Dietz Summer Road Trip

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is just south of Cleveland, Ohio. A National Park. Who knew?

After last summer we got hooked on the National Parks system and realized that there were a few around us that we needed to check out on the east coast. We had just spent about 1.5 weeks in Pennsylvania visiting our family and decided to head west into Ohio to check out Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP).

We stayed at a KOA just outside of the park since there isn’t a campground within the park. Last summer we put our tent to the test and loved it. But learned that in times of rain the inside got messy having to get inside to take your shoes off. We asked Santa for the vestibule attachment for the tent and it proved a solid addition to Camp Dietz.

Yes. When we say camp we mean tent camping. Maybe one day we will be like the big boys and have a camper. But until then Camp Dietz is brought to you by Big Agnes and Eno hammocks. Our other new addition was the canopy tent that kept our picnic table and cooler nice and dry.  Despite the far walk to the bathroom/showers, we scored a sweet spot in the shade away from the other tent sites.

We headed to the park our first evening and drove around a little bit to get a sense of it, stopped at the visitor center, and found what soon to become our favorite restaurant. The Winking Lizard. With a name like that is has to be good. (It was so good in fact, with decent drink specials, that we went back pretty much everyday we were there). It has a fresh popcorn machine that you help yourself to and a real lizard. So yeah, pretty awesome.

Our first full day there we spent on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. We had purchased tickets ahead of time and boarded at the Peninsula station. The train basically follows along the Erie/Ohio Canal towpath. We stayed on to complete one round trip which pretty much took the whole morning/ afternoon. It goes to Akron and back, then outside of the park towards Cleveland. The highlights included the bar car, the dude with the coyote and beaver pelts, and the bald eagle nest above a marsh.

When we got back to the peninsula station we still had some time in the afternoon. The park is very accessible by car, hardly any traffic, and plenty of parking at trailheads and  easy locations to access the towpath. There are a few waterfalls in the park, two of which we were informed were a must see. The first was Brandywine Falls. Its the most popular and definitely the biggest/prettiest out of what we saw.

A short drive, and even shorter walk later, we arrived at the second waterfall. Blue Hen falls looked like a tiny dripping water facet compared to Brandywine. But it was nice, scenic, and you could walk right down to the falls.

Since it was a nice evening we headed to the Beaver Marsh in hopes of catching some wildlife. We were told on the train that around 7-8pm the marsh becomes most active. There is a little boardwalk area that we were able to walk on and a few benches. It didn’t take long to spot wildlife in the form of a blue heron and snapping turtles. After about 1.5 hours of waiting we finally saw a muskrat and two beavers!

Another big attraction/ activity at CVNP is biking. There is a trail along the towpath for hikers/walkers and bikes. There is a bike rental shop right in peninsula. On our second full day we woke up checked the weather, and after determining it would be a nice day, we decided to rent bikes. We got on without a problem, rode up and stopped at a farmers market and went back down to the beaver marsh before turning around. We were about 5 miles away when it started to rain. It didn’t just sprinkle… it was a downpour. Worst rain on record. (Ok not THAT bad but it felt like it at the time!) We tried stopping under a few trees but it was absolutely no hope. We decided just to pedal back. Every part of us and our undergarments were soaked.

By the time we got back it obviously had STOPPED raining. Lucky for us we had 5 weeks worth of clothes in the truck. We turned in the bikes, changed into dry clothes and decided we wouldn’t let it rain on our parade. Great Lakes Brewery was our next stop so we headed to Cleveland, about an hour drive from the park. We found a free place to park and walked to the brewery.

Food was good, beer was GREAT. John= some sort of burger. Danielle= Some sort of salad. John especially enjoyed the Lake Erie Monster Imperial IPA which lucky for us was also sold at the grocery store near our campground. It was called a “grown man’s beer” has John ordered a full pint of it. We were seated on the second floor by a window and noticed groups of people in Cleveland Indians jerseys waiting and subsequently getting picked up by some sort of shuttle. Our server told us that for $1 you get a round trip shuttle service to and from the Cleveland Indians baseball game. It starts 45 mins before the game and goes for 45 mins after the game. It’s called the Fatty Wagon and the best part is its run 100% on oil from the restaurant. Since it was a nice night, and having felt invincible from surviving the earlier storm, we decided what the heck. It is the Summer of YES after all. The decision was made… we would go to the baseball game.

The Fatty Wagon dropped us right off in front the field. We walked around the corner to buy tickets (cheapest ones we could fine). In case we missed it on the news lately, we were reminded that this would also be the location of the RNC to be held a few weeks later thanks to giant posters.

Throughout the game we saw 3 home runs and a reversed play. It was a great time and a nice stadium. Its just too bad the Buccos weren’t playing. We stayed until the 8th inning then headed out and caught the Fatty Wagon back to the brewery to get our car.

One quick stop at Mitchell’s ice cream shop for the fresh homemade ice cream near the drop off point of the Fatty Wagon.  It had a huge line outside of it which surely meant it was good. It didn’t disappoint.

Friday July 8th was our last full day camping in Ohio. We wanted to check out a few historical sites in the Canton area so we woke up slightly earlier than usual and headed to the First Ladies National Historical site first. Its in downtown Canton and basically made up of two buildings. The first building you enter is were you pay admission and watch this video on the first ladies. Right now they are focusing their exhibit on the campaign trail so the video matched the theme. It then lead into a room that had a few dresses, campaign buttons, posters, white house china and hand fans of former first ladies. A volunteer tour guide shared a few anecdotes about some of the first ladies, the most humorous was that of Mrs. Taft. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed in this section. Once you are done here you walk about 100 feet next door the the William and Ida McKinley house. It had some original and reproduced pieces from the house and the live of William and Ida. On one floor again it had a exhibit/artifacts focused on the first ladies.

We were now all in on the McKinley administration. So we headed across town to the McKinley monument and presidential library/museum. The museum was ok, had a good bit of Ohio history, but wasn’t very big. The monument/tomb however was huge and actually pretty awesome.  There were a surprising number of people there working out in the afternoon on a weekday. But you still got a sense of how meaningful this monument was. At the top you walk right into the mausoleum which was surprising.

Canton is just a short drive back to CVNP. We still had the rest of the afternoon and decided we would give riding bikes another shot! We rented them again and luckily did not get rained on this time. We headed the opposite direction on the towpath and after a few miles turned around and headed back to Peninsula.

Overall we spent 4 days, 4 nights. We managed to cover the highlights of the park  (the train, bike trails, small hikes, and wildlife watching). Along with visits to Cleveland and Canton. Although CVNP pales in comparison to some the parks we visited last year (but how can you compare anything to Arches, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite?) So its not even fair to try to do that. We really liked this park. It has a lot to offer, its free, and very accessible. Traffic is almost non existent and had something for everyone. It might be a great “beginner” park or one to visit if you have a bigger family or small kids. Its very accommodating and laid back. It’s perfect if you have a few days to spend in the Ohio Valley. Pretty sure that we are now convinced we need to buy bikes of our own!

Next stop is Indiana, land of……corn?