note: Tango is my dog and the following is his perspective
I won’t complain about being left alone while J visits the nursing home because she already feels guilty enough. Besides, we walk several times each day, and she plans special outings every week. She is trying to care for me too, and I do my best to support her other caregiver role.
Today was our best outing yet. First, we climbed into our van, which we rarely drive at the moment (Grandma’s car is better around the city). Traveling in the van again made the drive more like the adventures we take out west. J started the engine, and I took my place in the passenger seat in front of the AC vents. Zoom, on the road again, down the steep, thickly wooded hill into the Cuyahoga Valley – known to locals as the Valley – and then north on Riverview Road, one of two roads that parallels either side of the Cuyahoga River. We enter the lush, verdant green Cuyahoga Valley National Park, a long, narrow swath of land along the historic river corridor. President Gerald Ford in 1975 created a National Recreation Area there and then Congress in 2000 upgraded the area to a National Park.
J explained as we drove that the Valley had a dirty past. As she mentioned elsewhere, the Cuyahoga River was so polluted it caught fire back in Jane’s time (1969) near the Republic Steel Mill (Cleveland area). Furthermore, companies filled the Krejci Dump with extremely toxic waste (thanks to Ford, GM, 3M, Waste Management of Ohio and others) and became a Superfund Site. Cleanup began in 1987 and much of the area was restored to wetlands.
We headed to a trailhead on the Park’s Towpath Trail. We love this trail because it follows the old Erie Canal towpath and passes the old canal locks. The trail is heavily shaded since it parallels the Cuyahoga River, which is lined with giant old hardwoods. We have hiked often at the Beaver Ponds trailhead where J likes to find Indigo Buntings.
The old Erie Canal in Ohio: horses pulled small barges to Lake Erie. The Towpath Trail makes use of the tow paths. The Cuyahoga river was too unpredictable in terms of navigation, so the canal runs nearby to facilitate travel.
Our destination today: Boston Trailhead. J chose that one because it has large parking areas and a visitor center. On this holiday weekend the popular spot was swarming with people, so we dash past the visitor center and head north on the trail. I was on a leash the whole time, but I felt so free in the forest. Sniff, smell, sniff, poop, sniff, pee. I was in a doggie paradise. I saw chipmunks and squirrels. I heard bullfrogs and saw turtles sunning on a log. I sniffed nearly every blade of grass and dribbled on tree trunks. J took some photos and we walked on the mossy rock walls of the old canal locks. As you can see in the following photo, instead of water, the locks are filled with grass and probably lots of snakes. The towpath trail is visible to the left of the old lock.
Despite the shade, heavy humid air makes us both sweat. I feel like someone tossed a heavy wet blanket over my back. Jane notices drops of sweat traveling down her back. We do not care because we are on a trail in the forest. The forest. The forest. We ignor the bike riders who zoomed by, but I love all the gals who stop to admire and scratch me. Their typical banter: Such a sweet boy. Sweetie pie, boogie boo and all that. Back at the visitor center area, as more people admire me, J fills my bowl with cold water from the drinking fountain. I slurp it up.
The van is now toasty inside and we sweat until the AC kicks in. We take the other road back and pass a number of regional parks where J hung out with her teenage friends. She explains that the parks are now part of the Cuyahoga National Park, which is truly amazing, considering that J is such a National Park buff. However, by this time we were nearly out of the Valley, but first, we see a McDonalds. I lick my lips and shout to myself, Lunchtime! Jane must have agreed because suddenly we were in the McDonald’s parking lot sharing two cheeseburgers. Such a joyous end to our outing and my history lesson. When she headed to the nursing home last night the memories of the chipmunks kept me from being so lonely.
