Day Forty-Three

Day forty-three and we are being lazy today, hanging around the campground.  Sam is playing on the playground and the jumping pillow, while I catch up on the blog.  Jim is organizing inside the coach.  Good day to finish reading my latest book!

Day Forty-Two

Day forty-two and we went hiking in the Cayuhoga National Park.  We checked out Brandywine Falls, although we couldn’t walk the trail because they are working on it – constructing a new bike trail.  We then drove around quite a while on scenic Riverview Road, and stopped to hike another trail at the Ira Trailhead.  We did a three mile hike through a beaver marsh, although we didn’t spot any beavers.  There was a ranger on the boardwalk, and she said there were beavers  in the marsh, but they were active mostly at dawn and dusk.

The trail was actually a towing road along the Ohio-Erie Canal.  This particular section of the trail took us past old Lock 26, and there were at least three beaver dams that had been built along the way.  The ranger said she had seen muskrats there, as well, but we had no luck.  We did spot a family of wood ducks, and also saw three snapping turtles about eighteen inches in diameter.  It was a nice day for a hike, and we enjoyed it, although Sam was a little tired on the way to the car.  We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, and Sam was so hungry that he ordered a double quarter-pounder with cheese.  He ate the WHOLE thing!  He was so full, that he fell asleep, and napped for over two hours!  Ha Ha!!

While driving home, we went through Kent, OH which is home to Kent State University, and was a beautiful campus.  We also went through Ravenna and drove by a drive-in movie theater, which caught Sam’s eye.  We decided to go to the movies that night and take Sam to his first drive-in movie!  It was a double feature – Captain America and Transformers 3 – both good movies for an eight-year old boy!  The only problem was the first movie started at 9:15 pm, and the second one started at 11:30!  We didn’t know if Sam would make it through the first movie, but he ended up watching them both!  I napped on and off through the second one.  It was after 2:00 am when we left there.  Yawn!  Needless to say, we slept late the next morning.

Day Forty-One

Day forty-one took us to the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland.  This was another awesome science center with lots of interactive displays.  I just love all the creative thinking behind these displays and their designs, the great lessons and scientific principles they teach!  Sam spent several hours making the rounds and trying out everything.  Jim and I tried them out, too!  J  It was a good day.

Day Forty

Day forty already!  Wow!  Time is flying!  Today was a rainy Sunday, so we hung out at the coach.  Lazy, rainy, laundry, housecleaning, paperwork, naptime, tv watching day.  Even we take days off every now and then.  :)

Day Thirty-nine

Day thirty-nine and the heat wave is still on!  We went to Akron this afternoon for the Soap Box Derby World Championships.  It was the last day of a week long event, and it was cool to see the cars in action!  This was the first time any of us have seen them in person.  Of course, we had the standard fair food for lunch, and lots of cold drinks and slushies to fight off the heat.  We even sat under our umbrellas to try to cool off a little!  A few hours was enough for us, so we headed back to the coach.

Sam and Buster had a good run in the dog park when we got back, and Sam gravitated toward the playground after.  He later had some new friends he just met come by to play with him for a while.  I used the time to catch up on my blog!  J

Day Thirty-eight

Day thirty-eight and we were on the road, heading to the Country Acres Campground outside of Ravenna, Ohio.  This is about twenty-five miles from Akron and about sixty-five miles south of Cleveland.  What a beautiful campground!  As soon as we pulled in, a man we had met in Clarksboro at the campground came up to greet us!  What a small world!  The couple running the office at this campground also knew Madeira Beach, and said they had a place in Largo, FL.  We have met someone at almost every campground who either lives in Florida part-time or has family that lives in Pinellas County.

This campground has a pool, a nice dog park, big playground, canoe rentals and a lake/river, and a jumping pillow!  Sam is a happy camper!  J  We saw some rain action for the first time in days, and even some thunderstorms came through.

Day Thirty-seven

Day thirty-seven and we had the first run of the day on the Jet Boat Tours!  We wanted to sit in the front row, but they won’t allow anyone under twelve years old and under 100 pounds in the first three rows – boo!  Didn’t matter – we got SOAKED anyway!  What a GREAT time!  I would HIGHLY recommend this one for everyone!  We did some 360 degree “Hamilton Turns” and went a few times down some class five rapids – awesome!!  Now I want to go whitewater rafting!  J

That afternoon, we decided to go back to the Canadian side to view the falls from there, as they have the best view. 

We drove around for a while before deciding to park in town and then walking down.  It has been about ten years since we last drove down by the falls in Canada, and things have changed.  We walked down to Table Rock and went on the Journey Behind the Falls to get up close and personal!  It was pretty cool, but we liked the Cave of the Winds better!

After a long walk back to Clifton Hill, we went to the Fun House and Crystal Caves, then Sam went back to Bronto’s Adventure Playland for a while (while Jim and I went to a cold beer playland next door again).  The bartender there said the heat index was being reported at fifty degrees celcius which he said equates to roughly 120 degrees farenheit.  Whew!  No wonder business seemed slow!

A stop at Boston Pizza for some food, and we played some Galaxy Golf, which was mini golf in the dark, and then toured Ripley’s Believe It or Not.  At that, we bid a fond farewell to Niagara Falls, for we were on the road tomorrow for another destination.  Just to show how quiet it was due to the heat wave, there was NO line at the border.  That was a first!