Easy Like A Sunday Morning

This weekend felt incredibly strange without homework to worry about for Monday.  In an effort to find something interesting to do, I decided to take a trip down to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which we had decided to feature in the Parks section of our guidebook. After about 45 minutes of driving (including missing an exit and several wrong turns) I pulled off to the side of the small, wooded road the directions on my phone had lead me down. I had originally selected the first result that popped up on Google maps for the Cuyahoga Valley Nation Park, but it had lead me to a uninhabited part of the park (instead of the visitor center I was looking for). So for the next couple hours I drove around the park, turning down roads and into picnic areas that piqued my fancy. I stopped by a picnicking spot adjacent to a field of goats, where I took some photos and eventually climbed a fence to pet the baby goats (who couldn’t have been more than a couple months old). I hopped back over the fence, nearly landing in a thorn bush, when the farmers who owned the goats came out of a nearby barn. Continuing on my way, I stopped at several streams, a couple of stone bridges, an ancient looking wrought iron bridge over a brook, and finally the last covered bridge in Summit County. Despite the long (and confusing) drive, the trip was entirely worth it. The scenery was beautiful, the numerous informational plaques were interesting and informative, and the trails seemed clean and well maintained. I can’t wait to write about the park for the guidebook, since I had a great experience.

            Once I made it back into familiar territory, I decided to stop by the Hessler Street Fair for some photographs, since Emeline had plans to go the same day to interview people in preparation for her article. I had gone to the fair the night before with some friends, so I already had some idea of what I wanted to photograph. I wandered around with my camera for a while, and finally started heading back to the car, tired after a long day. Upon reaching my car I realized I had locked my keys inside (something that has never happened to me before), and I had to call my mom to come unlock the car. Luckily this was a fairly quick ordeal, since I live about 5 minutes away from University Circle. Although I was glad to be home, I had a lot of fun running around on my own, driving aimlessly in search of good photographs, and I would definitely recommend anyone visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the Hessler Street Fair.