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Ohio Vacation Day 5 – Chagrin Falls (6/29/2021)

This morning we drove to the picturesque village of Chagrin Falls, which was about a 30-minute drive from Hudson.

There are two vantage points from which to see the Chagrin Falls waterfall. A boardwalk leads down to an observation platform from each vantage point.

This is the view of Chagrin Falls,
as we were walking down the boardwalk
to the first vantage point.

This is a long exposure image of Chagrin Falls from the first vantage point.

This is the view of Chagrin Falls
from the second vantage point.
You can see the boardwalk
for the first vantage point (opposite side).

After viewing Chagrin Falls from both vantage points, we sat on a park bench along South Main Street for about an hour waiting for the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop to open. Besides popcorn the shop has coffee and custard ice cream. Eating custard ice cream at 10:00 am? Yes, why not! Why not?? How disappointing to learn that the custard machine was not working properly 😦

We left Chagrin Falls and drove to Bedford Reservation, which is part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Our visit to Bedford Reservation will be the subject of my next blog post.

Chagrin Falls, OH Visit

In addition to visiting Cuyahoga Valley National Park during Easter weekend, we spent approximately 1-1/2 hours in Chagrin Falls, OH. On Saturday, April 15, we left Cuyahoga Valley National Park and drove to Chagrin Falls, arriving there at noon. We ate lunch at Flip Side. Bob ordered a Black ‘n Blue burger; I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. We shared an order of onion rings. Lunch was delicious; our waitress was efficient and friendly. We would return to this restaurant.

After lunch we checked out the waterfall that gives Chagrin Falls its name.

There are two vantage points from which to see Chagrin Falls, one on each side of the falls. A boardwalk leads down to an observation platform from each vantage point.

Chagrin Falls
This photograph was taken from the second vantage point.

Do you see the boardwalk on the opposite side of the falls? The first three photographs of the falls were taken from various points along that boardwalk. The white building that you see above the falls is the Popcorn Shop.

After photographing the waterfall, we stopped at the village’s famous Popcorn Shop for a vanilla custard cone. According to reviews, the Popcorn Shop has three of the best things on earth: popcorn, coffee and ice cream. I had looked forward, since we left on our weekend getaway, for a custard ice cream cone. The custard ice cream was as good as I remembered it from other visits to Chagrin Falls…so rich and creamy; delicious!.

As we were preparing to leave Chagrin Falls, I spotted the Easter Bunny. We delayed our departure a few minutes, while I photographed the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny was handing out candy in Chagrin Falls, OH.

I hope that you enjoyed following along on our Easter vacation in Ohio with visits to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Chagrin Falls.

Ohio Day Trip

I was sick this past Thursday. I had, I think, a 24-hour stomach bug. It was a sure sign that I still was not feeling 100% on Friday when I called off a planned overnight trip to Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. We would have left at noon on Friday.

On Saturday Bob and I awakened around 2:00 am, wide awake. Within a short time we decided to make a day trip to Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. We were en route Cuyahoga Valley State Park at 3:20 am, after a fuel stop at Sheetz in Warren. Following GPS we drove through Titusville PA to I-80. Bob stopped for coffee at Sheetz in Titusville. He wanted to pick up coffee during the fuel stop in Warren, but his preferred flavor, Breakfast Blend, was still brewing.

We stopped around 5:30 am for breakfast at Denny’s in Hubbard, OH. After a filling breakfast, we were back on the road again by 6:10 am. By the way two scrambled eggs, two bacon slices and two pancakes were too much food for me. I ate the eggs and the bacon but only ate half of one pancake. Bob ate a big breakfast…a Philly Steak Omelette, hash browns and toast.

The waxing gibbous moon was visible most of the way to Ohio. The moon was bright and about 80% full. There was one place along the route that the moon was directly in front of us, as we crested a small incline. The view took my breath away!

We arrived at the great blue heron viewing area in Cuyahoga Valley National Park (on Bath Road) shortly before sunrise. It was much too cloudy for a proper sunrise. We saw lots of herons at the rookery. There wasn’t enough light for good pictures. I took several photographs anyway. I was not happy with those pictures, so I will not share them in this post.

From the great blue heron rookery we drove several miles north in the park to Brandywine Falls. The cloudy morning was beneficial for waterfall pictures.

Brandywine Falls is 65 feet high; it is one of Ohio’s highest waterfalls.

A boardwalk takes you to upper and lower observation platform.

Brandywine Falls, as seen from the lower observation platform

From Brandywine Falls we drove even farther north and out of the park. We drove to Chagrin Falls. From either side of the river there is a boardwalk that leads down to an observation platform from which to see the Chagrin Falls waterfall.

A boardwalk leads down to an observation platform.

Bob and I at Chagrin Falls waterfall

After photographing the waterfall, we climbed back up to Main Street. We went inside the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop, where Bob enjoyed a cup of Espresso and I enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa. I haven’t mentioned the weather yet, except to say it was a cloudy day. It was a chilly day, with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. In addition to our drink purchases, we also bought two large popcorn bunnies, a purple one for Harper and a pink one for June.

We celebrated Easter with our granddaughters a week early.
Harper and June liked their popcorn bunnies!

From Chagrin Falls we returned to the great blue heron viewing area in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The lighting was a little bit better compared to earlier in the morning. I took several pictures, of which I will share three.

There was constant movement at the Great Blue Heron rookery.
One or more herons would leave the nest in search of nesting material.

I watched this Great Blue Heron for several minutes.
He would pick up a branch, shake it a little and then drop it.
He repeated this task several times, until he found the perfect branch for the nest.

Great Blue Heron returning to rookery with nesting material
He would give the nesting material to his mate,
who would place it in the nest making adjustments as necessary.

It is my opinion that late afternoon and possibly early evening light would make for much better pictures at the rookery, after photographing there at sunrise and at late morning on this trip and in the early afternoon during a Spring 2013 trip.

From the rookery we drove the short distance to Beaver Marsh, where we took a short walk along a tow path.

Tow Path at Beaver Marsh

The park’s description for the Beaver Marsh says to “look for beavers, otters, muskrats, and waterfowl along the wetland boardwalk”. We didn’t see any beavers, otters or muskrats. We did, however, see a pair of Canadian Geese.

Beaver Marsh Canadian Geese

From Beaver Marsh we started the drive back home. At 1:15 pm we ate lunch at Thano’s Family Restaurant in Canfield, OH. We both ordered hamburger dinner entrees. Lunch was good but, again, I couldn’t finish my meal. Bob ate half of my Western Burger, and I left behind most of my French Fries.

Leaving Thano’s we drove by Lanternman’s Mill in Millcreek Park, but we didn’t stop. We followed U.S. 62 partway through Youngstown. Right before downtown the exit to U.S. 62 was closed for construction, and we got dumped into the downtown area. Thankfully it wasn’t busy downtown. We found our way onto I-80 and followed that route until Mercer, at which time we got back onto U.S. Route 62.

We returned home around 4:45 pm. It was a very long but great day. I am happy that I felt well enough to make the trip and am thankful that Bob wanted to go, too, and that he was willing to do all the driving.

Ohio Day Trip: Chagrin Falls

Bob and I went on a day trip to Ohio this past Saturday (April 6). We saw three waterfalls, a covered bridge and a few birds. In my previous blog posts I shared photographs of Brandywine Falls, the Everett Road Covered Bridge, and the Beaver Marsh and heron rookery — all three of which are located in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

After photographing the Great Blue Heron at the rookery, we left Cuyahoga Valley National Park and ate lunch at a nearby Texas Roadhouse. We both enjoyed steak entrees. After lunch we drove to the picturesque village of Chagrin Falls, which was about a 30-minute drive from Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The second waterfall that we saw during our day trip was right in the middle of Chagrin Falls.

There are two vantage points from which to see the Chagrin Falls waterfall. A boardwalk leads down to an observation platform from each vantage point.

From the first vantage point you can see the boardwalk for the second vantage point (opposite side).

View of falls from first vantage point

In addition to viewing Chagrin Falls from the observation platform of the first vantage point, we ventured down to the river bed for another prospective.

View of Chagrin Falls from the river bed

The next photograph was taken from the second vantage point.

This is the second time that we have visited this waterfall. Our first visit was in early August last year. There hadn’t been much rainfall, so we saw very little falling water during that visit. Provided below is a photograph from our August 2012 visit. Notice the big change in water volume between that visit and our visit this past Saturday!

Chagrin Falls in August 2012

After looking at the waterfall, we climbed back up to Main Street. We went inside the Popcorn Shop, where Bob enjoyed a cup of coffee and I enjoyed a Vanilla Custard cone. Bob said that the coffee was good. The Vanilla Custard cone was so rich and creamy; delicious!.

The Popcorn Shop

There was one more thing about Chagrin Falls that we liked … MOTORCYCLES!

I mentioned to Bob that we should ride to Chagrin Falls on the motorcycle one day. He agreed.

Weekend Visit in Cuyahoga County, Ohio: Chagrin Falls

Our weekend visit to Ohio was precipitated by a travelzoo.com email that I received on July 16. One of the Travel Zoo offers was for lodging and meals at The Club at Hillbrook in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. We didn’t take advantage of the travelzoo.com offer; however, photographs of the picturesque village of Chagrin Falls piqued my interest for weekend travel.

We stayed two nights (August 3-5) at the Clarion Hotel in Beachwood, Ohio. On Saturday, August 4, we visited nearby Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

On Sunday, after checking out of our hotel, we drove to Chagrin Falls, which was less than 10 miles from our hotel. We arrived at Chagrin Falls shortly before 9:00 AM. We found parking easily along Main Street, near the village’s famous Popcorn Shop.

These beautiful flowers caught my eye, as we pulled into a parking space along Main Street.

The waterfall, for which the village is named, is below these flowers.

Chagrin Falls

Chagrin Falls

There are two vantage points from which to see Chagrin Falls. A boardwalk leads down to an observation platform from each vantage point.

This photograph was taken from the second vantage point. Do you see the boardwalk on the opposite side of the falls? The first two photographs of the falls were taken from the observation platform at the bottom of the boardwalk. The white building that you see above the falls is the Popcorn Shop.

After looking at the waterfall, we climbed back up to Main Street. We crossed Main Street to a park located alongside the Chagrin River.

The first thing that caught my eye was the sculpture of a cat.

I took a picture of the Popcorn Shop, too, from the park.

Popcorn Shop

It started to drizzle, so we made our way back across Main Street and went inside the Popcorn Shop. The first thing I noticed as I walked in was the smell of popcorn….Mmmmmm! According to reviews, the Popcorn Shop has three of the best things on earth: popcorn, coffee and ice cream. Bob ordered a Double Espresso coffee; I ordered a baby Vanilla Custard cone. Bob said that the coffee was good. The Vanilla Custard cone was so rich and creamy; delicious!. By the way I was the first person to have a Vanilla Custard cone that day, as I ordered one a little after 9:00 AM! We purchased a 1-gallon tin and filled it with double cheese popcorn. The tin of popcorn was a gift for our friends, Valerie and Michael, who took care of our cat, Patches, while we were away.

We departed this lovely village soon after our morning snack and began our drive back home.