On Holden Pond

We have been members of Holden Arboretum for many years. This past Sunday we were too tired to drive to a geo-event in Pennsylvania so we headed out to nearby Holden for an afternoon of walking with the dogs. We spent about two hours on the wonderful trails at Holden.

The photos are of a large spread of asters near one of the many ponds. The lake is Cornell Lake. The young trees are near the sugar bush area.

Punderson State Park

Our friends hosted a geo-event this past weekend at Punderson State Park. The event started Friday and ended Sunday morning. We weren't planning to camp but planned to attend the Friday evening and Saturday festivities. It rained all day Friday until about 4. Then the rain stopped leaving perfect weather for a fall geoevent with friends.

The two attached photos are taken near the final event cache of an eleven cache contest. The series covered seven miles on foot. The darker photo was taken in the morning as we ended the contest. The lighter, sunny photo was taken in late afternoon when returned to the event caches with friends.

Kelly Pines - ANF

We stopped at Kelly Pines near the end caching day with Ali's mom. The cache had been placed by local cachers PAWINGERS. They are woods hikers like us so we expected a nice walk. Kelly Pines is a small camping area that is mostly a horse camp. The trail to the cache was pleasant and enjoyable and this stream was the perfect spot for a fall photo.

J.P. Nicely Memorial West Falls Park

I awoke Friday the 13th to hear that Buffalo had been hit with 2 feet of snow during the evening. It wasn't much of a surprise since I had met a friend at a local mall and driven home through a sea of abandoned cars and downed power lines, but it was still hard to accept for the first half of October.

I hung out at the hotel until the last possible moment and ignoring travel bans I struck out for the south. I was hoping to drive to the other side of the snow, find some gas, and sneak off to Pennsylvania. It was surreal. I spent over two hours getting from the town of Lockport to Evans. Once I was there in a matter of minutes two feet of snow decreased to one foot to six inches and finally nothing. I found myself in blue skies, green grass, and fall colors. I was left with no choice but to geocache. I stopped at the West Falls Park and was really surprised at its beauty. The peaceful weather of this park was a sharp contrast to the snow andhardships that I had seen the good people of Buffalo struggling with just minutes before.

I found two geocaches at the park and grabbed these two nice panoramas.

Pine Lake

Pine Lake is a small lake at the nearby State Park. It is off the main trails and gets visited by few. It has been a favorite place for me to relax and think. The other evening Ali was biking with a friend. I wanted to go for a walk. Pine Lake once again became my destination.

Geauga Park Event

This panorama was taken in spring 2006 at a Geauga Park District outing.