Fall Break--Cuyahoga Valley National Park

This weekend was fall break, so we had Thursday and Friday off. It's amazing to think that we're already halfway through the semester (and that I haven't posted anything on this blog since before the semester started!). It's been a hectic few months for us, so we were really pleased to take a mini-vacation. We decided to go explore the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the only national park in OH, and the closest national park to where we live.

We left BG on Thursday morning, and arrived at the Boston Store Visitor Center to pick up some maps and info. They had some nice displays about the canals and canal boats that flourished in this area briefly before the railroads took over.

Next, we went to Brandywine Falls, one of the most popular areas in the park (though we didn't have any trouble with crowds at all). Before walking down to the falls, we enjoyed a picnic lunch (quinoa and veggie salads with sunflower seeds--one of my new favorite meals). The first part of the trail is a nice boardwalk to the viewing areas for the falls, then there's a loop around the area.

After exploring the Brandywine Falls area, we went to another popular area called the Ledges. We really enjoyed the large rocks and all the beautiful fall colors here.

Our next stop was an area called Beaver Marsh, which lies right along the towpath trail (the area alongside the former canal where the mules used to walk and pull the boats along.)  On the way to the marsh, we saw this old lock.

We could turn the crank to hear narration about the marsh.

The marsh area was interesting, but we were severely disappointed that we didn't see wildlife, other than a couple of geese. Apparently, the best time to see the beavers is at dusk, so we were too early, or perhaps in the wrong season. From Beaver Marsh, it was only a short drive over to the Everett Covered Bridge, which can be used by pedestrians and horses.

After all these stops, we'd seen most of the top attractions in the park, so we headed back to our hotel for a bit of  a break before dinner. We browsed the binder of area info in the hotel room and decided to try the Burntwood Tavern. It was packed, but we got a little table for two right away and settled in to the interesting atmosphere. We split an order of sweet potato fries and some cedar plank salmon, which was very tasty.

Our main event for day two of the getaway was a 3-hour round-trip ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad--in first class! This was Mark's first train ride ever, and it was lovely. The weather was a bit uncooperative--very cold (even in the train) and foggy. Thankfully, things started to warm up and clear up for the second part of the trip. We boarded the train at the north end of the national park, near Cleveland, and rode to the end, just past the south end of the park, in Akron, and back. They provided complimentary drinks and snacks (we also brought our own), and an audio tour to listen to on headphones. It was cool to learn more about the area and see it without having to do the driving ourselves. The downside, especially in the pictures, is that the windows of the train were pretty dirty! So the photography here isn't great, but you get the idea.

After the train, we stopped at the Canal Exploration Center to check it out and to have another picnic lunch. (This time, we actually ate in the car since we were still chilled from the morning.)

A restored lock.

Period costumes.

The train we rode earlier making another pass through the valley.

After lunch, we decided to explore one more area that had been recommended to us by the volunteer staffing our train car that morning. This is the Blue Hen Falls hike.

After this hike, we took another quick pass by the Boston Store Visitor Center to pick up a couple of last minute souvenirs, then we made the two hour drive home. We got unpacked, then had one more dinner out, this time at a local place in BG that we'd never tried before--the Naslada Bistro.

It was so nice to get away for a couple of days and take a step back from work and all the other stuff we've had on our plates. It was also nice to come back and still have Saturday and Sunday left to grocery shop, clean, cook, etc. before starting everything back up on Monday.