Christmas in Downtown Cleveland

While Public Square is still under construction, the annual Cleveland Christmas Tree has been located again in Playhouse Square. The weather was very mild for late December so we decided to take a drive into the city and check out the display. The tree looked gorgeous as always.  Also glimmering nearby was the Playhouse Square outdoor chandelier, the largest of its kind in the world.

There was also a “Festival of Trees” display in the Allen Theater, where the play “A Christmas Story” is currently running. The tree displays lining the entrance hall to the theater were beautiful, as were the displays inside the lovely Reinberger Rotunda. The city streets were usually a little busier when the tree was at Public Square, but there was a nice crowd inside the Allen Theater. Here are a few photos, and enjoy the holiday season everyone!

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com

Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.

Record Warmth in December in Ohio

The temperatures hit 70 degrees yesterday in the area – a record high for December 12th. Temps were in the low 60s when we took a walk yesterday morning on the dunes trail at Mentor Headlands State Park in Ohio. There was only a light breeze and the clouds were thick and very grey. Still, who would want to pass up a December walk by Lake Erie when the weather was so warm? Here are a few photos.

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com


Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.

Orion and Planets Shine Bright

There were some high, wispy clouds in the sky before dawn, but there were enough gaps to get some quick star and planet photos this morning. Sun rise was about 2 hours away,  but there was some light from the sun hitting the clouds high in the atmosphere, plus ambient light from ground level. This gave the clouds - barely visible to the eye - some lovely color with the long exposure. It’s a great time of year to see Orion in the southern sky, and I was lucky that Jupiter, Mars, and Venus were visible in the eastern sky. Here are a few photos. These pictures are single images (not stacked photos), all taken with a wide aperture and a 30 second exposure.

The constellation Orion is visible, identified by the three stars that comprise the "belt.")

(Jupiter is near the center of the photo, with Mars and Venus below and slightly left.The tree in the following photos appear green from light being cast by a nearby outdoor light fixture.)

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com

Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.

Lake View Cemetery: A Cleveland Treasure

The Cleveland Ohio Skyline, from the Garfield Monument

A cemetery seems like an odd place to visit for fun, but Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery is brimming with points of interest. The cemetery contains the monument to James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States. It also contains the Wade Chapel, which was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, containing a gorgeous Tiffany window and mosaics.  There is also a huge dam inside the cemetery that many people don’t know about.  It seems well hidden – if something that size can be hidden at all! Scenes from Captain America: The Winter Soldier were filmed on the dam and other spots in the cemetery.

Best of all, the view of the City of Cleveland from the balcony of the Garfield Monument is probably the best in the county and is worth the climb up the spiral stairs to the balcony.

Lake View Cemetery is a spectacular place to visit in the spring when the flowers and trees are in bloom, but it is also lovely in the fall when the trees change color. Having a pleasant weather day, we decided to take a short trip there.  As we’ve been to the cemetery before and have seen the grave sites of many famous people such as John D. Rockefeller and Eliot Ness, we spent all our time at the Garfield Monument, the Wade Chapel, and the dam. Here are a few photos for your enjoyment. (Click on any image for a larger view.)

Garfield Monument

Wade Chapel

Lake View Dam

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com

Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.

Autumn at Mohican State Park in Ohio

This past week, we visited Mohican State Park in Loudonville, Ohio so my husband could do some fly fishing. The fall color was slightly past peak, but it still made for some lovely photos. We spent most of our time near the covered bridge where my husband fished in the Clear Fork River. Unlike the last time he fished the Clear Fork at Mohican in June, the fishing this time was awful. Based on the river water levels from the day before and the day he fished, it is likely that water was released from the Pleasant Hill Dam. The increase in the water flow often causes the fish to hide. And hide they did!

Despite my husband having a less than successful time fishing, I had a great time taking photos. Here are a few. (Click on any image for a larger view.) A short video is also below.

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com

Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.

Autumn at Tinkers Creek Gorge in Bedford, Ohio

One of my favorite locations to view fall colors is at the overlook at Tinker’s Creek Gorge in the Bedford Reservation, which is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and also part of the Cleveland Metroparks system. The sky was bright and the colors were bold! Here’s a photo - click on the image for a larger view. 

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com


Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.

Fall at Chapin Forest in the Lake Metroparks

The fall color is starting to peak, and the weather was dry (but cool),  so it was a perfect time to take a short hike through the Chapin Forest in Kirtland Ohio, part of the Lake County Metroparks. Here are two photos taken at the overlook, looking west toward the city of Cleveland, Ohio.

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com


Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.

September Sunset at Mentor Headlands

The weather was comfortably warm and there was no breeze, perfect weather conditions to watch the sunset on the beach at Mentor Headlands State Park. Lake Erie was calm, and some distant clouds obscured the sun near the horizon, but the golden glow was still beautiful. Boaters and jet skiers were also enjoying the weather conditions. There were many gulls scattered in large groups on beach.  One huge gull, a juvenile Great Black-backed gull, sat in the center of a luge group of herring gulls. It all made for some nice photos and video that required no color adjustments; the bold orange on the lake and in the sky is exactly how it looked to the eye!

All Content © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com

Check out my blog home page for the latest information, chriszimmer.blogspot.com, here.