Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad

Yesterday Noelle, Sierra and I packed up the car and hit the road. We would be headed into the Midwest yet again, this time for some friends' wedding celebration in Ohio. While Ohio might not seem like the most adventuresome locale, we plan on making the best of our time here. Today's adventure consisted of a ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad through Cuyahoga Valley National Park between Akron and Cleveland.

We had not intended to ride the train today, but we ended up driving further than we had anticipated yesterday and arrived here pretty early. After lunch at one of the restaurants in Peninsula, we walked past the train station just a few minutes before the train was set to arrive and decided to go for our ride today instead of tomorrow. I rushed inside the station to purchase tickets

while Noelle grabbed some snacks and diaper bag for Sierra. We were ready to go just as the train pulled into the station.

The ride itself was very pleasant if unspectacular.

We passed through woods and old fields and were usually within sight of the Cuyahoga River.

At times it was even possible to imagine we were in a rural area. The interstate highway bridges we passed under were a reminder that we were smack dab in the middle of the largest urban area in Ohio and the homes of over 3.5 million people. Still, we enjoyed the scenery and Sierra just liked being on a train.

We passed by some bald eagles and saw some other wildlife like deer and songbirds.

Upon arriving back in Peninsula, we watched as the train blew its whistle and rumbled away.
We then headed over to our home for the next two nights: the Streetsboro KOA. What a mistake we made staying there. KOA I believe stands for Krapgrounds of America. The company is particularly good at making tenters feel like lepers. We were placed in an isolated part of the campground in an area that somehow managed to be both on a hill and swampy at the same time. Had we known that there is a small campground in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, we certainly would have stayed there instead.