The great outdoors, ohio style

For almost 6 months now, John, our friend Randy and me have been walking the ohio/erie canal towpath trail.  One of the things I love about ohio, at least the northeast part of it, is that there are huge metroparks through out the cities.  Akron has miles and mile of trails to walk, hike or bike on. 

When the weather is nice, this winter was very mild and we were able to walk alot, we try to do something fun with Randy.  Fun could be taking a walking historical tour of a cemetary, a tour of homes, a walking tour of a downtown district.

Randy is the kind of guy who decides that he wants barbacue, will get in his car and drive to Kansas City, then decide that the food he had was good, but not as good as this one place in St Louis.  So off to St. Louis he goes.  After he has eaten, Oh wow since I am in St Louis, I am not far from this house I like, so off he drives.  Then he thinks, wow I am not far from Minneapolis, I should take a drive there.  Then he will head back to Akron.  For this and many other reasons he is my friend.

I am not a huge fan of walking, it is too much like excercise. LOL.  Not far from our house is the Gorge metropark.  I don't like walking, but I do like history.  Dotted throughout the parks are historical markers, and sometimes markers about the park and land.  The history helps make the walking more fun. 

Info from two of the signs.
In 1759, a 12-year-old girl was captured in Pennsylvania by Delaware Indians and reportedly brought to a cave in present-day Gorge Metro Park, where she lived as a child of Chief Netawatwees. Young Mary Campbell, for whom the cave is named, unwittingly became the first white child in what was then the wild frontier of the Western Reserve. Mary later settled with the tribe in a village along the banks of the Cuyahoga River, not far from the cave. She was released in 1764 after a treaty ended the French and Indian War.

Thousands of years before Mary's adventures, the Gorge was cut when glacial debris blocked the former route of the Cuyahoga River (near present-day downtown Akron) and caused the river to find a new course. Today, the rushing water flows over a shale riverbed, between ledges made of Sharon conglomerate sandstone. Oak, blackgum, tulip and yellow birch trees are common in the woods that cover the valley walls.

John and Ryan walking in the gorge park.

Randy has decided that he wanted to walk the entirity of the walkable towpath trail.  I don't wantt o bore any of you with the history so if you want to take a look at some of the information here is the summit county metro parks website http://www.summitmetroparks.org/parksandtrails/TowpathTrail.aspx

So far Randy has walked 63 miles of the path.  John and I have walked 40 of it.  The thing I like about the towpath trails is that it is a free family inclusive thing. Two weeks ago we walked a stretch from Clinton ohio to Canal Fulton.  This stretch was 3.5 miles.  The canal was flowing for most of the path.  we were walking along this beautiful sction. the canal on one side, a small patch of land with trees, then the river and a section of pastures with trees along the river.  John stopped and was looking at the trees. " I can't figure out what that is?"  He kept looking at these things buy the trees.  "They aren't Rocks"

Look at the base of the trees. Can you make out what is laying there?

I tried to get closer.

As we were watching, We realized that they were cows.  One got up and walked closer to the river and mooed. 

Further down the path, A Canal Boat was in water and was being turned around by 2 men with long sticks, that they used to push along the bottom of the canal.  Once turned the boat was pulled by a team of 2 horses on the towpath. Which is how it got its name.

This past sunday the three of us went to Massilion, Ohio and did a walking tour of the historical downtown.  It was cool to hear the history of the downtown area and see some cool old architecture.  Then we walked 5.5 miles on the towpath.   From Navarre to Bolivar.  This stretch was not my fave, it was too long of a stretch and the scenery didn't change much.  It was also not a very heavily populated stretch.



Base of a girder from a factory in Massilion, Ohio.

Close up of the art work on the Girder. Circa 1912

After all that walking we usually eat.  Randy is an encyclopedia of local food establishments.  We are always on the search for the perfect meatball.  If you are ever in North Canton, ohio, stop in at "That Little Italian Kitchen"  The food is so yummy.  I usually get a "Bake" which is a pasta mixed with their Homemade tomato sauce and homemade alfredo sauce.  Um YUMMMMMMMMM.  They also have good canoli.

 

Also in Canton is Schnabs Burgers. http://www.schnabsburgers.com/  I had the best Chocolate Malted there.  The burgers were so good and fresh, and the Boys were really cute.

 I wish we would eat then walk.  I have not lost any weight.

 

I can't wait for our next walk and dine. 

 

Hope you are well. 

 

J