Cuyahoga Valley National Park & The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Due to our quest to visit all 63 US National Parks, we of course had to stop at Cuyahoga Valley National Park while visiting Ohio. Our first stop of the day was Beaver Marsh. To get to the marsh from the parking lot, you follow along the old Erie Canal towpath (where the mules were tied to the barges and pulled them through the canal) to a boardwalk area over the marsh. Interestingly, this marsh was once a junkyard littered with abandoned cars and rusted farm equipment, but through conservation efforts, the area was cleaned up. The local beaver population did the rest of the work by building dams that led to the creation of a marshland. Today it’s a beautiful spot teeming with wildlife. We saw turtles, a black snake, a great blue heron - but no beavers. While at the marsh, a park ranger recommended that we stop at Szalay’s Farm Market a few miles up the road for some grilled corn. We took her advice and were glad we did - it was delicious!

Beaver Marsh

Everett Covered Bridge

Jim enjoying his grilled corn

After our snack, it was time to hike The Ledges Trail. This is a very unique 2.6 mile loop trail through massive walls of moss-covered sandstone. Jim and I agreed that it looked like a perfect setting for a Hunger Games movie.

On our way out of the park, we took the short walk down to the overlook next to Brandywine Falls and then made a quick stop at the Erie Canal Exploration Center where Jim was excited to see one of the old locks from the Erie Canal.

Brandywine Falls

Jim inspecting the lock

We had about 1.5 hours until the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland closed for the day, so we made a beeline for the museum after leaving Cuyahoga Valley NP. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum is huge - it’s over 55,000 square feet and seven levels of exhibits, so in our 1 hour there, we barely scratched the surface. We did enjoy seeing tons of rock and roll memorabilia and watching quite a few of the short video clips contained within some exhibits that highlighted the careers of many famous singers.

One of Cher's dresses

The Cleveland skyline from the front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

With the museum closing, it was time to hit the road for the 2.5 hour drive to Detroit to pick Brooke up from the airport. Tomorrow we will begin moving her into her apartment in Ann Arbor.