Ohio

Location: Many
When: Early May
Miles traveled: 130 or 436 (I forgot if I was using trip A or B to keep track)
Price of gas: 3.08 to 3.58
Interest: Tiffany Co. glass works
High point: Wade Chapel or the first night at campground
Low point: Did not see beavers
One thing learned: I quickly exaggerate half bits of information I've gathered when under pressure to be interesting.

    After taking a break in April, I traveled around Ohio, getting used to camping in my car again.  I visited the Topiary Garden in Columbus, the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock in Sugarcreek, Wade Memorial Chapel in Cleveland, and took a scenic train ride through Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

    The Topiary Garden in Columbus is manicured to look like "A Sunday Afternoon On The Ile-De La Grande Jatte" painting by Georges Seurat.  The best time of year to visit is during the summer months when the bushes are enthusiastically growing and are trimmed often.  This early in the year, some armatures were still visible without branches to cover them.  I gave a jumping dog a stick, and it seemed as happy to have it as it was before.  I liked the strong shapes of the figures' hats and umbrellas.

    Driving to my campground near Cuyahoga Valley, I stopped to see the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock in Sugarcreek.  While it is no longer considered the world's largest, it is still impressive and cool to see how they treated all aspects of a German cuckoo clock.   The pendulum looked like an acorn and the decorative weights properly looked like pine cones!  Every half hour, the musicians come out, a song is played, and the dancers circle.  Then the musicians return inside to their rest, and the dancers stop moving.   I thought it was disappointing the musicians did not move during the song.  Continuing on to my campsite, I had a lovely view of the sunset.

     With the taste of strawberry jam still on my tongue, a 9 pm phone alarm starts to play Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No 1.  It's my favorite evening piano song, and it sounds even better with the campground's lake frogs singing.  A few geese keep the peaceful mood light.   My first night exploring Ohio ends wonderfully with a family phone call, cloudy sunset (my favorite kind of sunset), and meeting my camping neighbors who have traveled to 49 states (they need Alaska).  The warm 80 degree interior of the car is cozy when faced with a cool 60 degree night.

"Flight of Souls"

    The next day I drove an hour north to Wade Memorial Chapel.  Commissioned by the wealthy cemetery owner's son in honor of his late father, the chapel was designed and built by Louis Tiffany Studios.  The window entitled "The Flight of Souls" is the center piece of the chapel.  The surrounding walls have symbolism from the Old and New Testaments in glass mosaics.  The dim lighting means photographs don't capture the colors of the mosaics, but they are beautiful.  The cut of the glass is also wonderful. Not cut into square pieces, each tile is shaped to best represent the images.   The muscles in the rowers' bodies are accurately curved, and the designs on the boat convey depth and dimension.  The chapel is an excellent example of high standards and high achieved, fully thought-out and executed project.

Old Testament wall

detail

 

    On Friday, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad took me on a two hour round trip from Peninsula to Akron and back.  The most exciting part of my first train ride was walking between the cars.  After walking the length of the train, it was no longer exciting.  The scenery was green trees, fields, and people's backyards.  Much of the train ride was outside of the NP.   The train currently is unable to travel north farther into the park because the river has undercut the train tracks, and construction is underway to stabilize the railroad.  After this experience, I don't think I will take another train ride if it is only for scenic purposes. 

Beaver

Muskrat

 

    By car, I visited Brandywine Falls and Beaver Marsh, both places within Cuyahoga Valley NP.  It looked like some prom couples were at the falls, taking professional pictures.  At the marsh, I hoped to see a beaver and was told the best time to see beavers is early morning or late evening.  I stuck around for a few hours in the evening, but I don't think I saw a beaver.  I saw turtles, blue herons, and a muskrat.  Muskrats can swim as fast as Olympic swimmers, which is how I knew it was a muskrat.   I was half running, half walking on the bridge, TRYING to keep up and not scare it away.   I was not fast enough, but I did get a neat video of it climbing over an embankment. (Best viewed on a phone, because I turn the camera sideways the end)  I also saw a slow swimming animal, which I guess to have also been a muskrat.  I'm not an expert, all my knowledge came from the sculptures and information bulletins at the tail head.

    In summary, the Topiary Garden and Wade Chapel were nice, the scenic train ride was boring, and it was exciting to see wildlife at Beaver Marsh.  Hooray for Ohio!

"Daffodil Shade on a Crab Lamp Base" by Tiffany Studios