This was not a trip for sleeping in, so we were up pretty early. We headed down to the “bagel and cereal bar” breakfast right about 7. This was honestly more comprehensive than I was expecting. There were 3 or 4 different flavors of bagels, plus bread for toast, several different types of spreads for the bagels, some fruit, a couple cereals, lots of oatmeal options (the Quaker instant packs in multiple flavors), juices and coffee. Nick and I both had a bagel and then headed back upstairs to round up our stuff, get ice for the cooler, and then we checked out, loaded up the car and headed out.
I’d google mapped the route, including where to get fuel. By doing this, I found that the gas station pretty close to our first destination of the day was 20 cents a gallon cheaper than the gas station next to our hotel. So, our first stop, about 15 minutes from our hotel was the gas station. Then it was off to national park number 16 of 63 for me: Cuyahoga Valley National Park!
Our first stop in the park was Brandywine Falls, because I’d read that the parking lot here is not very big and fills up. This was accurate, but when we got there shortly after 8, parking was no issue. Brandywine Falls was beautiful. I was glad to see there was still water coming over the falls this late in the summer, and we both enjoyed this stop!
Next up was the Ledges. We weren’t actually hiking the Ledges. I think it would be doable for us in terms of ability, but it wasn’t doable for us in terms of time. We were squeezing a lot in today! But, we were here for the Ledges Overlook. This took us a few minutes to find and was…underwhelming.
Then it was off to the Beaver Marsh. We enjoyed this stop quite a bit. There was a nice path to walk on, and we got to see some big birds.
Our final independent stop in the park was the Boston Mills Visitor Center. This was a decent visitor center complex, and there was a fair amount to see around it too.
Then we made the 10 minute drive into Peninsula, where we parked near the train depot. We decided we might have JUST enough time for lunch, so we looked around, and found Fishers. We took a chance to be honest, with our timing, but it all worked out perfectly. The service was fast (and friendly), and the food was excellent! Nick had a pulled pork sandwich and I had a brisket sandwich. We both were very happy with our meals.
Lunch eaten, we headed back to the train depot where we found our boarding area and got ready to ride the rails. We were in the dome car in the Silver Bronco car of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. These trains are old California Zephyr trains, so I was just hoping that it had stayed cool enough for the air conditioner to keep up, up in the dome.
Thankfully it had. The trip overall was good. We had great tablemates, an older couple from Kansas City. There was some decent scenery and on the second half of the trip, we had some legitimate narration and q&a up in our car. We did just the two hour northbound trip, and that was perfect for us. It let us get some more understanding of the area. The full 4 hour trip would have been way too long for us I think.
Back in Peninsula, we got back in the car and made the 10-ish minute drive to our final stop in this part of Ohio…Country Maid Ice Cream. Obviously we need some local ice cream on a vacation! I had penuche fudge ice cream (brown sugar and caramel flavor) and Nick had something involving cherries. We both really enjoyed our ice cream, especially after a humid day in the national park.
Then we hopped back in the car for the 90 minute drive to Cedar Point. This drive was also uneventful. It also made me glad, as we got closer to Cedar Point, that I had booked us in a Cedar Point hotel that was practically at the park. The area right before you cross the causeway to Cedar Point is probably not where I want to stay. It was pretty fascinating crossing the causeway. We kinda went around a corner and all of a sudden, roller coasters came into view, kinda looking like they were coming up out of Lake Erie.
There was a definite traffic system, so with a lot of direction from the people working the parking lots, after a tour around the backside of the amusement park, we made it to Hotel Breakers. Unfortunately, I think everyone else that was checking in that day arrived the same time we did. I genuinely think I’ve stood in shorter lines in Disney than what I found when I walked into the lobby. Thankfully, it moved fast enough, and probably 20 minutes later, I was headed back to the car with a packet of stuff. We moved the car to the parking lot, unloaded what we wanted for now, and set off to find our room, 2304 in the main building. We found it easily enough and decided that while we liked having a bench and coat hangers in the entrance area, they could have given the bedroom area a little more space. We also decided that this was definitely not Disney and that their definition of lake view room is a stretch. But, the room itself was clean, so we settled in and made a plan.
Plan made, we headed over to Cedar Point. It was about a 5-7 minute walk from our hotel room to the Magnum entrance to the park. We had our tickets already, because I’d booked this as a hotel/ticket package, so we scanned in, and headed in.
Once in the park, we pretty much just walked around just trying to get the lay of the land. Nick did ride one roller coaster, Magnum. The crowds were high and it was HOT and HUMID, so we called it a fairly early night, got frozen drinks at the 21 and COLDER bar (strawberry margarita for me, blue raspberry lemonade for Nick) and headed back to the hotel. That’s the beauty of “enter the day before your real ticket, after 4, for ‘free’” tickets!
Back at the hotel we debated going down to TGI Fridays for some apps, but eventually decided not to. I had a snack bar and then headed down to the beach/boardwalk area behind Hotel Breakers while Nick stayed in the air conditioning.
Most nights during the summer, Cedar Point runs Boardwalk Nights, which involves lots of entertainment. So down on the beach, I found a small kite show. I also found the Bellhop Boys, which was basically Cedar Point’s version of Epcot’s Jammitors. They were great.
When I’d seen enough of the entertainment, I did some picture taking along the beach, before heading back to the room.
Back in the room, we snacked a bit and then crashed for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment