable seating inside with binoculars available so people can come, sit and enjoy the birds. and developed long after we had moved from Geauga in 1973, but it makes me proud to have been a resident and teacher in the area long ago.
We would have loved to hike to Ansel's cave, near Metals Park, or hiked the Interurban rail line to see the herons. But we had limited time and had to decide: friends and family or hiking and nature. We tried to do as much of both as time allowed.
On Sunday, we learned that the Dark Sky park, which had a planetarium, would be having a show in the afternoon. So we drove out through Amish country to see it. By the way, Geauga County has the 4th largest population of Amish in the US! Wayne and Holmes Counties (near Wooster, where we had just been) is in the top 2!! So it was really an Amish type of vacation. (Yeah, right, in our RV...lol) We needed to pick up a couple of things at a Walmart so pulled into the one in Middlefield, OH. Yep, we're in Amish country. There were hitching rails for the buggys and if it were raining, the lucky ones got
WalMart!!
Yep, in Middlefield, OH, the Walmart has hitching posts and even covered stalls for the Amish who come in to shop. to get their horses under shelter. Lots of Amish in shopping here; the area is quite divergent and tolerant of all beliefs and traditions.
We got to the dark sky park and there was a magnificent show explaining exactly what we could see in the sky that very evening. Case Western Reserve University has it's own observatory on the land, though that was not open. But this area, so close, yet so remote from Cleveland is certified as one of the few dark sky areas (Tier 2) in the US. A Tier 1 area would be someplace like Bryce Canyon, so far from anything that stars really jump out at you. How fortunate folks are there to have a place like this to come and study and wonder! After the show, we walked a planet trail where replicas of the planets are placed at representative distances from the "sun", the actual observatory building. All very educational. In line with the astronomy theme, they have placed four HUGE blocks in the field representing the four corners of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. OMG!! It is a huge distance between them. We may never get to Egypt, but seeing
Geauga County in Fall
The spectacular colors rival those of New England. Here they don't have the birches, but the sugar maples abound and provide for great leaf peeping. the size of the base of the pyramid was mind boggling.
A couple of days later, we met two very dear friends in Chardon for lunch. Carla and Carane are friends dating back to my early days of teaching. Carane and I were English teachers at the junior high together. Carene also shared an apartment with our friend Carol (Morgan) Gatzke and the four of us--Trish and I, Carol and Carane--took a 3 day canoe trip down the Mohican one fall to gather photos and stories to use in the classroom. Carla and Carol were friends from high school and it was at Carla's suggestion that shortly after we were married, we drove to Colorado in her Mustang, along with my younger brother Steve, to pick up Carol after she had attended a National Science Foundation summer workshop. We camped in Rocky Mountain National Park, hiked mountains and had a great time. And these two very special friends, Carla and Carane, came to our son's wedding in Florida seven years ago. So it is understandable that we really wanted to get together and spend some time.
Both of them are now retired and neither
Observatory Park in Geauga
They have a telescope, spots for amateurs to set up, and a conference room/planetarium inside. The complex is named for a former high school teacher I had long ago. have slowed down much. Carane could only spend a little time as she was involved in working the national campaign in Ohio and also getting ready to fly to Spain for a 2 week trip. We had a great lunch, talked a mile a minute, and then went to Carla's apartment for more talk. Carane finally had to leave and we stayed longer and chatted with Carla. It's been 40+ years and though we don't see each other often, there are some folks you can see and it's like you've never been gone; we just picked up, laughed, and truly enjoyed being together again, even if it would be for only a brief time.
As part of the plan to keep the impact of our visit on my folks to a minimum, when we knew they had some meetings or appointments, we scheduled other events for us and then planned to not have meals at their place. One such day we got an early start and drove to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. When we lived here in the early 70's, the Cuyahoga River was noted for catching fire. Lake Erie was polluted and the valley was
Lunch with friends
Carla (left) and Carane (right) are friends from my teaching days at West. We've been camping, skiing, and traveling with each other for years. home to scout camps, fancy estates, and run down company towns. Time has changed most of that.
My brothers (Steve and Todd) and I had canoed the Cuyahoga River at it's headwaters, in Geauga County. We took an overnight trip, starting in Burton and went maybe 10-11 miles downstream, camping on the side of the river for the night. That part of the river had always been nice. But with the saving of the river and canal into the park system, it has spurred recreational use of the area and hikers, bikers, tourists, and even skiers all come to to appreciate the beauty of the region. The old company towns have been preserved and are there for folks to see and marvel. The canal towpath is preserved as nicely as the C&O in the DC region. A train line runs through the valley and bicyclists can board the train with their bike and ride for a couple of dollars. This allows them to pedal until tired and return to the starting place. You can also ride the train just for the beauty of the valley.
We drove to several of the high points on
In the Cuyahoga Valley
Old factory town along the river and canal. It has been restored and is used as part of the National Park HQ. the trail, visited museums, had lunch in a little town along the way, and hiked part of the towpath to see the canal and the river. We learned that although canoeing on the river is discouraged, it is not forbidden. The reason for the park to discourage canoers is because there is still release of pollutants that could cause harm if someone were in the water. But the river is narrow here swift in spots, and has other sections of smooth flowing, relatively shallow sections to sit back and enjoy nature. There are bike rental centers where one can rent bikes by the hour or day and rates are reasonable. In the summer, Blossom Music Center, home of the Cleveland Symphony, has summer concerts, and in the winter, there are ski areas at Boston Mills where downhill skiers can enjoy the slopes.
Cleveland has always had a remarkable Metropolitan Parks system that encircles the city and the National Park is fitting in nicely, offering all kinds of recreation and family opportunities for millions of people. We had heard so much about the park in the past. We were excited to finally get a chance to visit and
Bridge over canal
There is a wonderful hiking/biking trail in the valley following the old canal. This bridge over the canal was actually used long ago to cross the river and canal. see it for ourselves. And going at the height of the fall foliage was a real bonus.
Now I realize I said earlier we had several objectives for this visit: family, friends, sightseeing, and food. And most of this has been about friends and sightseeing. Well, the next segment will feature more on the family and food. Because after all, what would it be to go home to mommy and not have good things to eat!!
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jak
non-member comment
park systeems should love you
well done...we enjoyed the recap...the park system should request rights to publich