Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cleveland, & Akron from our campsite in Streetsboro, Ohio.

We left Erie, PA on a sunny yet hazy day, destined for some KOA in Streetsboro, OH.  A place that meant nothing to us back in February when this stop was booked.  There were three very important factors involved in the selection at the time:

1. Needed to be close to Cleveland, OH.
2. Needed to be a “pull through site”, which means this was the first time all trip I was not backing the caravan into a driveway or camp-site location.
3. The KOA membership had been “given” to me by the RV Dealer / Jayco as part of my purchase, and I was going to get some type of discount for being a member.

And we were able to book online and get instant confirmation, making the whole process easier for planning.  Because we were nothing if not “planners”.

To be honest, we couldn’t have picked a better spot to spend 7 days, pulling in on a Thursday and staying the full week.  Wow, did we get lucky!!  Little did I know that I had pitched a tent, 35 minutes from downtown Cleveland, and 20 minutes from Akron, smack dab in the middle of the Cuyahoga Valley.  There was hiking, a train ride, a food tour of the Ohio City section of Cleveland.  We were busy making tracks every day, and really stretching our walking legs (over 10,000 steps every day – as many as 20,000 a couple of days).

Highlights from Cleveland:

• A food walking tour of the old section of Cleveland called Ohio City which is a recognized neighborhood on the west side of Cleveland.  The area has seen a resurgence in the last 15 years or so and is now home to many fine restaurants, some of which we had the pleasure of walking to and then sitting down for a tasting.  We ate perogies at “Hecks Café”, sampled tacos at a Mexican fusion restaurant called “Avo Modern Mexican”, and finished up with ice cream made on premise at “Michaels Ice Cream”.  There were a couple of other stops along the way, and we were so full after, that we walked ½ way across the “Hope” bridge across the Cuyahoga River. (Named after a Cleveland native Harry Hope, a stone mason who helped sculpt the guardian statues on the bridge pillars and the father of Bob Hope).

But the best part of the walking tour was our firsthand view of The West Side Market, which was the first stop on the tour along with a sampling of a Bratwurst from the original Market Garden Brew House.

The West Side Market is the oldest operating indoor/outdoor market space in Cleveland, Ohio.  It is located at the corner of West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue in the Ohio City neighborhood. The building is exceptional looking, and is on the National Register of Historic Places, is and currently being renovated.

• We took an entire day to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and we could have used another ½ day to see even more of the museum.  There is plenty of information on-line about this museum so I’m not going to waste your time here with a description other than to say that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame brought back a lot of memories and was an extraordinary day of reconnecting to our musical memories.

Highlights from Akron:

• Went to a show at the Akron Civic Center called “Dixie’s Tupperware Party”, (you can watch portions of the show on YouTube) which was billed as “Adult Oriented" Tupperware Party.  First, this was a really entertaining show.  Second, “Dixie” was really selling Tupperware and was the #1 Tupperware salesperson for many years. And when the show concluded “Dixie” was taking orders at the back of the performance hall.  (People were lining up to buy Tupperware - for real).  And here is the kicker on all this, which is a fact not discovered until much, much, much later.  “Dixie Longate” is the drag persona of American actor, writer, comedian, and drag performer Kris Andersson who, since 2007, has been performing a solo act called Dixie's Tupperware Party.  Holy crap! It took weeks for Judy and me to figure that one out. In Akron no less!

• Rode the Cuyahoga Train from Akron to Peninsula Depot, which is at Lock #29 on the Erie & Ohio River canal system.  This canal system was developed by the State of Ohio in the late 1820 & 30’s and helped make Ohio an economic powerhouse by moving people and goods from Lake Erie all the way through Columbus and on to the Ohio River.  A total length of like 308 miles and an extensive lock system of over 140 changes in elevation designed to negotiate the hilly terrain of northeastern Ohio.  The train follows the Cuyahoga River, and we learned a lot about the canal system, the locks, and the towpaths that follow the canals.

And since we’re talking about the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, let me just say that that there is entirely too much to take in in only a few days.  We spent an afternoon at the Erie & Ohio River Canal Discovery Center, which is where I learned so much about the early days of the canals.  Much of the towpath where the mules walked were preserved as walking and cycling trails.  We also made time to take a couple of hikes through the Cuyahoga Valley.  To get a feel for the hiking in the valley, we started on an easier trail called the Oak Hill Trail, but soon thereafter it morphed into the 5-mile-long Plateau Trail.  A couple of days later we hiked Tree Farm Trail after exploring Horseshoe Pond.

We had lots of fun exploring the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Cleveland, & Akron from our campsite in Streetsboro, Ohio. The excursions & tours were all so different and varied that we got a good feel for the area.  All good things come to an end, and after a week we were packing up and hitting the road again, headed towards Columbus & Dayton, Ohio.  Who knows what experiences we will we encounter and share with you, our readers, in the upcoming weeks, as we tell… the Rest of the Story.