August 2026: A Great Lakes Summer Road Trip: Day 3

Day 3: Sunday August 9, 2026

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.

August 2026: A Great Lakes Summer Road Trip: Day 2

Day 2: Saturday August 8, 2026

The alarm went off around 5:30 and after a bit of social media time, I got up and got ready for the day. While I ate my peach cobbler donut, Nick got ready for the day. He ate his chai frosted donut and then we rounded up our stuff and hit the road about 7.

The drive itself was pretty uneventful. No real traffic issues and only a couple short storms, which all things considered was pretty good. However, at our fuel stop, my gas tank wouldn't open unless I was actively holding the unlock latch while Nick was opening the fuel door. Because obviously the first fuel stop of a 2700 mile road trip is the perfect time for that to happen!

We made it to Letchworth State Park about 11 after a beautiful drive through NY’s farm land. Our stop at Letchworth was fairly short but so worth it. We went to Inspiration Point and Upper and middle falls. This was perfect and let us see the famous views from this park.

Once we’d gotten our fill of views of the “Grand Canyon of the East”, we hit the road. It was more back roads for quite awhile, through beautiful farmland, corn fields, and vineyards, before we eventually got back on I-90. The drive continued to be uneventful, which honestly was a surprise for me given that we crossed into Pennsylvania. I spent MANY years of my life driving to central PA, and those drives were NEVER uneventful. This one though was decent. Also a nice surprise was that there was a very nice view of vineyards and Lake Erie behind the welcome center in PA. The rest areas along 81 and 80 in central PA are definitely not big and bright with a nice view!

Our next stop was Presque Isle State Park, along the shore of Lake Erie. Maybe if I’d been more willing to venture into the sand, I would have liked this park more, but for as much as it’s mentioned, it really was just…fine. Actually it was kinda confusing. I mean, you can’t even see water from their lighthouse museum. But, it offered us the opportunity to take some Pennsylvania pictures for that 50 state photo map I’ve got going.

Back in the car, I told Nick where our next hotel was and to find dinner near there, since it was a little over an hour away, which would put us there right at dinner time. He did that and programmed the GPS, before falling asleep. It was an uneventful and fast trip down into Ohio from Presque Isle, and I found that as soon as I crossed the border into Ohio, it was like driving in New England again. I felt right at home amongst those fast, lane switching, no use of turn signal drivers.

The GPS led me to the Winking Lizard in Beachwood, OH for dinner. This was practically across the street from our hotel, so very convenient. We were seated immediately and dinner here was pretty decent. I had a margarita and Nick had a couple of midwest hard ciders, I think. He had their steak special, which he said was fine. I had a chicken parm sandwich on garlic bread. We finished dinner splitting one of their “specialty” ice cream cookie sandwiches, which was delicious. It was a decent dinner, and pretty inexpensive for what it was. Winking Lizard seems to be a chain around there, and I’d eat at one again if in the area.

After dinner, we headed across the street to our hotel, the Spark by Hilton Cleveland-Beachwood. Check-in was quick and pretty soon we were settled in our room, 242. Spark is Hilton’s budget brand, but the reviews on this one were excellent. This location seems to be pretty new…or at least it’s new to the building. Hilton had redone a Clarion and turned it into this Spark. True to the reviews it was very clean, and the room was comfortable, although Nick and I both agreed that the furniture looked like Hilton had gone to Ikea for their decor. We had zero issues with it though.

We settled in, watched a wild storm, and crashed for the night. Today had had a lot of driving, but also some great exploration.