Cuyahoga Valley NP

 Hi Everyone,

(This post was actually written yesterday afternoon but cell service was so bad that I couldn’t upload pictures.  On the road this morning and good cell service).

We are camping at Punderson State Park in Ohio (no campgrounds in the NP).  Spent the day at Cuyahoga Valley NP.  It was 75 and sunny most of the day, quite different from the heat wave on the west coast.  California weather sounds similar to the weather we had in Utah.

Weather sure has been strange.  Our original trip (before we decided to go cross country) had us in Rocky Mountain NP the next three days. The forecast for Tuesday is snow and a high of 28 degrees!  Brrrrrrr.....  Happy those plans have changed!

The last two parks we have visited, Indiana Dunes and Cuyahoga are different than what we are used to.  Most parks we visit are very rural, “ in the middle of nowhere”.      Indiana Dunes is in Gary, Indiana and Cuyahoga only about 30 miles from Cleveland.  The scenery is really pretty but as soon as we leave the parks we are back in the city.

Tomorrow we head to the Poconos in Eastern Pennsylvania.  Because of COVID travel restrictions by east coast states, we are finding it challenging to get from here to Maine.  Originally we were to be in NY State tomorrow but instead will stay in Pennsylvania.  

On our Cuyahoga hike.  This used to be a loch In the Erie Canal.  This area was a thriving community while the canal was being built.

Brandywine Falls.  We hike two miles to get to the falls and when we got to the top there was a huge parking lot and lots of people!  Yes, we used a sanitized wipe after having someone take our picture with my phone.

Yep, this is what we paid for gas.  But... we also paid tolls on I-80 which offset the savings.  We liked the rest stops in Ohio as they were modern, clean, uniform in design, sold gas and snacks, and had plenty of room for large vehicles.