Yo. The summer is over… and so I’m finally catching up on documenting the many fun and beautiful things we were able to be a part of. We did a LOT of camping…almost every free weekend we had this summer...and it has been a blast!

The first photo below is my fam just a few steps away from the Cuyahoga River. We learned the river used to be so polluted that it actually caught fire 13 times before they began to do proper clean-up on it. It took the river becoming a National Park to help preserve it to its shining beauty.
The was the 3rd National Park we have visited as a family. I went to a few more growing up, but we really love the outdoor aspect mixed with the history of what makes the park unique.
Top 5 things I loved from this park:

1. The "Tow Path": This is a hiking/ bike path that follows the river almost 100 miles. We only biked about 10 total miles this weekend, but it was a beautiful and very easy ride. We even saw a few blue heron along the banks.

2. Bike Aboard: On our last bike ride of the weekend, we went to the final stop where the train meets the Tow Path. The train took us back to where our car was parked and enjoyed the air conditioned scenic ride on the train back to our car. Bonus: it's only $5/ per person to Bike Aboard.

3. Ledges Trail: This was our final hike of the weekend and was a great hike with lots of rock formations and a beautiful bluff overlook. If we had more time, we would have spent more time here, but so glad we were able to see the parts we did!

4. Brandywine Falls {pictured above): We opted to drive right to the parking spot on this trail as we were losing light one night. It's a short walk from there and totally worth seeing the upper and lower part of the falls.

5. The kids got sworn in for the 2nd time as "Junior Rangers"...The rangers are all super sweet and make this a fun part of our time at the National Parks. Be sure to check out the activities for kids to do and the kids get very cute ranger badges to take with them. This was free at both the parks we have recently visited.

That's it for this episode of "Review a National Park"...LOL!
But we have used up our share of sun screen and bug spray this summer and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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#findyourpark
#nationalparks
#getoutdoors
#wildandfree
#collinstribeadventures