Cleveland Metroparks

I first learned about the Cleveland Metroparks Adventure University a year ago. It looked like somethng I would really enjoy, but we were dealing with a family emergency that kept me from attending the Spring of 2018. When I saw on Twitter that the third annual Cleveland Metroparks Adventure University & Gear Swap would be taking place at Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday, March 23, 2019, I was doubly excited to attend. First, I saw that they had exciting organizations participating, and workshops planned in areas that greatly interested me. Secondly, my annual case of "Springer Fever" had set in, and I was ready to learn from presenters about my future adventures. 

On June 9, 2018, we had a great day that we want to share with you. This blog post includes 152 tweets from before and during the Cleveland Museum of Art's Parade the Circle, and from our evening activities on the Cleveland Metroparks' waterfront. Writing this post reminds us of the fun we had, and we hope it encourages others to explore these and related activities in the future.

We were able to attend the Parade the Circle together again in Cleveland's University Circle, and wanted to share our experience and photos from our @sos_jr tweets and retweets. If you never attended Parade the Circle, it is a must-attend Cleveland event!

We started off June 2018 with some great activities and music. We often go to the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Metroparks, and we wanted to share in this blog post some of the unique things we did on June 1 and June 2, 2018.

What we needed was a simple day to get away -- thank you, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and the Cleveland Zoological Society, for providing the perfect venue.

Earlier in the month, we had learned from tweets by Etsuko Dunham, Danielle Garbo, and Kelly Manderfield about some incredibly beautiful Japanese cherry tree blossoms in the Cleveland Metroparks' Brookside Reservation, which is very near the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Every year, because of my personal history, I always think that April 7th is a special day to explore a trail! So when I saw Bike Cleveland's tweet announcing that on Saturday, April 7, 2018, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy would have a Cleveland location for its annual Opening Day for Trails, I knew that I would need to attend! 

As I learned more about the day from Share The River's blog, and very informative @ShareTheRiver tweets, I grew more impressed with the strong partnership of organizations in Cleveland that were coming together on April 7th to promote trails and good environmental stewardship in northeast Ohio. The day's activities were hosted by the Cleveland Rowing Foundation.

Reading about the Facebook event, 2018 Opening Day for Trails - Cleveland, also excited me by mentioning the Ohio & Erie Canalway Towpath Trail and the Cleveland Foundation Centennial Lake Link Trail. I have enjoyed exploring both of these trails, and writing about them in some of my past blog posts.

The Cleveland Metroparks introduced their new Trail Challenge on National Trails Day, June 3, 2017!! It was very appropriate, since the Trail Challenge reflects the spirit of National Trails Day by encouraging people to enjoy the great outdoors and to explore trails in the Cleveland Metroparks.

In this blog post, I will share information about my journey on the 10 required trails (and beyond!!), for the 2017 Trail Challenge through:

• My @sos_jr tweets/retweets

• My comments about what I observed

• Information about the parks featured in this first Trail Challenge.

On September 8-10, 2017, the largest annual cycling festival in the United States, NEOCycle, was held in Cleveland at the Cleveland Metroparks Edgewater Park, through the support of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission! This was my third year attending what has become a great Cleveland tradition!

On August 21, 2017, the first total solar eclipse in the continental United States since February 26, 1979, occurred. It was also the first total solar eclipse to cross the entire country (from Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean) since June 8, 1918! We knew this would be a special day!!! Stuart used his last available vacation day to fully experience the phenomenon, and our son Kevin joined us as well.

I first learned about the July 30, 2017, Common Ground event from an announcement by Global Cleveland on Twitter. I immediately knew I needed to attend, and share my thoughts about it in my blog.

I also want to thank Cleveland Foundation Senior Marketing & Communications Officer Jennifer Trivelli, who reached out to me via a Twitter direct message on July 7th to confirm that I knew about #CommonGroundCLE -- Greater Cleveland's largest outdoor community conversation and meal.

We had four days of fun and four sunsets on Lake Erie!

Our extended Fourth of July weekend, July 1-4, 2017, was filled with many activities, each day ending with a beautiful Lake Erie sunset!

• July 1st Sunset - Lake Metroparks' Lakefront Lodge after Cleveland Shakespeare Festival at James A. Garfield National Historic Site

• July 2nd Sunset - Edgewater Park of the Cleveland Metroparks Lakefront Reservation

• July 3rd Sunset - Lake Metroparks' Lake Erie Bluffs Coastal Observation Tower after exploring both the Lake Link Trail & The Holden Arboretum

• July 4th Sunset - Sunset and Fireworks at North Coast Harbor after Neighborhood Parade

Thank you to all the great organizations that made these four days of fun possible. We look forward to visiting many more Northeast Ohio venues to enjoy Lake Erie sunsets.