In May we took a short trip to Ohio to visit Cedar Point for Paul to get his roller coaster fix. We made a three day weekend out of it and spent some time in Cleveland and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park before heading over to Sandusky.
Cleveland has a pretty bad wrap, but is actually a pretty nice place. There are bad spots, but also a number of nice neighborhoods with fun restaurants, nice parks and pretty views of Lake Erie. We've been before for a wedding in March about 8 years ago, which was much less pleasant weather-wise, but going in late spring treated us with cool weather, lots of flowers and more people out and about.
After visiting the national park and hanging out in Cleveland for a couple hours, we decided to start the drive over to Sandusky. On the drive, we took the slow route along the lake and stopped at some small towns and parks along the way to enjoy the beautiful cool day.
That's all for this trip to Ohio! Overall, Cleveland is a bit underrated. The downtown has a few nice streets and there are lots of really great neighborhoods all around the city paralleling the lake. Maybe it's not the most touristic place we've visited, but it's easy to see why people like living here...in the summer! I'm sure we'll be back the next time they open a new roller coaster, and we'll be sure to explore some more of what this city has to offer.
Cleveland has a pretty bad wrap, but is actually a pretty nice place. There are bad spots, but also a number of nice neighborhoods with fun restaurants, nice parks and pretty views of Lake Erie. We've been before for a wedding in March about 8 years ago, which was much less pleasant weather-wise, but going in late spring treated us with cool weather, lots of flowers and more people out and about.
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| It's Cleveland! |
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| Jack Frost Donuts. Fuel for our trip to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. |
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| Always have to stop at the entrance signs! |
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| Boardwalk to Brandywine Falls. |
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| Brandywine Falls. There used to be a small town here that used the falls to power a mill. |
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| A popular spot in the National Park is the Ledges. A long series of sedimentary deposits within a forest. |
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| Millions of years of history laid bare. |
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| Beautiful forest in the National Park near the Ledges. |
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| Nature has grown all up and around the cliffs with some remarkable trees and roots. |
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| Part of the Ohio-Erie Canal. |
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| Boardwalk across a beaver marsh. There were lots of critters here. We saw some herons and turtles. |
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| The southern portion of the National Park has a large marsh. Reclaimed and flooded by beavers in the 1980s. |
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| Post National Park shao long bao and noodles at LJ Shanghai near downtown. |
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| These are really cute and similar to drawings we saw in Korea. |
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| Delicious and spicy chongqing noodles. |
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| Dessert at Mason's Creamery west of downtown. |
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| West Side Market - like Atlanta's Curb Market but better. |
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| The ceiling is pretty epic. |
After visiting the national park and hanging out in Cleveland for a couple hours, we decided to start the drive over to Sandusky. On the drive, we took the slow route along the lake and stopped at some small towns and parks along the way to enjoy the beautiful cool day.
Paul booked our stay on Cedar Point property at the Breakers Hotel. Staying here includes early entry into the park, making it a no-brainer. Paul was so excited to go try the new roller coaster, Steel Vengeance, that he went ahead and entered the park that evening as well. Paul enjoyed a couple of rides on Steel Vengeance, Maverick, and Millennium Force while David watched the Atlanta United game back in the hotel.
The next morning we lined up bright and early to enter the park before the crowds, and went right to Steel Vengeance so David could try it out and Paul could get some more time on this coaster, his new #1 favorite steel coaster! As soon as they opened the gate it was a mad dash of coaster-fanatics heading to the new ride, before the line got long. It was a little less than a half mile, which we covered with a quick jog (thanks Orange Theory Fitness). We ended up on the second train, and the line behind us quickly reached 2 hours. We spent the next 5 hours bouncing around to all Paul's favorite rides before calling it a day and heading back towards Cleveland to catch our flight home.
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| Several little lighthouses and parks along the drive. |
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| Paul's new #1 steel coaster! |
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| Model Steel Vengeance at the Cedar Point Museum inside the park. |
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| Paul wrapping up a ride on Gatekeeper! |
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| Life goal: be skinny like the mayor of Boneville. |
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| Cedar Point from Sandusky. Not a great pic, but you get the idea. It's basically a peninsula of fun! |
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| Lunch after leaving Cedar Point. This place had Sweetwater beer on tap! Random. |
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| Strawberry custard on the way back to the Cleve! The Midwest has tons of cute ice cream/custard places like this. |
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| Downtown Elyria. |
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| Gotta love the cavalier attitude of this business owner! |
That's all for this trip to Ohio! Overall, Cleveland is a bit underrated. The downtown has a few nice streets and there are lots of really great neighborhoods all around the city paralleling the lake. Maybe it's not the most touristic place we've visited, but it's easy to see why people like living here...in the summer! I'm sure we'll be back the next time they open a new roller coaster, and we'll be sure to explore some more of what this city has to offer.
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