Ohio

After Niagara Falls, we began our trek west. Our first stop was south of Cleveland. Here we checked out the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a 33,000-acre park that borders Cleveland to the north and Akron to the south. The park protects 20 miles of the Cuyahoga River, which flows north into Lake Erie. This park has a lot of different types of areas to explore. Unfortunately we only had a short time to explore the park. From the map below, you can get a sense of just how large the park is.

We headed over to the Brandywine Falls area and hiked the Brandywine Gorge loop. It was very hilly, but a good time was had by all. The ‘falls’ were pretty, but considering where we had just come from, they looked more like a faucet!

Our next stop was the Toledo area. Ed and I both lived in this area for several years. We had a chance to drive past our old houses and the Chrysler (Jeep) factory we were part of building back in 2000. In addition, Ed spent the day with his son Mike and Cole and I had the chance to spend the day with one of my dearest friends, Debbie. We met in an orientation class one of my first days in Toledo and became fast friends. We enjoyed the day catching up on Debbie’s beautiful back deck! Cole had a good time hanging out with Abby. Good thing she likes big dogs!

Oh and by the way, Debbie was my maid of honor at my wedding eighteen years ago!! Check out these pictures!!

We also had dinner with Ed’s friend Chuck and and his wife. It was a lot of fun talking automotive manufacturing stuff with Chuck and Debbie.

We ended up spending more time in Toledo than we planned because of a mechanical issue with Dash. That gave us a chance to explore some of the wonderful parks in the area that never got to see when we lived there because we were too busy working. Below are some old locks at the Side Cut Metropark. The locks are from the “side cut” extension of the Miami and Erie Canal that connected the main line of the canal with the city of Maumee. Three of the six original locks from the canal system were preserved by WPA workers during The Great Depression. If you are ever in the Toledo area, be sure to check out the Metroparks. You can find more information about them here https://metroparkstoledo.com/ .

We loved seeing our friends and family in the Toledo area, but it was time to head to our next destination!