Monday, 15 Aug
Family Affair Campground
We had a checkout time of 11 am from the Family Affair Campground, but the check-in time was 3 pm at Punderson State Park. Google estimated a two-hour travel time, so we decided to wait until the last minute to pack up. I also had to drive a little over 5 miles away for gas.
Lisa appeared to be coming down with the flu and did not sound well, so we decided that she should take the In-house Covid test we had on hand. Unfortunately, she tested positive, so we decided we should get another one from Walgreens at our new destination. We scheduled an appointment for both of us for the afternoon.
We left right at 11 am, and though we were in Pennsylvania, our route took us back into New York, where we got on the interstate. The interstate took us through Pennsylvania along Lake Eire and into Ohio.
Punderson State Park
We arrived at Punderson State Park around 2 pm. We had site #3, which had full hookups. Though it was paved, it had a steep slope and was only about 50 feet deep so we barely had enough room for the trailer and the truck. Because of the slope, the tongue of the trailer was almost on the ground when we got level.
The site was partly shaded, had good privacy, and was about 50 yards from the lake. A nice concrete patio area and a repaired picnic table were in excellent shape. I walked down to the lake on a path worn through the woods. It looked nice, but there were a lot of lily pads near the shore, which would prevent me from wanting to swim there.
After we set up and had some lunch outside at the picnic table, we decided to drive around the park. There were only about a dozen full hookup sites. The rest were electric only with water points scattered along the road every four or five sites.
Aurora
We went into the town of Aurora to take our Covid tests about 25 minutes away. I went shopping inside Walgreens for some flu medicine and tissues for Lisa before we drove through the drive-thru for our COVID tests.
After taking our tests we drove through Dunkin Donuts for some iced coffee. Lisa got an Iced Cappuccino and I got an Iced Macchiato. We discovered that Dunkin Donuts seemed to be the most popular fast food restaurant during our travel this summer. We only had a couple in Kansas City, but as we traveled east, we seemed to find them on every corner and they all had large lines. Another thing that we found fascinating was the number of names it had: Dunkin Donuts, DD, DNDK, Dunkin.
Punderson State Park
When we returned to our camper, we opened all the windows and doors to maximize our airflow. We then ate dinner and relaxed inside for the rest of the evening. Later that evening, we got the results of the COVID tests. Mine was negative, but Lisa was positive.
Tuesday, Aug 16
Lisa was sick today, so we stayed at the trailer and relaxed. This also gave me a chance to work on this blog.
Wednesday, Aug 17
It was a beautiful day with the temperature expected to stay in the 70s, so we decided to get out and see the Covered Bridges of Ashtabula County, the covered bridge capital of Ohio.
Covered Bridges of Ashtabula County
We first drove to the Ashtabula Visitors Bureau to get a map and information about these bridges. While there, they informed us that we could win prizes based on the number of bridges we saw. For five, we would get a pin, for ten we would also get a baseball cap, and if we saw all of them we would also get a tote bag. They gave us a link to download the app that we would use to “check-in” at each of the bridges as we arrived.
For the next four and a half hours, we visited seventeen covered bridges,, including the longest and shortest covered bridges in the United States. Though they advertise that they have nineteen bridges, one bridge was a pedestrian bridge, so we did not visit that one, and one bridge was recently destroyed. We enjoyed being able to drive across most of them.
The earliest documented covered bridge dates back to 1867 (Mechanicsville and Windsor Mills) and 1868 (Root, Middle, and Harpersfield). Some covered bridges were relatively new: the Riverview pedestrian covered bridge was constructed in 2016, and the Smolen-Gulf covered bridge (the longest covered bridge in the United States) was built in 2008. All had received various degrees of restoration work.
We got back to the visitor center by 4:30 pm and got our prizes which impressively were of nice quality.
Lake Eire
One covered bridge not on the official list was converted into a pizza restaurant in nearby North Kingsville. It sounded interesting, so we drove over and got some pizza to take home with us.
I took the indirect route that took us along Lake Eire. We stopped at two lakeside parks along the way, Lake Shore Park and Walnut Beach Park, where we enjoyed the views of the lake.
Covered Bridge Pizza
Covered Bridge Pizza Parlor & Eatery is located in a building that is a restored covered bridge, once known as the Foreman Road Bridge. The 1862 bridge is 126 feet long, weighs 55 tons, and is constructed entirely from local lumber. Inside, it maintained its charm and even had a fake wasp next to it in its rafters.
They had a large menu, but we ordered a medium five-item pizza. We had to wait about 25 minutes, giving me time to take pictures and mail some postcards at the nearby post office. The pizza looked great.
We stopped at a pharmacy on the way home and got back to the camper by 6:30 pm where we enjoyed the pizza and settled in for the evening.
Thursday, Aug 18
We left the camper shortly after 10 a.m. to explore some attractions near Cleveland. Since Lisa was still not feeling well, we tried to find attractions that required little or no walking.
Chagrin Falls
Our first stop was the Chagrin Falls waterfall. This is a 20-foot waterfall on the Chagrin River in the center of the village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. At one point Chagrin Falls was the industrial center of Northeast Ohio and powered 9 different mills at their peak. We stopped in a parking lot next to the falls where we could see the falls without being near anyone.
Viaduct Park
We then drove over to Viaduct Park which is part of the 2,200 acres Bedford Reservation south of Cleveland. The park sits along Tinker’s Creek Gorge, which was formed by Tinker’s Creek and is the largest tributary of the Cuyahoga River.
Viaduct Park focuses on the remains of a huge 225-foot-long stone railroad viaduct built 120 feet above the gorge in 1865. When C&P Railroad relocated its tracks in 1902, tons of fill buried the lower portion of the viaduct, so the viaduct remains do not look very impressive today.
The biggest attraction in the park is the“Great Falls.” These falls are about 15 feet high and about 80 feet wide. This is the largest of the cascades found on Tinker’s Creek, hence the name “Great”. The power of the falls was harnessed between 1821 and 1913 for a sawmill, grist mill, and an electric power plant.
The park also includes “The Arch,” which is the remains of a long tunnel built over the creek, as well as the ruins of an old dam and mill race. Interpretive signs are placed throughout the park to explain the significance of all the various ruins. The park was revitalized and opened in 2002 through a cooperative effort by Cleveland Metroparks and the City of Bedford.
I left Lisa in the truck and climbed an overlook on one of the viaduct ruins that overlooked the gorge, but the vegetation was too thick to see anything. I then walked down a quarter-mile trail into the gorge to see the falls. The water level was low, so the falls were very fragmented, but I still enjoyed them. I could barely see “The Arch” through the thick brush. Most of the park was hard to appreciate because of the thick brush.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park seeks to preserve and reclaim the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland in Northeast Ohio. Cuyahoga Valley differs from the other national parks in that it is adjacent to two large urban areas, and it includes a dense road network, small towns, four reservations of the Cleveland Metroparks, eleven parks of the Summit Metro Parks, and public and private attractions. Cuyahoga Valley was originally designated as a National Recreation Area in 1974, then redesignated as a National Park in 2000, and remains the only national park originating as a National Recreation Area.
We drove into the National Park at the northernmost point and down Canal Road south through the park. This road followed the path of the old Eire-Ohio Canal, and we could see the ditch on our right where it once existed. It was mainly marshy with cattails and tall weeds growing within its banks. On the other side of the canal, we could see the Tow Path Trail, a nice bike and hiking trail that sat on the old towpath where the mules used to walk while pulling the canal boats.
We attempted to follow the Google Map directions to Brandywine Falls. Still, we were forced to follow several detours until we eventually discovered that there was no access to the falls because of ongoing road construction.
We then headed to the Boston Mill Visitor Center, which was like any National Park Visitor Center with a restroom, park sign, information desk, and a small museum. Here, we learned that the only way to get to Brandywine Falls was a 3-4 mile hike because of ongoing road construction.
High Bridge Glen
High Bridge Glens is a small park in Cuyahoga Falls that sits along the Cuyahoga River gorge. On one end was a nice boardwalk that took us down for a better look at the gorge cliffs and the river. On the other end was a pedestrian bridge with a spectacular view down the gorge and the “Little Falls” farther upstream.
View from Pedestrian Bridge
Chief Logan Statue
We then headed over to Bath Community Park to see the Chief Logan Statue. This 7,000-pound, 20-foot-tall Indian head was carved in 2006 from a ten-ton red oak tree by Joe Frohnapfel. It was located right next to the parking lot so we did not even have to get out of the truck.
Chief Logan was a chief of the Mingo Indians, a multi-tribal confederation allied to the Six Nations. During the four years he’d lived in the area, he had consistently tried to maintain peace, but in 1774, a band of frontiersmen led by Daniel Greathouse slaughtered a group of Indians, including the family of Logan. After the murder of his family, Logan went on the warpath and led raids throughout the upper Ohio Valley and into the Monongahela Valley. Shawnee and Delaware tribes then attacked settlements along the Ohio River. Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore attacked and defeated the Indians later that year. Logan skipped the subsequent peace negotiations but delivered a famous speech that Thomas Jefferson later quoted. In it he grieved for his family and asked poignant, lingering questions about the treatment of Indians.
Cataract Falls
We then headed over to Mill Creek Falls (also known as Cataract Falls of Mill Creek) which was located within the city limits of Cleveland. The 48-foot cascade waterfall is tucked away in a small and relatively sketchy urban park. It has two observation decks for viewing the waterfall but only from the top or side. The water at the bottom of the waterfall was disgusting.
The waterfall is technically a manmade waterfall created when a railroad company diverted a section of Mill Creek in the early 1900s. The original waterfall was 300 feet to the north, and a grist mill was established in 1799.
Lakeview Cemetery
We then headed to Lakeview Cemetery to see some of the famous gravesites there.
Lake View Cemetery sits on 285 acres of land on Cleveland’s East side and dates back to 1869. The cemetery was modeled after the Victorian-era garden-style cemeteries of England and France and is often called “Cleveland’s Outdoor Museum” because of its beautiful landscaping and memorials. Wealthy families especially favored it during the Gilded Age. The President James A. Garfield Memorial, erected in 1890, is the most significant.
One of the creepiest memorials is the Angel of Death Victorious at the grave site of the Haserot family. The angel in this memorial looks like it is weeping black tears.
Lake Eire Coast
We then drove north toward the lake through a lot of very poor neighborhoods before we arrived at the mansions along Lake Eire in Bratenahl. We then followed Lakeshore Blvd east for about 20 miles before returning to the campground.
We got back to the camper around 6 pm.
Friday, August 19
Lisa was still sick with COVID, so she thought it best to stay at the camper and rest. Though I still wanted to be isolated from people, I headed out around 8:30 am to visit some trails that we would typically bypass because they were too strenuous for Lisa’s knees.
Squire’s Castle
My first stop was Squire’s Castle, on the North Chagrin Reservation near Willoughby Hills, Ohio. This castle-like building was built in 1897 by Feargus Squire, an executive with the Standard Oil Company. It was meant to be the gatekeeper’s house for the 525-acre wooded estate he called River Farm Estate. He abandoned his plan to build a larger manor house for himself and instead used this house as an occasional weekend country home. Squire’s wife disliked the house, and since Squire rarely visited it after 1908, he sold the estate and gatekeeper’s house to developers in 1922. The Cleveland Parks Board bought the property in 1925 and turned it into a park.
The castle-like structure originally had a ground floor, two upper floors, and a basement. The windows were of leaded glass. Today, only the stone shell of the home remains. It is near a picnic area, and people, especially children, still enjoy playing.
Bridal Veil Falls
I then headed over to Bridal Veil Falls which was a short hike from the parking lot off Gorge Parkway in the Bedford Reservation. The trail was a mix of wooden steps and a dirt trail that took me into a small gorge. A nice wooden deck below the falls gave me a beautiful view of the cascading waterfall surrounded by hardwoods and hemlocks. The water level was low, but there was a nice thin veil formed by the water.
Tinker Creek Gorge Scenic Overlook
Just up the road was an overlook of the Tinker Creek gorge. Tinker’s Creek travels 28.2 miles and is the largest tributary that feeds the Cuyahoga River. It drops 220 feet over a course of two miles and has carved out a steep, walled gorge. The gorge was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1967.
Because of the thick tree cover, I could not see anything besides trees. I am sure it looks great in the fall when the leaves change.
Canal Exploration Center
I then went to the Canal Exploration Center,, a visitor center along a towpath in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The canal used 44 locks to make it possible to move goods and people around the Appalachians by connecting the Ohio River to Lake Erie. This established Cleveland as an industrial center that threatened the environmental health of the region, which then led to the restoration of the river and the creation of the National Park.
Outside the center was Lock 38, the last working lock on the canal, and “Blossom,” the bronze mule. Inside were several floors of displays that gave the history of the canal. The visitor center was once a tavern and a store on the canal in the mid-1800s.
Brandywine Falls
I then drove down to the Boston Mills Visitor Center to hike to Brandywine Falls, the most popular attraction at the Park. The trail took me down the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail along a lot of marshland. We then took a footpath to the Stanford House. The 1843 Stanford House is a turn-of-the-century farmhouse and farm that accommodates groups and visitors through the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I then took a 1.5-mile heavily wooded trail up and down ravines to the falls.
Carved by Brandywine Creek, the 60-foot Brandywine Falls was a classic waterfall with hard rock, Berea Sandstone, capping softer rock and shale below it. The shale is thinly chunked, which gives the water a bridal veil appearance as it cascades down the falls.
There were two viewpoints. One was at the brim of the falls, and the other was a boardwalk that took me halfway down into the gorge for a great frontal look.
The roundtrip hike was approximately 5.7 miles.
After returning from the falls, I stopped in the Boston Mills Visitor Center to look through the museum and buy a national park magnet for our camper’s refrigerator.
Kent State May 4 Visitor Center
It was around 1 pm when I headed to Kent State May 4 Visitor Center. This small museum had a permanent exhibition of the student anti-war movement, historical artifacts, and a film about the events of May 4, 1970, featuring interviews with some of the participants and students who were wounded on that day.
On May 4, 1970, four unarmed students were killed and nine others wounded at Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard during a peace rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War in Cambodia. Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired approximately 67 rounds in 13 seconds. The incident marked the first time that a student had been killed in an anti-war gathering in United States history. The fatal shootings triggered immediate and massive outrage on campuses around the country. More than 4 million students participated in organized walk-outs at hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools, the largest student strike in the history of the United States at that time. Because a lot of misinformation about this event still exists, the University has posted this blog about the facts of the event.
I arrived during move-in day on the campus, so though school was not in session, there were a lot of parents and orientation groups everywhere. A few spots reserved for museum parking were already occupied (though I discovered the people were NOT in the museum), so I parked in a student parking spot with the thoughts that the campus police might have more forgiveness on move-in day. When I got out, I discovered I had parked near a parking spot that had been turned into a memorial for one of the students who were shot. I found that there were four such parking spots set aside there.
I walked into the free museum that was broken into three major sections. The first section had displays describing the culture, the second section had a small movie theater that gave us a small documentary of the event, and the last section described the aftermath. It was very well done and impactful. I watched one other family walk through the displays, and it was interesting to see how the various generations saw them. The younger generations just found the retro displays interesting and missed the point of the display, and the older generations just reminisced about the time.
At the end, I talked with the staff about the display and asked how they saw various people view or react to the displays. I also mentioned that I saw many parallels with the BLM protests. The docent mentioned that the county was very conservative, very much sided with the National Guard, and very much opposed the BLM protests. The student working in the office got passionate about how awful the police were during the BLM protests.
I then walked outside, where they had a small walking tour where I traced the path of the National Guard and students during the protests and shootings.
Overall, it was a great stop, and I learned a lot about this sad tragedy.
The Ritchie Ledges
The Ledges Trail is about a 2-mile hike along a plateau of massive sandstone cliffs and striking rock formations called the Ritchie Ledges. The view changes as the trail loops around these huge walls, which helps keep things interesting. Another trail takes you across the plateau to the Ledges Overlook, which provides an expansive view of the Cuyahoga Valley. There were various rock staircases throughout the loop, including a large one that takes you up to the top of the plateau.
This site is a remnant of the region’s former life as an ancient ocean. Three hundred twenty million years ago, this area was a swamp. Stream beds deposited sand and pebbles from the swamp, which were compacted and formed into the Sharon Conglomerate. Over time, erosion carved out the rock, creating the current ledges.
I had a great time crawling around on the rocks and seeing the various rock formations.
At Lisa’s request, I picked up some KFC on the way back to the campground and arrived at the camper around 6:30 pm.
Saturday, August 20
I took off around 10:30 am to explore more while Lisa stayed behind at the camper, still trying to recover from COVID.
ASM Headquarters
Just down the road from the campground was a large open-lattice geodesic dome about a ¼-mile off the road. A road sign identified it as the ASM (American Society for Metals) Corporate headquarters. The gate to the complex was open, so I turned down the road to check it out closer.
The dome sat over a semi-circular building that looked upon a beautiful garden. The offices were closed, but a large landscaping crew was working on the gardens while I was there. I parked the truck and walked around the gardens to admire the dome.
The dome was completed in 1959 at a height of 103 feet and is 274 feet in diameter. The dome uses approximately 65,000 parts, including 13 miles of extruded aluminum tubing and tension rods bolted into hexagons. There are no internal supports, and the entire 80-ton weight rests on five concrete-filled pylons driven up to 77 feet into the earth.
Christmas Story House
I then headed over to the Christmas Story House. The route took me through the east side of Cleveland, generally considered the city’s poorest part. As I approached the city, I passed nice homes along Shaker Boulevard before turning onto Woodland Avenue and driving through the more depressed part of the city, where there were several public housing projects. I then turned just on the outskirts of downtown Cleveland and descended into the industrial area down by the Cuyahoga River. I had to wait at one point for the 1940 3rd Street Vertical Lift Bridge to descend after allowing a barge down the Cuyahoga River. I then passed a large steel mill, which I learned later was one of the reasons the location for the Christmas Story house was chosen.
The Christmas Story house was just up the hill from the steel mill in a crowded working-class neighborhood with small streets and 19th-century Victorian homes. The house was used in the exterior and some interior scenes of Ralphie Parker’s house in the 1983 film A Christmas Story. It was purchased by a private developer in 2004 and has been restored and renovated to appear as it did both inside and outside in the film. The museum is part of a complex of four buildings, including a house, museum, and gift shop.
All the street parking and parking lots were full, but I could park the truck in a pseudo-parking space that I saw someone else pull out of. I went into the gift shop first, and it was packed. I thought it would be nice to buy something for Lisa since this was her favorite movie, but there were 30+ people in the slow-moving checkout line. I looked around the gift shop and then went outside and took some pictures before I decided it was too chaotic for me, and I moved on to my next destination.
The Sanctuary Museum
The Sanctuary Museum was only open two days a week and only four hours each day. The museum is a collection of Catholic religious art and artifacts preserved and owned by the local artisan Lou McClung. Most of the objects were locally obtained from the Diocese of Cleveland. It was located in the former St. Hedwig Church, which was closed in the early 2000s and converted into a museum in 2011.
The route to the Sanctuary Museum took me to the west side of Cleveland through more depressed neighborhoods and into an increasingly less depressed area of Lakewood. I parked across the street just as it opened.
Though the admission was much more expensive and the museum much smaller than expected, I enjoyed seeing the beautiful restoration work. McClung was a make-up artist, and you could see how he used his skills on the faces of the various statues. It was also interesting to see the small collection of relics.
Apple Jax Toy Store
I was parked right outside the Apple Jax Toy Store. I decided to walk through the store because they had some fun displays in the window. It had a huge collection of fun toys and collectibles that were a lot of fun to look through.
Dittrick Medical History Museum
I then drove east through Cleveland to the Dittrick Medical History Museum, located in the Allen Memorial Medical Library at Case-Western University and near the massive University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
Since it was Saturday, it was easy to find parking. The museum was located on the third floor and it is free to visit. Hallway cases offer a preview of what illness and treatment looked like in earlier eras, as well as infectious disease crisis and management. The main gallery was loaded with various medical gadgets showing the evolution of changing conceptions about health and medicine.
Most gadgets would probably only have meaning to medical professionals, but it was interesting to see the evolution of various diagnostic and treatment tools. One of the more notorious sections was the large section devoted to the history of reproduction and historic contraception devices. These include information about changes in midwifery and obstetrics in the 18th and 19th centuries and the history of contraception in America, from folklore to condoms, diaphragms, IUDs, and the birth control pill.
Christmas Story House
Since it was later in the afternoon, I returned to the Christmas Story House to see if the crowds were less and at least bring home something for Lisa. When I parked, it was easy to see that the crowds were less, but it was still busy. I got some tickets for the next tour, about 30 minutes away. Meanwhile, I looked through the gift shop and finally settled on buying Lisa a cute oversized t-shirt of Ralphie wearing the pink bunny suit that she could use as pajamas.
The tour began on the porch of the Christmas Story house, where a guide brought us into the living room told us a few things about the movie’s filming, and then let us wander on our own. All the items in the house were NOT original, so we could play with everything and take pictures. They did a great job replicating the props from the movie, such as the decoder ring in the bathroom, the Daisy rifle in the bedroom, and the leg lamp in the window. I started feeling bad that Lisa was not there to enjoy it because she would have enjoyed herself.
They then took us into the backyard, where they pointed out more stuff from the movie, and then took us over to their museum. The museum had authentic props and movie items like the original Daisy rifle.
Overall, I thought the tour was well done, and I look forward to returning and bringing Lisa.
After the tour, I returned to the camper and stopped at Taco Bell for takeout. I got back to the camper around 5:30 pm.
Sunday, Aug 21
Today, Lisa was feeling well enough to go for a ride, so we drove along the coast. She took an at-home COVID test and tested negative, which was great since C. It was very foggy when we took off around 10:45, and light rain was falling.
Fairport Harbor
We headed north for the coast and stopped at the lighthouse in Fairport Harbor. A 55-foot lighthouse was first built here in 1835 and was one of the first eight lighthouses on the Great Lakes. It was replaced by the current Grand River Light in 1871. It consists of a 60-foot tower made of Brea Sandstone with a brick-lined interior with a detached keeper’s house. The light was decommissioned in 1925 and replaced by the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light. In 1945, the Coast Guard turned over ownership of the light to the town. The lightkeeper’s house was turned into a museum that was not open when we were there. Legend has it that a ghost cat haunts the facility. Volunteers and tourists have reported feeling a cat rub against them, although the cat has never been seen.
The streets were deserted around the tower since it was Sunday morning, but it looked like it would be a fun tourist stop. Our attention was distracted by the ice cream shop across the street. We also saw they had silhouettes of sand castles painted in different designs.
Grand River
We were on the east side of the Grand River and had to drive quite a ways south to get to the western side of the river so that we could follow the Lake Eire coast. When we got to the other side, we saw a restaurant with some fun decorations called Pickle Bills Restaurant.
We also saw a large Morton Salt Mine. Ohio produces 5 million tons of rock salt yearly, much of which is mined by Morton Salt. The company opened a mine in Fairport Harbor in 1958. Today, the mine employs about 170 people, 110 of whom work underground, pulling 1.3 million tons of salt from the earth yearly. Most of it is used for deicing roads. The US dumps about 19.5 million tons of salt on its roads yearly.
Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve
We then drove into Headlands Dunes State Park and the adjoining Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve. We parked near the boardwalk that took us over to the nature preserve first that sought to maintain a section of natural dunes along the Lake Eire coast that had all but been eliminated by extensive development. Several signs along the boardwalk told us to stay on the boardwalk. The sand was covered with switchgrass or beach grass and other flora. I was disappointed to see several people down on the beach within the preserve digging through the sand for things instead of leaving it in its natural state.
In the distance, we could see the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater lighthouse near the break wall built in 1925. This lighthouse replaced the Grand River Light we had seen earlier that morning. The lighthouse has been uninhabited since 1948 and is renovating to turn it into a vacation retreat.
Next door, the Headlands Dune State Park had a mile-long groomed beach with several extensive bathroom facilities but because of bad bacteria levels in the water, we saw very few cars there.
Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine
Dedicated in 1926, Our Lady of Lourdes National Shrine in Euclid, Ohio, replicates the original shrine in Lourdes, France. Incorporated into the Grotto is a stone taken from the stone upon which Our Lady appeared in Lourdes. The water from the Grotto flows over this holy relic. Several people were filling bottles to take with them. They had paper cups available for donation, so we drank a cup of water apiece for good measure.
Next to the Grotto is a small white building that contains crutches, canes, glasses, and other items. The items belonged to people who have come here and have felt that they were blessed with healing.
Past the Grotto, I walked through a stone archway leading to the Stations of the Cross that ran along the hillside and returned to the Grotto. The path was wooded, and the uneven pavement was very slippery in places from moss.
Downtown Cleveland
We then continued west until we entered downtown Cleveland. We could see the Cleveland skyline with Progressive Field in the foreground. I had set Google Maps to take me to Hope Memorial Bridge, where the 43-foot “Guardians of Transportation” are located on the pillars, but it took me under the bridge instead of over it. We then drove through the downtown area and saw the following:
- Rubber Stamp Sculpture in Willard Park
- Fountain of Eternal Life
- Cleveland Public Square
- Perry Monument in Fort Huntington Park
- The Mall
- Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse
We then headed down into The Flats and the crooked Cuyahoga River toward one of the Cleveland Script Signs. Six Cleveland script signs were installed around the city between 2016-2018. We drove to the one near The Foundry (a local rowing club). It was on the Cuyahoga River on the West Bank of The Flats. The Cleveland skyline (including a cool bridge) provided the backdrop.
All along the Cuyahoga River, we saw a lot of movable bridges. Cleveland has a greater variety of movable bridges than can be seen in any other place in the world. One reason is that seven different railroads entered Cleveland, creating over 960 miles of track. The Cuyahoga River is also very crooked as it flows through the city. From the mouth of the Cuyahoga River to Akron, eighty-four bridges are over three and a half miles long. Twenty of these are over the navigable portion of the river. One can see viaducts, stone-masonry arches, concrete arches, cantilever spans, girder spans, swing bridges, vertical lift bridges, bascule bridges, jackknife bridges, and Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges.
We then returned to the downtown area and headed to the waterfront to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We discovered the museum near the FirstEnergy Stadium, where the Cleveland Browns were playing the Philadelphia Eagles. That explained why we saw many people wearing team colors running around downtown. The game was still ongoing, so traffic was diverted from the area and onto the highway. Before heading west, we could see the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and large shipping freighters in the Cleveland Pier.
We exited the highway as soon as possible and drove to Edgewater Park. This park had 9000 feet of Lake Erie shoreline, great skyline views, a large swimming beach, a pier, and lots of green space. Best of all, it had public bathrooms.
When we left the park, we passed the giant Paddle Ball Superelectric Sculpture in the Gordon Square Arts District and continued west along the coast.
Racial Divide
Racial segregation was pronounced as we drove around Cleveland. When we crossed a city limit, the demographics often changed significantly. This was also obvious as we drove east to west through the city.
The area east of the Cuyahoga River was located in the “Western Reserve,” or land initially claimed by Connecticut. Wealthy business owners originally settled in this area, and you can still see many “old money” neighborhoods.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Cleveland saw a massive influx of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian, German, Russian, and Ottoman empires, most of whom were attracted by manufacturing jobs. These immigrants were pushed over to the west side of the Cuyahoga River, where they established working-class neighborhoods.
Also during this time, the Great Migration attracted African American laborers to northern industrial cities in search of jobs and freedom from the racial violence and segregation of the South. But racism, bolstered by discriminatory practices by landlords, real estate brokers, and banks, largely confined African Americans to certain neighborhoods on Cleveland’s northeast side.
Today, one-third of the population of Cleveland lives in the city, which is 50% African American and 30% white, while the suburbs are 73% white and 20% African American. The white and Hispanic populations are concentrated mainly on the city’s West Side, while the Black American population is concentrated mainly on the East Side. The west side has experienced urban renewal, while the east side continues to experience intense poverty.
Though this was not a unique problem for Cleveland, the intense poverty we saw hit home.
Miller Road Park, Avon Lake, OH
We stopped at Miller Road Park to get out and admire the Lake. It sat on a tree-lined bluff and had all the usual park amenities. It also had a long fishing pier and a boat launch. A chain link fence fenced off the beach but it looked like it had washed away. We sat on a bench overlooking the water for a bit before using their public bathrooms and returning to the campground.
Swensons
On the way back, we stopped at Swenson’s in the Brooklyn suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, for dinner. Swensons Drive-In is an Ohio drive-in restaurant chain that started in 1934. They did not have speakers like Sonic; instead, we had to turn on our headlights when ready to order like old-style drive-ins. I had their signature hamburger, the Galley Boy, a double cheeseburger prepared using two sauces.
We got back to the camper around 6 pm.
Monday, Aug 22
I left around 9 am to do some laundry at Burton Village Laundry & Car Wash. While waiting for the laundry to finish, I took advantage of the car wash and got most of the bugs off the grill and the dust cleaned out of the back.
After finishing the laundry, I ran to the Eagle Supermarket in Middlefield for groceries.
We packed and left the campground around 12:30 am and headed toward East Harbor State Park near Sandusky.