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Over Easy: The Cleveland Metro Parks

Lakeshore Reservation Lake Erie

One of the parts of Cleveland I enjoy the most is the Cleveland Metropolitan Park System or Metro Parks AKA the Emerald Necklace.

The oldest park district in Ohio, the Cleveland Metropolitan Park District was born in 1917, the initiative of a young, self-taught engineer who had conceived the idea of an outer chain of parks with connecting boulevards some 12 years earlier. William Stinchcomb’s genius was to anticipate the future need for open space at a time when Cuyahoga County outside of Cleveland was still largely rural. From a few scattered donations of land in the Rocky River Valley, the Park District grew to embrace some of the most scenic areas of Greater Cleveland.

From Lake Erie on the West Side to Lake Erie on the East side, the park system encircles Cleveland and also takes in a good part of the Cuyahoga River Valley National Park. Metro Parks also maintains a large portion of the Ohio and Erie Canal Tow Path trail, which is used heavily by walkers and bikers alike. As well as the many hiking paths and bridal paths through out the park system.

Most of the major estuaries to the Cuyahoga river as well as other streams, rivers and creaks are also part of the park system as well. Each know as a reservation. There is a Rocky River reservation, Canalway Center reservation,  Bedford Reservation – which has some very scenic views and hiking, biking and bridal paths – North Chagrin and South Chagrin Reservation on the Chagrin River, Euclid Creek Reservation in Euclid Ohio, just to name a few. Garfield Park reservation is just a few blocks from me and I walk down there often.

The Metro Park system also maintains Nature Centers at nearly all the reservations with bird watching areas and nature programs for young people. They also maintain the main swimming area at Edgewater Beach and The MetroParks ZOO.

So if you should ever find yourself up here in Cleveland be sure to visit one of the Metro Parks.

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cmaukonen

cmaukonen

25 Comments

  1. Chris Maukonen
    June 23, 2015 at 8:03 am

    OY…heavy duty flooding, wind and lightning overnight here. Hope you all did better.

  2. Marion in Savannah
    June 23, 2015 at 8:03 am

    Good morning, pups. Mr. Nocera is off today, so we have solo Bobo. Bobo’s decided to take on the Pope. Who is, by the way, a scientist. Something Bobo most certainly is not. In “Fracking and the Franciscans” he babbles that Pope Francis’ new encyclical contains beautiful ideas that would make for terrible environmental and economic policy. Since the word “Franciscan” is never mentioned in his column one must assume he thinks the Pope is a Franciscan because of the name he chose. Wrong, Bobo, wrong again. He’s a Jesuit. As Charles Pierce at Esquire repeatedly reminds us, don’t fck with the Jesuits…

    HERE he is, and

    HERE’s Krugman’s blog.

    The coffee, tea and cold drinks are ready, and I’ve got apricot scones this morning. When I was a kid I was lucky enough to live a block and a half away from Central Park in New York. It was heaven — like having an 800 acre back yard. And the Metropolitan Museum of Art was 4 blocks away. My friends and I played in the park every day after school, and sometimes ventured into the museum. My mother and I would walk across the park on weekends to visit the Museum of Natural History, a real favorite of mine. It was a great time to be a kid in New York.

    Our weather finally broke last night with a roaring thunderstorm. Huge flashes of lightning, and thunder loud enough to feel through the walls of the house. It’s much cooler today, which is a relief. Have a great day.

  3. Marion in Savannah
    June 23, 2015 at 8:05 am

    We had a huge thunderstorm last night, but I didn’t see any limbs down from the neighbor’s trees when I fed the cats. But at least it’s cooler now…

  4. oldhippiejan
    June 23, 2015 at 8:24 am

    Good morning all and thanks CMaukonen. I’ve visited your beautiful city once many years ago. I saw the Eagles in Paul Brown stadium. It rained. I didn’t come close to seeing all of the city but what little I saw was very nice.
    Escaped rain and storms here last night. Was supposed to rain yesterday afternoon when I wanted to mow, but I paid no attention and got it done. Never did rain. So much for weather forecasters.

  5. Chris Maukonen
    June 23, 2015 at 8:28 am

    That’s good. We however were not so lucky. Rained hard here and flooded a number of roads and power outages from the storms and still having some rain.

  6. June 23, 2015 at 8:47 am

    Good morning.

    You folks are cooling off courtesy of the jet stream curving around to send the heat up here. Expected weekend temps in Portland as high as 105F!

    My first treatment via counter pulsation (eecp) was somewhat of a shock. The first time the machine ran it was like some giant hand just squeezed the hell out of both legs. They dropped the pressure somewhat then ramped it up to full power. Got used to it in a bit, watched some video on “healthy Heart”, ca 1970’s or so, on videotape no less. Pretty out dated advice like eat only the egg whites etc.Fortunately, the cardio folks don’t actually advise this ancient perspective.
    1 down, 34 to go.

  7. Molly
    June 23, 2015 at 8:49 am

    Happy to hear the first eecp went well. Maybe you should bring your own reading material or an iPod with your favorite classical music to pass the time.

  8. Molly
    June 23, 2015 at 8:52 am

    We had a bit of rain in the afternoon, of course while I was out running errands. But the “OMG huge storms rainfall OMG” forecast for last night never came. I was counting on a good soaking for the new “lawn soil” and grass seed I put down on a big bare patch in my back yard. I suppose today I’ll have to go out and water a little.

  9. June 23, 2015 at 8:57 am

    Next couple of days will tell. There is a DVD player attached to the monitor as well. I can obtain some videos from the library, some classical music videos. Perhaps they can get Youtube. Have to check.

  10. Chris Maukonen
    June 23, 2015 at 8:57 am

    We on the other hand, do not need any more rain. The ground is already saturated, my side yard beginning to look like a Florida swamp.

  11. Molly
    June 23, 2015 at 9:02 am

    I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and we had some lovely parks too. I used to walk or bicycle to Whetstone Park to play. They had fireworks there on July 4th, and they flooded the tennis courts in the winter for free ice skating. When I was a young teen, I remember going to dances under one of the big shelters.

    South Bend also has some nice parks, several along the St. Joseph river that winds through town. South Bend apparently was so named because we are on the south bend of the river that runs through Michigan and Indiana. The city just unveiled a big permanent interactive light display downtown in celebration of the city’s 150th anniversary. https://downtownsouthbend.com/river-lights

  12. Canyon2
    June 23, 2015 at 9:05 am

    Good morning everyone.
    Thank you for the post cmaukonen.
    That park system looks like a wonderful place to visit and it would be very relaxing too.

  13. Beverly Lawson
    June 23, 2015 at 9:11 am

    Good Morning All, Thanks for the post. Nice that the parks/green have been preserved. Im in countdown mode for upcoming July move…..surrounded by mess and full of decisions about what to pitch. Nice to see the lovely outdoors….

  14. Molly
    June 23, 2015 at 9:29 am

    How long does each treatment last? You might have time for a movie spread over a few days.

  15. Molly
    June 23, 2015 at 9:31 am

    We’ve had a very rainy June also. But I just need a bit of fresh water for my newly-planted hostas and astilbe, and the seed I spread yesterday.

  16. June 23, 2015 at 9:40 am

    1 Hr. Thought of that. I don’t know how much control I’ll have over the DVD player.

  17. oldhippiejan
    June 23, 2015 at 9:54 am

    It’s been my experience that about the time you plan on and need rain, it never happens. The sun and wind today will dry things out so may as well drag out the hose.

  18. oldhippiejan
    June 23, 2015 at 10:00 am

    Your treatment doesn’t sound like much of a joy, but hope it helps. Is this something fairly new, I’ve never heard of it.

  19. Ruth
    June 23, 2015 at 10:31 am

    Thanks, cmaukonen, have enjoyed the river drive in Cleveland, took it up to Erie on my way back to NW Pa once, lovely and what great use of a scenic area. Tons ahead of the areas that ‘develop’ their waterfront with warehouses and quarries, for sure.
    Just back from the Palace, was amazed that now you can walk into Kensington Palace, itself, even take a tour if you pay for it – didn’t go that far, and wasn’t invited to tea, but did get royal claptrap for friends at the gift store. The monarchy does get its pounds of tourist pounds.

  20. Alice X
    June 23, 2015 at 10:35 am

    Morning all, up late and shuddering about the Senate Fast Track vote probably today.

    Severe weather overnight, several nearby area tornadoes. I live in muted dread of the day that either of my massive maples decides to flatten my house (front or back).

    Detroit has a very nice metro-park system (Huron/Clinton rivers). Curiously they were once both called Huron, after the native people’s whose property rights were over-taken.

    I live a stone’s throw from the one that kept the name Huron. Many local jurisdiction parks here as well.

  21. Ruth
    June 23, 2015 at 10:49 am

    Had the same fear of the biggest tree in town which was right in back of my house, one dark and stormy night, joining me in not so nice a way. Glad I left tornado alley and hope the tree doesn’t do any harm anyway.

  22. oldhippiejan
    June 23, 2015 at 10:50 am

    Shuddering along with you. An absolute disaster in the making.
    Where is this free market capitalism I’m always hearing about? In a true free market, wouldn’t I have an option of buying American. Well, I don’t. Instead of giving tax breaks to major corporations to move operations overseas, maybe it’s time for our government to subsidize businesses that want to stay here. I’m sick to death of the throw away trash that’s presented to me in stores.

  23. Ruth
    June 23, 2015 at 11:07 am

    I learned a few years ago that even when things say Made In the U.S.A. that doesn’t mean they aren’t made of parts that were mfctd overseas, and even some of them assembled overseas by some allowance of the label that any part at all can justify calling them home made.

  24. oldhippiejan
    June 23, 2015 at 11:15 am

    So much for truth in labeling, I’d heard the same thing as well
    Although the flap over COOL doesn’t affect me, people have a right to know. I guess considering the conditions under which our meat is raised doesn’t mean it’s something healthy.

  25. Ruth
    June 23, 2015 at 11:34 am

    The way our foods are laced with chemicals, I think home grown is about the only safe source anymore.