Day 4: Cuyahoga National Forest, Ohio

Today was our last full day. Steve's morning started off badly with a spilled bowl of cereal in the hotel room and finding that all the locations he'd saved on our GPS program had mysteriously deleted themselves.

Then he left for early morning photography at Stumpy Basin. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, it's quite a hike but it's a spectacular view of the Cuyahoga River Valley. It's also a little-known spot. Our guide yesterday, Tom Jones (here's his website), discovered it and said he's only shown it to perhaps 2-3 people besides us. He graciously offered to show us after Steve emailed him before our trip to see how to get to the vantage point.

Imagine Steve's dismay when he arrived to park and there were over 25 cars parked along the road, with people holding cameras milling around. However, it seems that they did not know the way to the spot that Tom showed us and instead they were headed to another point that didn't have the amazing view Tom's secret spot did. But after making the strenuous trek up, Steve realized his tripod bracket wasn't on his tripod! No photos without that! So he had to pack it back down to the car, where he then remembered it had been in his camera backpack all along. Back up he went.

He was late getting back to the hotel, where Rosie and I were anxiously awaiting his return so we could go out for brunch. We found a nice place in the town of Hudson called 'Yours Truly', and I think it was the best meal we had so far.

After eating, we briefly drove through Hudson, a picturesque town with over 300 properties on the National Historic Register.

Our first stop was the path and viewing area for the via duct and Great Falls on Tinker's Creek, a nice park with lots of information about the construction of the viaduct and the mill that used to be there.

Then, we went to the Bedford Reservation and took a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls, a very picturesque spot. Rosie and I relaxed while Steve got some nice photos of the creek and falls. There's a bridle path there and 3 riders came through while we were there.

From Bridal Veil Falls we headed to Tinker's Creek Cemetery. Steve had read about this remote place, reputed to be haunted. It's a hike up an abandoned road and across a field and the cemetery is set right at the edge of a forest. It was a pretty spot for a graveyard but sadly, as is often the case with old cemeteries, it had suffered some vandalization. The graves were very old, with dates going back to 1838 and earlier. And no, I doubt it's haunted. As I told Rosie, people make up silly stories about such things; it's sad that the people buried there have no one living who still remembers them or cares for the graves.

After going back down to our car, we made a brief stop at Frazee House. Then, beginning to get thirsty and hungry, we went to Brecksville, which appears to be a rather affluent community. We had lunch at a Panera Bread restaurant and I went to the local grocery, Heinan's, which was very impressive. It was an upscale grocery and I found some things I cannot get in New Albany–like pear flavored Yoplait and whole wheat crumpets!

After a brief rest at the hotel, we decided to end the day with a hike around the loop trail at Ritchey Ledges. It was a really nice, approximately 2 mile hike through the forest and took us past the Icebox Caves, a natural rock formation more impressive than those we saw in Hocking Hills.

Then, back to the hotel. Rosie had been asking Steve to go swimming in the pool since we got here, but he had misgivings based on the overall experience we've had so far at this hotel. He explained to her that if the pool was not maintained well, and he suspected it might not be, they would not be swimming in it. Sure enough, when they got to the pool area, the filter was not running and there was dark debris in the bottom. I got on TripAdvisor when they came back and found several unsavory reviews of this Baymont, and I plan to add mine. I'll never understand why any business sacrifices its reputation just to save a few bucks.

We were all pretty tired after our long day and hikes, so we turned in about 10 pm. Tomorrow we return home, and Harvest Homecoming will be all over! I love vacations, but I love getting home, too, and have missed my dogs and cats. We have seen so many dogs here, walking on the trails with their owners. We saw a nice retriever last night on the Ledges trail with saddlebag-type backpacks on. If only Buddy wasn't so timid and Sam wasn't so old, I'd be enlisting them to haul my backpack for me!

Day 3: Cuyahoga National Forest, Ohio

The main downside to our stay here at the Hudson Baymont Inn & Suites has been the very sad 'continental' breakfast that the hotel serves. Since our room was inexpensive, they have to cut corners somewhere, I guess. Every morning, there have been the same old tired apples and oranges, some white and wheat bread, bagels, cereal and hard boiled eggs. There are a few mini donuts and danish, but I don't eat many sweets anymore and never for breakfast. There's a waffle maker with thin batter, not too appetizing. However, the room's clean and it was only $52 per night with 2 queen beds, microwave and refrigerator.

The smartest thing we did was to bring along some Starbucks 'Via' instant coffee, sugar and half and half. I was dubious about an instant coffee, but our morning cuppa joe is an absolute necessity, and we've been happily surprised at how good the Via Breakfast Blend is.

We started the 3rd day like our previous two: Steve left in the dark to be at a location at sunrise, while Rosie and I stayed at the hotel and enjoyed a leisurely morning. Steve returned at 9, and we headed to the Ledges parking lot where we'd arranged to meet a photographer named Tom Jones that Steve had emailed prior to our trip and who had been kind enough to offer to lead us to Stumpy Basin, an overlook that's rather obscure with no marked path.

Tom and his wife Bertha met us about 9:45 am. He's an elderly gentleman and I was surprised to learn he's turning 80 shortly. He had to drop his wife off at work, then we followed him to the path up to Stumpy Basin. We had a few false starts as there were some road closures and we had to backtrack, but we finally got there. The rugged path runs along the Ohio Turnpike, which was odd, but it is the best view of the valley once you get to the top. I'm embarrassed to admit that Tom was a better hiker than me, even though he's about 30 years older!

Falls colors haven't peaked yet, but it was still a great view. Tom said there's a turtle that lives at the top of the overlook who comes out to see him when he's up there shooting. Rosie and I found a lot of unusual mushrooms and fungus, and Tom said the moss and lichen that covers the ground is very old. He related that his wife's father–a Truxell–said it had always been there and had looked the same now as when he was a boy, and he had been almost 90 then. Coincidentally, Tom was wearing an Orcas Island cap, and that is where we spent our honeymoon and 10th anniversary. Tom's son, retired from Amazon.com, lives in the Seattle area and takes his parents to Orcas when they visit him.

We spent a half hour here, then trekked back to our cars and bade Tom goodbye. We decided to head to Chagrin Falls and look around and eat lunch. On the way, we stopped at the North Chagrin Reservation, which is a Cleveland metro park and is very scenic and wooded, but we didn't stay very long.

Chagrin Falls is a very neat little town. There's a town square, but it's actually more of a triangle. We ate at Fresh Start, and Rosie ended up with 2 VERY LARGE pancakes, which practically overhung her plate (she was only able to eat one of them). Steve got French toast but was disappointed that it was made from challah, a rather dense bread. I had an open face turkey sandwich, very good.

We walked around town, visiting the various shops and viewing Chagrin Falls right in the center of town. Little towns like this put New Albany to shame. Each shop had window boxes planted with flowers, there were hanging baskets of flowers on lampposts, the upper windows of the stores weren't boarded up, and there were nice benches and amenities for visitors.

After Chagrin Falls, we went to the South Chagrin Reservation, known for the marshes that attract wood ducks. This kind of duck is usually very timid and elusive and Steve's never been able to photograph them successfully, but he'd read they were not as skittish at South Chagrin. That was definitely true, and he was able to get several good shots, although Rosie and I had to keep luring the ducks into a certain area where the colors from the trees were reflecting on the water. It's not easy to get wood ducks to do what you want them to do!

The nature center was nice there, and Rosie and I went inside to give Steve more time to shoot and to escape the mosquitoes! They had 4 owls in the nature center–a barred owl, who was very curious about us, a great horned owl, who looked all-knowing, and 2 cute little eastern screech owls, one red morph and one grey morph. They had all been injured and were unable to be returned to the wild, and lived at the nature center.

Time to head back to the Park. The traffic was terrible in one area, and we were a little unsure just how to get back, but the GPS program got us back to our hotel, where we freshened up. We thought about going back to the Ledges for sunset, but ended up driving to near the Hale Farm and Village to get an idea where the church is that Steve wants to shoot. We saw so many deer, some of them in the fields along with cattle. It was dark after that drive, and we were all getting pretty hungry, so back to the Winking Lizard for a late dinner. We had a 45 minute wait so we walked around town to kill time. After dinner, very tired, back to the hotel. We've changed our minds about going into Cleveland tomorrow based on today's traffic, and will instead go to the Park to hike the Ledges trail and another area called the Icebox.

Day 2: Cuyahoga National Forest, Ohio

Steve left while it was still dark to photograph the sunrise at Beaver Marsh. Rosie and I stayed behind at the hotel, and Steve returned about 9 am after a great morning at the Marsh.

Our first stop was the Everett covered bridge, then on to Blue Hen Falls, a nice little 15 foot falls only a short hike from the parking area. Steve went further down the creek and also photographed Buttermilk Falls. Rosie and I found some interesting seed pods along the trail from Jewel Weed, also known as Touch Me Not. She made a stone cairn in the creek right by a footbridge, and we saw a lot of little chipmunks along the trail.

After Blue Hen, we ate a late lunch at Fisher's Restaurant, where the service was really slow! Rosie and I had barbecue chicken sandwiches and Steve had a Greek wrap.

After lunch, we took a ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway, which was about a 2 hour trip that departed and returned to Peninsula. It was really fun–we got to see a lot of the area that one doesn't see from the road.

Then we headed to Beaver Marsh. This former junkyard restored to natural wetland is along the Ohio-Erie Canal towpath trail and there were many runners, bikers and walkers. We scared up a few deer and great blue herons, and Steve shot a few photos while I talked to the park ranger, who had just seen a mink right before we arrived.

After Beaver Marsh, we finished the day with wine and pizza at Sarah's Vineyard. It was packed, but had a lot of ambiance. We ate outdoors on the patio and shared a pepperoni, mushroom and cheese pizza, very good. Steve and I had a couple glasses of Red Zinfandel and brought the rest of the carafe back to the hotel for later.

Then back to the Baymont, tired and ready for bed. We watched a bit of our scary movie, Let Me In, and slept much better than our first night.

Day 1: Cuyahoga National Forest, Ohio

Got a good early start to our day by leaving at 7 am as scheduled, but in keeping also with the rule that there always has to be a last-minute emergency before any trip we take, there were two: the downstairs toilet got stopped up and had to be plunged, and I had a rush seed packet order for a funeral.

However, we had an easy drive to our destination and arrived about 2 pm with only a few stops for lunch and bathroom breaks. We're at the Baymont Inn in Hudson, OH. Our room is a bargain at $52 per night with a continental breakfast, which I'll be checking out soon.

After check-in at the hotel, we called a local photographer Steve had made contact with a few weeks ago, Tom Jones, to see if he could direct us to some of the more obscure locations we want to visit. Tom's wife gave us directions to Truxell Falls and shared that her maiden name was Truxell and that her father as a boy used to swim in the creek that feeds Truxell Falls (which has now been renamed Minnehaha Falls). The falls were rushing, but unfortunately spring and summer storms have washed a lot of tree debris over so it wasn't a good photography spot.

After that, we stopped at upper Brandywine Falls, a good size waterfall with a nice walkway down to near its base. However, there was a bit of a disappointment in that trail construction was going on and we couldn't follow the trail to the lower Brandywine Falls.

Note to self: I saw a small pull-behind camper in the Brandywine parking lot that would be perfect for us for camping called a Trillium 1300. One of the dilemmas for us when planning trips is that we would like to be in a more remote area, but we don't have a camper and don't want to have to buy a truck or SUV just to pull an Airstream-type one. Plus, Steve can't just take off on a whim to go photographing unless overnight arrangements have been made in advance. A small camper would alleviate many of the logistical problems we have in traveling, so I need to look into one of these little Trillium outfits.

After Brandywine Falls, we ate dinner at a cool local restaurant in Peninsula called the Winking Lizard. Steve and I had Western burgers and Rosie had barbecue riblets. Steve was happy to find they had Yeungling beer, just added to their impressive beer list the day before we arrived! They also had a large green iguana named Heisman in a large glass cage, but he didn't seem to wink at all.

Following dinner, we went to the Ledges overlook, where Steve did some photography and tested his new blue/gold camera filter while Rosie and I explored, hiked and talked. Then back to the hotel. Rosie knocked out about 9:30, but Steve and I couldn't sleep so we watched a movie on the iPad for awhile.

In other events of the day, Steve Jobs died (very sad) and Sarah Palin isn't running for President (very glad).

Smoky Mountains 2010, entry 2

My very talented husband Steve is the one who 'works' on our vacations, taking photos of all the beautiful sights, creating a visual notebook of the trip. I'm the journaler.

I think I have an easier gig—hauling a heavy pack with lenses, filters, camera and tripod on some of the trails we hike isn't pleasant. This year, Rosie began to show evidence that she has the same artistic eye as her dad, by scouting locations for him to shoot—and for an 11-year-old she did a heckuva job.

Photos, top to bottom:

Porter's Creek
The snake Steve almost stepped on, if Rosie hadn't spotted it
The salamander Rosie found in Porter's Creek
Midnight Hole, along Big Creek on North Carolina side of Park
Wild Geranium
Ferns trailside
Purple Phacelia
Laurel Creek cascades
Rosie, modeling her wild woodland gyspy look
A carpet of phlox in White Oak Sinks

Smoky Mountains 2010, entry 1

One of our favorite places is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and we go there each year during the Wildflower Pilgrimage. This year marks the 60th year for the event. No matter how many times we go, we always find something new. This year, we found our first Shooting Star and Yellow Lady's Slipper in the Park.

Photos top to bottom:
Fields of wild blue phlox in White Oak Sinks
Shooting Star
Wild blue phlox up close
Yellow Lady's Slipper
Baby bear
Mamma bear
Big Creek (North Carolina)

Seattle Sightseeing: Day 8

This is our last, true vacation day, and we packed in a full day, that's for sure. We were up fairly early and had breakfast down the street from our hotel, at a place called The Mecca. I think we were the only people who weren't 'regulars'. The breakfast was great, and fortified us for the walk to the Pike Place Market.

What can you say about the Market? You can find anything in the world there . . . local art, imported crap, beautiful flowers, vegetables, fruit, low-flying fish, pirates. It's quite a slice of life. Rosie saw her first street people (she had a lot of questions about that), Steve got panhandled by a guy we later saw smoking crack on Pier 66, and a swarm of very realistic pirates came swaggering through the Market, tossing silver doubloons. We sampled fresh fruit, watched the guys at the fish market yell and throw fish, walked down to the pier and fed the gulls. Rosie bought a handmade Seattle pottery piggy bank, and we had a fun conversation with the guy who was selling them.

Lunch was at the Pike Street Brewery so Steve could get a Seattle microbrew. The food was pretty good, and we were able to look across at some apartments at two cats that were coming out onto the deck. Cats . . . we haven't seen many here. Washingtonians love their dogs, but cats are another story. I only saw 2 cats the entire time we were on Orcas Island. We're all needing a serious cat fix.

We walked back to the Mediterranean Inn about 3 pm, stopping along the way at Continental Furniture and at Cherry Street for iced coffee.

In the evening, we walked to the Olympic Sculpture Park and the Space Needle. On the way back, we saw the very bizarre architecture of the Experience Music Project building and the Science Fiction Museum . . . you won't see that in our neck of the woods! We figure we walked at least 10 miles today. I've seen more full-body tattoos and flesh ear tunnels in one day than in my entire previous lifespan!

We bought a bottle of 2004 Flying Fish Merlot at the Space Needle and went up to the 7th floor deck of our hotel to watch the sunset—not anything at all like the sunset on Orcas, but nice anyway. Tomorrow we head back to Indiana, and I think we're ready. Back to work, back to school soon for Rosie, but with lots of new experiences, new friends and happy memories.

Orcas Island Getaway: Our Last Morning

Posting from the Orcas Island Airport, on our way to Seattle.