AirBnB | The Beauty Around Us

Wedding Anniversary Celebration – Day 2

I got up on September 27th at 7:00 am, after a good night’s sleep. Bob got up about an hour later. Shortly after 9:00 am we drove to the nearby Confluence Food Market handpicked up a few groceries. Back “home” Bob made us breakfast — scrambled eggs, sausage links and orange juice.

Around 10:00 am we left on a bicycle ride, which you may find details and photographs of by clicking here. This blog post begins where the bicycling blog post ends.

Shortly before 3:00 pm Bob returned to Ohiopyle from Confluence. I met Bob in the Ohiopyle State Park parking lot. Bob loaded my bicycle on the carrier. Then, we walked back to the Ohiopyle Falls overlook for one last look.

Nearby the falls overlook we happened upon a cat.

The cat’s tag reads:
Tonto
I live in Ohiopyle. I am not a stray.

Tonto is not an ordinary cat. There are many articles on the Internet about Tonto. Click here for one of the articles I found about Tonto.

On our way back “home” from Ohiopyle we visited three sites — Cucumber Falls, Baughman Rock Overlook and Youghiogheny Dam.

We hiked down to Cucumber Falls. Thankfully the hike wasn’t too far, as my knee still hurt from our earlier bicycle ride.

The waterfall was OK, but I was disappointed that the water flow was low.

All we saw from Baughman Rock were trees. The view from there is supposed to be Pennsylvania’s deepest gorge. We didn’t see the gorge; all we saw were trees.

The view was disappointing, after hiking up Baughman Rock’s steep face. That hike was painful for me. My knee complained loudly! The view from Baughman Rock will be beautiful, when the leaves change color. When the trees shed their leaves I believe, then, the gorge will be seen.

Our last stop before returning “home” was at Youghiogheny Dam.

We drove across the dam and back.

Youghiogheny River Lake was established in 1944
with the construction of the 184-foot high, 1,604-foot wide Youghiogheny Dam.

We returned to our Airbnb, the Birdhouse Inn Confluence, around 4:45 pm. We spent rest of the afternoon and evening at ”home” relaxing and allowing my knee time to recuperate.

Ohio Vacation Day 5 – Bedford Reservation (6/29/2021)

As I wrote in my previous blog post, we visited Chagrin Falls this morning.

We left Chagrin Falls shortly after 10:00 am and drove to Bedford Reservation. Bedford Reservation is part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

This map, obtained from Google Maps, shows where Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Bedford Reservation, Chagrin Falls and our base location, Hudson, are all located in relation to each other.

We made two stops in Bedford Reservation. Our first stop was at Bridal Veil Falls. We parked in the Bridal Falls parking lot and walked across Gorge Parkway to a trailhead. A short walk down the boardwalk steps, over a bridge and along Deerlick Creek, leads to an overlook of Bridal Veil Falls.

Boardwalk trail to Bridal Veil Falls,
with bridge over Deerlick Creek.

I used the bridge to cross over Deerlick Creek.
Bob walked across the creek bed.
Bob is standing at the top of Bridal Veil Falls.

Don’t you just love the sound of a waterfall?

Our second stop was at Tinkers Creek Gorge Scenic Overlook.

Tinkers Creek Gorge Scenic Overlook (April 2017)

Tinkers Creek Gorge Scenic Overlook (June 29, 2021)
Tinkers Creek is way down there, somewhere.

Tinkers Creek Gorge Scenic Overlook (April 2017)
Tinkers Creek is visible in this picture.

This overlook would sure look beautiful in the fall, with nothing but trees and sky in view.

Tinkers Creek Gorge Overlook was our last stop, before heading back to our air conditioned rental Airbnb. Today had been very hot and humid.

Even with the heat and humidity, Bob rode another 5 miles (10 miles round trip) on the Bike and Hike Trail this afternoon. The temperature was in the low 90s, with the heat index reading 103 or 104 degrees.

And, yes, I took some more pictures at our Airbnb.

Three eagles (two adults and one juvenile) on tree stag
in wetlands at Airbnb

One picture of Kiwi isn’t enough …

Kiwi seems to be saying
“OK, Linda, you can stop talking pictures now”.

This blog post completes Day 5 of our vacation in Ohio. Stay tuned! I have two more days to share with you!

Ohio Vacation Day 4 (6/28/2021)

We walked down to the edge of the wetlands this morning. There was an adult bald eagle sitting in the snag on which we have seen one or two eagles often throughout the day, since our arrival on Friday afternoon. The lighting wasn’t good in that direction, so I didn’t take any pictures of the eagle. I did take pictures of a dragonfly and turtles.

It is hot and humid, even at 9:00 am. When I returned to the house, I was drenched in sweat from my neck up.

About an hour later, while sitting in the living room, I saw an osprey flying over the wetlands. Good thing I got my camera and went out on the deck. The osprey provided a bit of excitement, at least photographically.

An osprey flying over the Airbnb wetlands sees something of interest.

The osprey soared low in the sky over the Airbnb wetlands.
I lost the osprey shortly after I took this picture,
as it dove into the pond behind one of the buildings near the pond.

I stayed on the deck, camera in hand. Within seconds the osprey returned into view.

The osprey snagged a fish; a small bird gave chase.

Late morning/early afternoon we drove to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, to the Ira Trailhead, and walked ¼ mile to Beaver Marsh. What a HOT and HUMID walk that was! We didn’t see much in the way of wildlife. We saw a great blue heron, snapping turtle (no picture), red wing blackbird and tree swallows.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Beaver Marsh
Great Blue Heron

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Beaver Marsh
Red-Winged Blackbird

I captured a few pictures of tree swallows, as we spent the most time watching their acrobatic flight.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Beaver Marsh
Tree Swallow

We returned to our rental Airbnb and ate lunch. I ate a picnic lunch indoors, and Bob ate Ramen Noodles that he found in the kitchen.

A storm rolled through around 5:00 pm.

It would have been very nice,
if this storm had taken the heat and humidity with it when it left.
That didn’t happen, though.

The temperature did drop 20 degrees, from 90 (with a heat index of 103) to 70. It didn’t take long, though, for the heat and humidity to return.

Ohio Vacation Day 3 – Brandywine Falls (6/27/2021)

We attempted to go to Brandywine Falls late this morning, but the parking lot was full. A sign said to try again after 5:00 pm. We went to the Boston Mill Visitor Center instead and lunch afterward.

After lunch we returned to Brandywine Falls. The parking lot was open, earlier than the estimated 5:00 pm reopening. We walked down to the waterfall overlook, took a few pictures there and along the boardwalk trail, and climbed back up to the parking lot.

The boardwalk trail to Brandywine Falls
winds around these huge boulders.

From Brandywine Falls we returned to our rental Airbnb in Hudson OH, where we stayed for rest of the afternoon and evening. Our Airbnb hosts have three parrots, whom I shared photographs of in an earlier blog post. We visited with Mickey this afternoon on our deck.

How cool that Mickey sat on our shoulders!

A Beautiful Sunset at Airbnb to end the Day

Ohio Vacation Day 3 – Kendall Lake (6/27/2021)

I got up at 6:00 am this morning. Bob was already up. I made a cup of tea and drank it on the deck, as I watched the sun rise and listened to the birds singing.

Bob went for a bicycle ride. I didn’t see him leave, as I did yesterday. He rode the same trail as yesterday but in the opposite direction. Bob rode as far as Brandywine Falls (the top of the falls) and back, for a total of 12 miles.

Later in the morning we drove to Kendall Lake in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Kendall Lake is a manmade lake that was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935. It is the largest lake in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We hiked the 1 mile trail around the lake. The terrain varies with some stairs to climb, however the loop trail was fairly flat and not too challenging.

We accessed the Kendall Lake Trail near the parking lot.

Kendall Lake Trail
There are several trails at Kendall Lake. The trails are well marked.
The lake trail is the right-hand trail.

Kendall Lake Trail
This portion of the trail was a short uphill climb.

This was our first view of Kendall Lake from the trail.

Kendall Lake
Yesterday we ate a picnic lunch in the building across the lake.

Kendall Lake Trail
We crossed over a small wooden bridge.

Kendall Lake Trail
We climbed up these steps.

Kendall Lake Trail
We had a good view of the fishing pier from the top of the steps.

Kendall Lake Trail
We climbed down these steps.
We were near the end of the trail here.

Kendall Lake
We walked to the fishing pier.

Kendall Lake Canadian Geese
Hey! Wait for me!

Leaving Kendall Lake, we attempted to go to Brandywine Falls but the parking lot was full. A sign said to try again after 5:00 pm. We went to the new Cuyahoga Valley National Park visitor center instead. Stay tuned! I will publish a new blog post soon about our visit to the visitor center.

Ohio Vacation Day 2 (6/26/2021)

I got up for the day at 5:45 am, as Bob was leaving for a bicycle ride. Bob rode a portion of the Bike and Hike Trail. He reached the trail by bicycling neighborhood streets across from our rental Airbnb. He got on the trail near the Bridgewater Blvd-Nottingham Gate Blvd-Terex Road intersections. He rode as far south as Bow Wow Beach. Bob said he rode 10 miles total.

While Bob was bicycling, I sat for a short time on the deck enjoying the view and birdsong.

We ate breakfast, after Bob returned from his bicycle ride. Bob had scrambled eggs and orange juice. I had orange juice and instant oatmeal.

We added another 10.15 miles to Bob’s total bicycle miles. We drove to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and rode the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail (Please click on link!) from the Ira Trailhead to Peninsula and back.

After our bicycle ride, we stayed in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and drove to Kendall Lake.

There is a 1-mile trail around Kendall Lake. We hope to walk the trail another day.

Before returning to our rental Airbnb, we drove to Walmart and picked up a few more grocery items.

We stayed “home” for rest of the afternoon and evening and enjoyed the beauty of our rental Airbnb and its grounds. We walked down to the pond to check out the view of the pond from that vantage point.

Canadian Geese are frequent visitors to the wetlands at our Airbnb.

Our Airbnb hosts have an aviary.
nside the aviary are three parrots!

Later in the afternoon I captured photographs of songbirds and eagles. I photographed the songbirds and eagles from the comfort of our deck.

Two eagles in a tree snag in the wetlands

In addition to two adult eagles, we have seen two juvenile eagles as well. The eagles are way, way out in the pond. The pictures of the eagles were taken with a camera lens having an effective focal length of 1200mm. The pictures are heavily cropped.

Tonight’s dinner was stuffed green peppers with baked potatoes.

We enjoyed a colorful sunset, before going to bed.

Ohio Vacation Day 1 (6/25/2021)

We departed home at 9:30 am en route Hudson, OH. We stopped for breakfast at the Station 61 Restaurant in Youngsville, PA. We both ordered a western omelette with toast. Breakfast was delicious and filling. We were back on the road by 10:40 am. We arrived in Hudson around 2:00 pm. We passed by our rental Airbnb and drove to Szalay’s Farm and Market in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We ate lunch–a Polish sausage for Bob and an all-beef hot dog for me. For dessert we each had a fruit sundae.

Szalay’s Farm & Market
We ordered our hot dog and sausage from the booth at the far right.
We ordered ce cream sundaes from the booth at the far left.

Szalay’s Farm & Market
We ate our lunch, while sitting in one of these gliders.

Szalay’s Farm & Market
An ice cream sundae

We get a fruit sundae, whenever we visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The cost was $5.00 the first time we got a sundae. The price is still $5.00. It is a GREAT buy!

We visited the Boston Mills Visitor Center, where I purchased a pocket size National Park passport.

Photo obtained from America’s National Parks website

Cancellation stamps from Cuyahoga Valley National Park will be the first stamps to be made in the passport.

We checked into our rental Airbnb, “Wildlife and Serenity in Hudson OH”, at 4:00 pm.

Our host and hostess, John and Deborah, met us in the driveway as we got out of our car. One of the first things pointed out to us was a pair of bald eagles on a tree snag in the middle of a pond in their back yard. We saw that eagle pair in the same spot several times, as we “moved in”.

This is the street view of our rental Airbnb. The listing refers to our rental as an apartment. We had use of this home from the front porch and everything to the left.

This is the back yard view of our rental Airbnb. We had use of the first floor of this home from the three windows on the left to the end of the house on the right. Deborah and John live in the rest of the house. We had use of the deck and shared the back, front and side yards. The deck looks out on a wetland, where the eagles hung out. This was our first Airbnb rental where we shared the house with our hosts. Deborah and John were accessible, but they would keep to themselves if that was something we had desired. We did share some conversation, in person and via text, with our hosts. Our first shared living experience was a good one.

Our rental space is an open floor plan, with the bedroom being the only room shut off from the other part of the house.

This is the view of the deck and the wetlands from the living room of our rental Airbnb.

After moving in, we went grocery shopping at the nearby Acme Food Market. We picked up fruit, lettuce, milk, eggs, water, beer and frozen dinners. Tonight’s dinner was chicken parmigiana with a tossed salad.

I went to bed shortly after 9:00 pm. Our king size bed is HIGH off the ground. The bed sits on top of deep drawers. A foot stool is needed to climb into bed.