Cuyahoga Valley National Park- Spring Break 2022

Hello everyone! 

We have decided to travel to National Parks during Spring Break. This year we wanted to stay close by since we were just planning to travel for a long weekend. While looking to visit National Parks near Cincinnati we decided to explore Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Cleveland, Ohio. It was only going to take us about 3.5 hours to arrive.

We headed out Friday evening on April 8 and stopped outside Columbus for dinner before continuing on our way. Unfortunately, we got stuck in some traffic around Polaris and did not arrive until around 9:30pm. 

We decided to stay at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Akron in Stow, Ohio. This was an excellent hotel that was located about 10-15 minutes from all of the places we wanted to explore. They also had breakfast which was nice to head down to when Samuel woke each morning. 

Saturday morning on April 9 we decided to start at the Boston Mill Visitor Center to plan out our time while at Cuyahoga. We knew what we wanted to do overall, but wanted to pick up some maps and merchandise. We were also able to get Samuel's National Park stamp for his book. If you forget your book, you can buy a sticker sheet to stamp and then place the sticker in the book later. They had a neat area upstairs where you could learn about the area, but also a few kid activities. Samuel wrote a spring time note about birds.

From there we went to Brandywine Falls. This area is pretty nice and makes for a light walk. The walk to the falls is on a walkway and easy to get to. There are a couple of different places to overlook the falls. There was a tunnel to head back to the parking lot and Samuel enjoyed screaming to hear his voice being amplified. 

Afterward, we headed back to our hotel area to grab lunch and to put Samuel down for a nap. I think he was too excited to nap because he just rolled around in his pack and play for about an hour.

We then decided to explore The Ledges. What a really cool trail. It loops around and is about 1.8 miles. There were little areas that were cave like that we went in and explored and just large rocks all around. Samuel really enjoyed this trail and tried to climb lots of rocks all around him. 

Before heading back to the hotel we stopped at Crooked Kettle Popcorn in Peninsula. They had a variety of flavors and my favorite was the Peninsula Mix- cheddar, white cheddar, and caramel. We also grabbed some wine from Old Mill Wine. It was a cute looking winery and we thought they made their own wine there, so that was disappointing. 

Sunday, April 10 we changed our plans last minute! We planned to stop and see Bridal Veil Falls on the way to spending the day in Cleveland. We stopped first at Bridal Veil Falls and Samuel loved exploring the wooded area along the trail and was not interested in the waterfall. We had a snack and were on the way to Cleveland when Bryant told me I should look into the train for Monday. I realized that they were closed on Mondays since it was not the summer months yet and we decided to head there at that moment. We had about 30 minutes to make it there, purchase tickets, and board the train! We were able to make it with a couple minutes to spare. Samuel loved riding the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway! We rode in the Saint Lucie Sound lounge car and loved the views all around us. We saw a bald eagle nest, deer, the Cuyahoga River, and learned a lot about the lounge car we were riding in. We adventured to the snack cart and got Samuel a train whistle and hat.

After the train ride we continued on toward Cleveland. We stopped at the West Side Market where we enjoyed calzones, pastries, and fresh fruit. We walked to Mitchell's Ice Cream where Bryant said he had the best Cookies & Cream shake ever! We then drove to Edgewater Park to see Lake Erie and Cleveland in the background. It was a pretty windy day. We headed back toward our hotel and stopped at Everett Covered bridge along the way. Samuel loved walking on the trails around the area and running through the covered bridge.

Monday morning was pretty rainy and cool. We decided to stop at Beaver Marsh while there was a break in the rain. The trail to the marsh area was a nice path since it was a part of the Towpath trail. We enjoyed seeing all the different birds, turtles, and plants, but unfortunately we did not see any beavers! We made one last stop before heading back to Cincinnati. We stopped at the Trail Mix Peninsula store. There was all kinds of merchandise from postcards to shirts to snacks and drinks. You could even buy Mitchell's ice cream here!

Overall we had a great visit to Cuyahoga Valley National Park! We would love to come visit again and do a few things we were unable to this time around. 

• Century Cycles: We would love to rent bikes here to be able to then bike around the area and then catch the train on the way back to Peninsula to return the bikes. You can ride the train for $5.
• Szalay's Farmers Market: The market did not open until June. We would have loved to have gone here and we drove past it several times. It is very close to Everett Covered Bridge. 
• Blue Hen Falls: This was a longer hike and we were told the trail was pretty muddy. This is something we could do when Samuel gets a little older and can hike along with us.
• Winery: We would love to find a winery that makes their wine locally. Do you have any recommendations in the area?