mcsplendiferous

        of all the thousands of trees i have seen today these were the most glorious of them all and in no less a mc donalds parking lot in richfield ohio just off i -77. i am not advocating mc donalds , but that was so pretty you could almost die of sugar poisoning just looking at it. it was so sweet. 

    i will give you brief explanations of these pics i took today as i went north in  search of answers. sometimes when you look for the answers you are only left with more questions. but what was interesting was i met this guy who has land in our area on a chance visit , while looking for someone else , an old friend. this guy told me a lot and answered a few questions and that left the rest of the day to go wandering through the cuyahoga valley national park from garfields heights to akron we traced along the ohio erie towpath , just looking at the sites. cuyahoga valley scenic railroad , hale farm and village and boston mills were highlights of the trip and this was all part of land that the ohio erie canal once passed through . and the one thing that still bothers me everytime i see the cuyahoga is watching the water run backward to lake erie. for years i worked along side the cuyahoga and still never got used to it flowing north. the park has and is taking shape more all the time as it has transformed from the influx of tourism and federal money . it is becoming a thing of beauty. and this time of year allows you to look deep into the woods and notice features more abundantly. above is a view of visitors center at garfield heights, ohio close to the beginning of our trip. 

     i will provide you with all the links as we go along so you can check out each individual site for yourself. first up is the cuyahoga valley scenic railway and that is located in independence ohio as its northernmost station you can climb on at akron and at canton on certain dates and ride to cleveland taking time to stop at different stops along the way . ck out their website for details. -Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad - Purchase Tickets- 

http://www.nps.gov/cuva/historyculture/everett-road-covered-bridge.htm - this is the link for the everett road covered bridge.

          http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/halefarm/village.htm-  this is the link to hale farm and village. havent had much time to digest all this information but instead would like to get it out to you if interested.

      this is just another one of those scenes you will see as you travel through this area whether by car, bicycle or train or foot. here are continuous trails and things to see and do. and prices seem reasonable as hale farms is 10 dollars / person, and train ride for 3hr. excursion sight seeing as low as 10 dollars coach round trip. don't take my word for it but instead check it out for yourself. this is a good place to go as it is close to your home and it is one of 2 national parks in our state , but by far the only one of its kind. it is a green vacation so to speak.