On Saturday, it was Mer’s turn to be in charge, and although the day was spitting rain on and off, she decided (with my backing) to try some new parks. So, we headed north to a Cleveland Metro Park. Cleveland has a long string of continuous parks around the edge of the city, and they are collectively called “The Emerald Necklace” since they sort of look like that on a map. We headed to one of these parks, in the the southeastern part of the “necklace”; the individual park is known as the Bedford Reservation, and it’s comprised of a large main park and a couple of small satellite parks.

We headed to one of the small satellite parks first. We found it first because we stumbled across it because the main road of the town was closed, and we happened across the smaller park while finding our way around an unmarked detour. That was just as well, since we could easily do the entire smaller park in an hour or so. The smaller park, called the Viaduct Park, is a very cool area that used to be a tall railroad overpass over a small river. After the viaduct was built, later engineers channeled the river through a huge tunnel, and filled in the area around the viaduct with fill dirt. The rail lines moved to this new land, and the viaduct eventually became the literal high point of a park that opened about ten years ago.

The park has paved paths, and information boards that explained how this river area used to be used for industry, which included a night-only power plant that powered street lights. There are few remains of the older buildings, but a few foundations still exist, and the tunnels that channeled river water around for power still exist, and the larger one that powered a flour mill can actually be walked though (albeit you have to bend over). The entire park is very pretty, and it has a small but picturesque falls near the old mills. It rained a little bit while we were at the park, but only for a short time, and then the rain went away. It was not even enough to get us wet, so the park tour turned out to be a good idea.

After we had explored the Viaduct Park, we made our way to the much larger main park of Bedford Reservation. The park is huge – we estimated it was about six miles long, before it spilled over into the next Metro Park. It is a beautiful park, with horse trails, paved bike trails, and several picnic areas. We drove through the park to get an overview, and along the way I saw a sign for Bridal Veil Falls. I had heard about these small falls that resemble a bridal veil as they cascade over rocks, but had never been able to find it. I violated a rule about our days, and suggested we stop to see it even though it was Mer’s day (I’m not supposed to make suggestions on Mer’s day, and vice versa). She good-naturedly agreed, and we parked the car and walked into the woods. The falls were about a half mile into the woods, and were a little disappointing since the river was so low. I suspect they are at their best in the spring with the run-off of melting snows. Still, it is a pretty place to walk.

After making our way back to the car, we continued along the road until I saw a sing for a scenic overlook, and I pulled over (I’m really not very good at obeying the Mer’s-day rules). The overlook was situated over the entire river valley, but was mostly covered in by foliage. I expect it is spectacular in the late fall, and I’ll need to try to remember to go back in the fall. We drove a little bit further on, but then Mer wanted us to turn around because we still had a graduation party to go to.

We left the main park, but made a quick detour to another remote park, Forbes Farm. Forbes Farm used to be a working farm, but had gone under for some reason (the park does not explain why), and nature had reclaimed most of the site. There are still a couple of foundations around, and the park has a short (half-mile or so) paved trail that meanders through the trees. It is a pretty spot, and the park looks to be geared toward school-aged children since there are many information placards around the site.

We headed south to the party. It was a fun set-up, with a tent, a big yard, and a bouncy house. We stayed for some time, as several other teachers showed up while we were there, and we had a great time getting caught up with them. The food was excellent, and we had a fun time watching various students play corn hole. It was a good grad party.

We finally headed home, and Mer decided she wanted to watch a movie version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. I had gotten it for her some months ago, and so we settled in to watch it. It was very well done, and I am glad we own it. The only slightly odd bit was that the filmmakers decided to take the main male lead, Prospero, and make it into a woman’s role, Prospera. It worked well, but I did not see any artistic value to the change, so I’m not sure why the change was made (other than that the actress playing Prospera was excellent).

In finishing the weekend, we did also have another graduation party on Sunday; this one was a joint party for two girls, one of whom Meredith had taught, and I actually knew the other one of them fairly well. That always makes a party more fun for me. There was a burrito bar and a sundae bar, and the house overlooked a large pond, and the evening was very nice, so we had a good time. We did not see any other teachers, but we had a long talk with the father of one of the girls, while I ate too much food. I’ve always been a sucker for a sundae bar.