It felt good just breathing in the fresh air from all the trees and vegetation as I sat in my car with the door open while I waited for Wendy. It would be so easy to just sit there. When she arrived, I took my purple plastic mesh bag with the bottle of water, a collapsible umbrella, some Kleenex, the camera, my id and car key and of course, a few buckeyes and got into her car. She headed south to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. She knows that area very well because she used to go dancing with friends at the Agora Ballroom in Akron and her family lived around there and some of her friends still do.
The roads are very scenic and I saw signs for Boston Mills and skiing and tubing. We walked along the Cuyahoga River called The crooked river by Native Americans, as it rushes toward Lake Erie. From Akron, according to one of the maps posted along the path, the river bends west and heads all the way out to the Mississippi, though none of the references on the Internet, that I looked at mentioned the river beyond the Akron watershed.
Back into the car and network of roads we stopped at a little store built in 1911 where one could buy tee shirts, scenic refrigerator magnets, snacks or homemade ice cream. We each selected double chocolate chunk ice cream and sat at a bench under a giant pine tree where the air smelled wonderful and it felt like time ceased to exist.
ponderingalongthemilkyway 