Cuyahoga Valley National Park & Scenic Railroad

We spent some time yesterday at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We hiked a few trails and only scratched the surface of all the lovely sights in this huge park. The boardwalk hike to Brandywine Falls takes visitors down into the gorge to the falls by a series of stairways and walkways that snake around some rock layers which jut out over the walkway.

We also visited the Brecksville station area, where we hiked the trail along the Cuyahoga River and the Ohio & Erie Canal. After the hike, we waited for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to arrive. Here are a few photos and video.

Here’s just a short loop of the train’s arrival:




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The Grosbeaks Are Back

Like clockwork, the rose-breasted grosbeaks return. They always appear in early May at our back yard feeder by an oak tree when the oak leaves are just emerging. Here’s a photo of a female rose-breasted grosbeak who spent a good part of the morning at the feeder.

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Fly Fishing & Scenic Beauty

Earlier this week, we took a trip to Virginia so my husband could do some fly fishing. The day of fishing was guided by Brian Trow of Mossy Creek Fly Fishing, located in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We fished in the private waters of Smith Creek at the lovely Susie Q Farms. Brian is an excellent guide and knows the waters well so my husband caught many fish. I was thrilled at the beauty of the area around the creek, which was bursting with the color from flowering trees and wildflowers, plus the soft greens from leaves emerging on the trees. Here are some photos of the scenery and a short fishing video. (Click on any image for a larger view.)

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Thunderstorm Over Lake Erie

We decided to go for a walk at Mentor Headlands State Park on the dunes trail. The sun was shining as we entered the parking lot but we noticed a patch of dark clouds looking over Lake Erie to the west. We were on the dunes trail for only a few minutes when we heard loud thunder and turned to see that the dark clouds had ballooned into a very large thunderstorm. Here’s a photo, taken from the dunes trail, looking west.(Click in image for a larger view.)

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Red-Shouldered Hawk In Flight

My husband spotted a pair of red-shouldered hawks sitting in a tree in the front yard. As I tried to get a photo, one of them flew over to a neighboring stand of trees. Here are photos of this beautiful bird as it flies by = slightly blurry from its motion.

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At The Icy Eastlake Pier

We visited the Eastlake Ohio seawall and fishing pier this morning. The temperature was 11 degrees and it was cloudy and breezy. The walk to the pier was treacherous because of ice. However, the Lake Erie water near the pier is unfrozen due to the warm water discharge from the Eastlake power plant. It’s normally a good place to see birds when it’s cold; unfortunately, it was even too cold for the birds. We saw few ducks and a handful of gulls, all which were out of the range of my long lens. We did see a lesser black-backed gull among a few herring gulls. Otherwise, it was an uneventful visit. There was some steam coming off the water but it only made the scene look even more frosty. Here’s a photo. (Click on image for a larger view.)

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A Frozen Lake Erie and Frozen Waves At Mentor Headlands

It was zero degrees at about 4:00 PM this afternoon, so what better time to head to the beach? It was bitterly cold with heavy snow cover, and Lake Erie is 98% frozen.  The whiteness was blinding. Here are two photos taken at Mentor Headland Beach State Park on the shores of Lake Erie. The mounds on the shoreline were frozen waves which made for at least a 5 foot drop to the lake itself. (Click on any image for a larger view.)

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