Saturday was Mer’ s day, although she was gracious enough to let me carve out my Saturday morning long run on the Towpath (sixteen miles, in this case). Running turned out to be the theme of the day, because after I got back home and ready for the day, we jumped in the car and headed an hour southeast, to McDonald, to see the CVCA cross country team at the Billy Goat Invitational.

The Billy Goat invitational is held in a park, and runs (roughly) the same course twice to get in the five kilometers. It is a perfect spectators’ race – we were able to see the runners seven times with minimal walking on our part. The race ends with an infamous hill into the finish line. Saturday was dry, but I have heard tell of people pulling themselves up the hill using hands when the hill gets muddy. It is a rough ending to a hard race. CVCA’s guys ran well, coming in second out of thirteen teams. The girls’ team had a harder time, with some of the top runners out because of injury. It was a great day to watch a high school race again, and we got to catch up with the junior high coach (and our friend) Jordan.

After the race, Mer had us head to West Branch Reservoir. I was shocked that on such a beautiful day there were not more people at the beach, but that was the case. It was by no means empty, but it was not crowded. We only went to the beach after we had to give up on hiking the trail system, which was mosquito-infested because of the recent rains. The beach was a fine place to stroll, though – we took off our shoes and wandered the whole length of the beach and back, wading in the water. It was not a huge beach, but it took about ten minutes to walk it in each direction.

We then headed home, where Mer decided we should play Jeopardy! on the Wii video game console. That worked out well for Mer- she won handily. All hard feelings were taken care of with a trip to Handel’s for ice cream.

As I have mentioned several times recently, it is amazing and wonderful to me that CVCA alumni want to hang out with me and Mer. On Tuesday, we headed over to Medina, about forty minutes away. I had never been to the old square in Medina, and it turned out to be really cute, with a ton of green space and lots of small, independent shops. Mer and I parked near the square and headed across it to Sully’s, an Irish pub, to meet our former student Kim. We were close to Kim, to the point where we called her a “grandchild,” since we met her through students we termed the “children.”

Kim had set up the dinner, and it was spectacular. The pub was amazing. They have live Irish music on Fridays and Saturdays, and during the week they play Irish music over the stereo system. Mer and I heard a bunch of bands and songs we knew. The food was great, with typical Irish pub fare, but with American bar/pub food as well. It was great visiting with Kim; we talked about CVCA and college. After supper, Kim walked all around the square with us, solidifying my opinion that Medina is a great little town.

Continuing the alumni visits, on Thursday we headed over to the far west side of Akron, to the Fairlawn area, to meet up with Mike for ice cream at Cold Stone. Mike was also a student of both of ours (Mer – English, me – Fools improv), and he spent a year in South Africa on a long-term mission trip. He is going to college at Malone, and he is pretty interesting to talk with. We enjoyed sitting outside and chatted for almost two hours. These are the types of relationships that solidly keep me in Christian education – what a joy for us that young people want to hang out with me and Mer.

Saturday was “my” day, and I started it out with a 16.5-mile run on the Towpath. I went home and got ready, and once Mer was ready, we headed over to the South Chagrin Reservation, to hike the reservation in general, but the Squaw Rock Trail specifically. I had read about it in my 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Cleveland book, and it sounded worth visiting. It was.

We got to the park, and headed down a steep trail to the Chagrin River, to a small and very pretty multi-level waterfall. The river is only a few inches deep here, so Mer and I went wading with the understanding that I would run back to the car to get her sandals after we were done (as opposed to her running shoes she wears on hiking trails). Mer understandably did not want to put wet feet in her shoes; it does not bother me as long as I have my socks off.

The wading was fantastic. The river was cool on our feet, and we were able to wade over to the other shore, and then made our way down one level of the falls. It was very pretty. There were several people around, including some anglers upstream; I’m not sure what fish they catch in four inches of water, but it was a good day for it.

After the wading side-trip, we walked upstream. There were several impressive rock outcroppings, and the trail was well shaded. We came upon the eponymous Squaw Rock, a large rock with carvings on it from the 1880s. The figures were carved by a local blacksmith, but he never said why. One of the figures is of a Native American woman, and so the entire rock became known as Squaw Rock. One of my happy moments was when I was standing on the riverside overlook of the rock, and Mer was looking everywhere but at the carvings. She could see I was waiting for something, so she looked again and then saw them. That made me smile.

The return path back to the parking lot took us on an upper trail that overlooked the lower trail, and had two bridges that spanned some of the rock formations we had seen earlier. It makes an excellent and scenic loop, and is only a mile long or so (although it involves some climbing).

Once we got back to the parking lot, we followed the rest of the recommended hike – a loop along the access road that follows a fitness (parkour) trail. The trail was pleasant – not too challenging, and the road it followed was not busy. It brought us back to the parking lot, although I took one “hey, that looks cool” detour that added a bit to the hike.

After the hike, we were in the general area of our friend Jordan’s house, so we swung by. He and his family were home, so we swung in to visit for about twenty minutes. I have a small mission to bring the Maine-style drop-by visit to Ohio. Jordan and his wife recommended we check out the popcorn shop in Chagrin Falls for their ice cream, so we did that. It was good ice cream, but the real pleasure is sitting in the cute town and watching the world go by (with a side-trip to the town’s falls).

Last Friday, Mer and I invited our friend and colleague Jordan over for supper. We went out to a nearby Applebee’s, and ate a pleasant meal together, and even had a student sighting as we left. I think students are always surprised to see teachers “in the wild.”

We headed back home for another installment of “History Night.” We try to get together with Jordan about once a month to watch an episode of Battlefield, a World War 2 documentary. We have been doing this on and off since last fall, and it is a good experience. Jordan teaches history, and his primary interest is in American history, so he is quite knowledgeable, especially about WW2 aircraft. This last History Night was on the Battle of Stalingrad, about which I knew nothing. It was a grim and desperate battle, and may have changed the course of the whole war by denying the Nazis access to oil fields in the southern Soviet Union. It was a very near thing. It was an educational evening for me, and a good social evening in general.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was another great day of hanging out with alumni. Mer and I met up with Ben, John, and Chris at the Flip Side restaurant in Hudson. All three guys are going to Moody Bible Institute, and both Mer and I are pretty close to all three. We had a great meal (burgers) together, and I invited them back to the house to see a Batman movie, and they accepted. In an amusing same-line-of-thought moment, the guys stopped and picked up various flavors of Oreos as dessert, and Mer and I stopped at an upscale grocery store to get baked goods. Needless to say, there were leftovers at the end of the evening.

Ben and John are huge comic book fans, and Chris likes them, so I was excited to show them Batman:Year One. Mer and I had just seen it, but it was still entertaining, even to Mer. It was great seeing the guys get sucked into the story and react verbally to various spots of the film. It was a fun evening, and I was glad they carved out some time at the end of summer to look us up.

One of the surprising and wonderful things about working at a school is that sometimes the students and alumni want to hang out with me and Mer. I liked my teachers in high school, but it never would have occurred to me to hang out with them, so I am always pleasantly taken aback when students suggest a social outing.

On Saturday, Mer and I got together with three alumnae and one girl’s boyfriend. We met up at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. Mer and I got there a bit early, and so we were able to see the opening ceremony and people-watch. We had been to a Renaissance faire last summer, and expected much the same experience. This faire had a lot more people “in garb” – in costume. I’m guessing that about seventy-five percent of the people at Great Lakes had some form of costume. Because we didn’t, I actually felt slightly out of place, which is a rare occurrence. It was fun to see so many people having a good time.

Mer and I met up with Sarah, Hayley, Katie, and her boyfriend Obie. We wandered into the grounds, which were pretty extensive. All the girls had been to this faire before, so we let them take the lead. We spent a good couple of hours doing a circuit of the grounds, visiting shops and soaking in the sights. Katie, Obie, and Sarah all took turns in the ax-throwing competition, and Sarah nailed hers – it was impressive. Sarah let on she’d had some minimal training earlier in her life at a day camp. We stopped and ate early in the afternoon. In the shops section, Sarah was singled out by a man selling fake horns as someone who was clearly going to buy a set; by the end of the day, he was right – Sarah picked up a set that glowed in the dark.

Normally, Mer and I are pretty conscious to see the shows at these things, but we chilled and enjoyed the company of the girls and Obie. We did catch the end of an escape artist show, saw a forge demonstration, and saw a really funny “pirate magician” who was really entertaining in his banter. We also saw a live combat-chess match. The girls all had to leave a bit before closing, so Mer and I went to see the escape artist do his big finale, which was to walk across a flaming balance beam. He built up to it with a comedy show involving an audience member who “predicted” what objects audience members were holding up based on subtle and not-so-subtle clues from the artist. It was fun. Mer and I wrapped up the evening by going to the closing music sing at the “pub” (which was outdoors). I really enjoyed the day, and hope to go back next summer. Mer and I were exhorted in a kind way to come in garb next time – by a Pakistani man in flowing robes. I think we might work on that.

Yesterday I took the day off so Mer and I could celebrate our anniversary together (our fifteenth anniversary was on Thursday). I decided to take Mer to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo – it was a nice day, and even if it cleared up and got too hot, there are exhibits that are inside, and the park system does a pretty good job of making sure there are shady areas around.

I had been to the zoo last January as part of my J-term class on hiking Northeast Ohio parks. Since the zoo is part of the park system, my co-leader and I decided it was a good hike for what looked as if it might be a rainy day. It cleared up, and we had a great time. When I got home, Mer had mentioned she had not been to the Cleveland Zoo in many years, so it seemed like a good destination for a mellow anniversary day.

It was still party cloudy when we got there, so I made the fateful (for Mer) decision to forgo sunscreen. Later, the clouds cleared up, and Mer ended up with mild burns on her shoulders; oddly, I got away with it, and I usually burn quickly. Even when the sun came out, we were able to manage the hot part of the day by taking it easy and seeking shade where we could.

We started the tour by briefly seeing the elephants, but then spending quite a bit of time in the Australia exhibit. There was a small aviary filled with colorful birds called Lorikeets. For a dollar, you could buy a small cup of nectar and feed the birds. I wanted Mer to try it, and she succeeded wildly. A Lorikeet climbed onto her hand and sucked down the nectar. Mer was a bit nervous having a bird holding on to her by its clawed feet, but it did not hurt her, and she was pretty pleased with the experience. That was worth the whole admission, right there.

We continued on in “Australia,” seeing koalas (they do not move much), kangaroos, dingos, and more. The Australia section is really well done, with a park-like feel and spacious habitats for the animals. There is even a fake tree you can climb into and slide down a slide shaped like a snake (we passed on that because it was mobbed). There was a small river, and a train that ran around the entire perimeter. It was probably the best part of the park, and the rest of the park was pretty good.

We headed up the hill along the “Deckwalk,” an elevated boardwalk that meanders through the trees to the upper exhibits (cats and primates). The Deckwalk had been closed in winter, so it was new to me, and it was very peaceful back in the trees. We enjoyed the primate and cat and aquatic building, and afterwards we stopped in a cafe for lunch on the deck (in the shade, though).

We made our way back down the hill to turn around and go back up it to get to the Arctic Exhibit, with wolves and polar bears and seals. It always takes me aback to see how huge polar bears are. The wolf habitat was huge and well wooded, and had good visitor vantage points.

We finished our tour by going through the savanna section of the zoo, seeing lions and giraffes and rhinos and other animals. We managed to see the entire zoo in about six hours, including lunch. It was a fine day and a good break from the work week.

We headed home, where we had supper, but then I took Mer up to Hudson to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. We happened to catch the last couple of songs of a steel drum band that was playing on the new square right outside Cold Stone, so we got to eat ice cream and listen to Caribbean sounds and enjoy a pretty evening.

Yesterday (Thursday) was Mer’s and my fifteenth wedding anniversary. It has been a great time, and I am grateful to have married someone whom I love being around so much. Mer had announced that she had made plans on Thursday evening, and so she took me to Akron, to the grounds of Stan Hywet, to see the Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s production of Cymbeline.

Cymbeline is a rare play for us – a play neither of us had seen or read or really knew anything about. We both decided not to read the play’s synopsis in the playbill, to see if we could follow the play without any background in it. It was a tense first two or three minutes for me at the start of the play – I was not really following what the people on stage were saying about the main characters, who had not come on yet. Happily, once I was able to see the characters, everything snapped into place and I was able to follow the rest of the play with no real issues (Mer was fine after the opening as well, but I really expected that, since she is good with language).

In an amusing twist, the main plot boils down to a foolish and jealous husband making a really stupid love-dare bet with another man that his wife will remain true, even if the second man tries to seduce her. She resists, of course, but the husband is duped into thinking she has cheated on him. Since it is not a tragedy, all works out in the end. Quite the play for a wedding anniversary!

Happy fifteenth anniversary, Meredith! I love you!

I continued to take advantage of Mer’s no-grading summer freedom, and took her on a mini-date yesterday (Wednesday). We headed down to Canton, to the dollar theater, to see Star Trek: Into Darkness. It was a highly entertaining movie, with lots of action and several nods to old Trek fans. I was amazed at the voice of the actor who played Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch); I had heard woman were going nuts over his voice, and I can hear why. The movie was not perfect (the ending mirrored Star Trek 2 a little too much, and some of the action sequences were a bit over the top), but it was still two dollars well spent.