A tale of two cities – Kent and Akron. On Friday, Mer and I headed over to Kent, where the Kent “Around Town Folk Festival” was happening. The Around Town Folk Festival is the new name for what was the Kent State Folk Festival, now that the festival is held all over Kent rather than just over at the university. We went there to see our friends’ band, Bethesda. Bethesda has an alternative-folk sound that varies from very folk to alternative rock. They are quite good, and the lead singer, Shanna, has one of most remarkable voices I have ever heard.

Before we headed over to the music, we did swing by Insomnia Cookies, to pick up warm peanut butter cup cookies, which we ate at the concert. Those are remarkable cookies.

On the way to the venue, which was in Acorn Alley in the spiffy new part of Kent, we ran into a couple that used to go to our church. We had met them years ago at the Kent Folk Festival, so it was fitting to run into them again. They were planning on checking out Bethesda, and so they went with us to see the concert, and they stayed for about half of it. Mer and I stayed for the whole two-hour concert, which included three songs by Alan Brooks, another colleague at CVCA. The concert was great – Bethesda had a ton of energy and sounded really good, considering they were more or less playing in a brick cave. My only complaint was that the “cave” was stuffy and humid, so it was hot for us and must have been almost oppressive for the band.

Saturday was Mer’s day, and she took us to Akron, to see the Akron Art Prize. One of Mer’s former students had a piece on display in the festival, so we wanted to go see it and vote for it. Mer thought it would be in one gallery and we would be done pretty quickly. It turns out that the festival takes place in four galleries and had over a hundred artists involved. We did see them all, and since we walked from gallery to gallery, we discovered a new area of Akron on the far side of the Martin Luther King highway – a small block of a couple of restaurants and two galleries which worked in metals and glass – very cool.

We got to vote for ten artists,which was harder to do than I thought it would be – there were some pretty cool works. The Akron Art Prize was a great surprise, and I hope to do it again next year.

After Akron, we went home and ate before heading down to North Canton to the North Canton Playhouse to see their production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Mer and I had seen Desire in Florida many years ago, and I had forgotten much of the play. It was well acted, especially by the man playing Stanley, but what a depressing play – there is no one that I feel completely behind. This led to an interesting discussion with Mer on the way home – we talked about why a morally void play like Desire is art. We came to the conclusion that it is masterfully written, and that makes it worth doing even if you can’t pull for any of the characters in the play. It was thought-provoking.

A concert, four galleries, and a play in three cities. Who says we are not cosmopolitan?

Saturday was “my” day, and it was a pretty day, so I wanted to go hiking. I also thought eating in Amish country would be grand, so I looked for hikes in that area, and I landed on Mohican State Park near Loudonville. I had heard of the park before (they have a multi-day music festival there), but I had never been. I decided to correct that.

Mohican is about an hour and a half away, but the GPS took us along a bunch of pretty back roads, which had the advantage of confusing Mer as to where we were actually going. We got to the state park and started at the camp store because it was the first place I found, I thought there would be an admission charge to the park (there was not), and we bought a couple of candy bars to tide us over until supper. The camp store was, not surprisingly, near the campground of the park, while the hiking paths were a couple of miles off, so we drove there. It was “Smokey the Bear” Saturday in the park, so there were fire trucks, including sirens, on the campground side, so I was not too sad to leave those behind.

We stopped first at the “Gorge Overlook,” which gave a good view of the Mohican Valley. It was not dramatic in a cliff sort of way, but it was worth a stop. There are no trails at the overlook, so we got back in the car and proceeded to the smaller campground.

We got to a smaller campground that was near a modern covered bridge, and was near several hiking trails. I picked one that wandered along a branch of the Mohican River. The trail was pretty primitive and in rough shape in many places. It was pretty to be right next to the river, which is very shallow and rapid in places, but we were finally forced to turn around when we got about halfway to the bigger campground; there were several tress down across the trail, and it was not so pretty as to make it worth scrambling over them just to get back to the main camping area. Oddly, on the way back to the smaller campground, we ran into two guys, one of whom was wearing a CVCA shirt. He graduated in the 90s, but his younger brother was at CVCA during my first year or two. Small world.

Once we got back to the car, we crossed the covered bridge, as I would have to – it’s a covered bridge! On the other side was a trail called Lyons Falls Trail. Well, that settled it, especially when I found out there were two falls – Big Lyons Falls and Little Lyons Falls. We struck off on the longer trail that would get to Big Lyons Falls first. Along the way, we passed a bunch of Spanish speakers, including a nun in full habit. We figured that if she could hike this trail in a habit, we could manage.

Big Lyons Falls was interesting. As a falls, it was very small, being just a trickle that ran over a large cliff and onto the trail we were on. The real sight was the cliff itself, which was in the shape of a C, which made it seem bigger as it enclosed the trail on three sides, and gave it good echo acoustics. There was a long stairway (up, of course) away from the falls that took us to the Little Lyons Falls, which were also interesting. The little falls were an even smaller trickle of water, but it plunged into a small gorge, into which Mer and I climbed partway down until we both thought it safer to go back. Mer was a game soul.

The Lyons Falls path took us up to Pleasant Hill Lake, an artificial lake that was dammed by an earth dam on one end. There was a small overflow outlet that accounted for the branch of the Mohican River along which we had been hiking. We wandered around the dam area, and then went down the steep hill on the other side, pausing to be amused by two teens rolling down the hill for the fun of it. We took a path back to the smaller campground, and along the way heard a group of Christians across the river singing songs. The acoustics of the valley were such that you could hear them for a long time after we passed them.

 It was late afternoon when we got back to the car, so we decided to go find a restaurant. I used the GPS to find a restaurant with the word “Amish” in it, so we ended up at Mrs. Yoder’s Kitchen. We had been there once before a few years ago. The food was pretty good, although we skipped the buffet – it looked a little smaller than some we had seen in Amish country, and I did not really need to eat multiple servings. We did skip dessert since I wanted to stop at the Amish Door on the way home to get whoopie pies. Sadly, the GPS sent us way out of the way for some reason, but we eventually found our way when Mer remembered the name of the town in which the Amish Door is located. We got there about ten minutes before they closed, so the dessert day was saved. We got dessert to go and headed home. I liked Mohican, especially the Lyosn Falls Trail, but I’m not sure it demands a quick re-visit.

Last Saturday was Mer’s day, but she did not have any plans until the afternoon, so it gave me time to run a twenty-mile run with Nate, which is the last long run until the Akron Marathon on the 28th. Of course, one of the kitties had played with my Nike+ receiver that keeps track of my running distances and speeds, so the long run went unrecorded; happily, I found the receiver the next day, ironically under my treadmill.

In the early afternoon, we headed up to Cleveland, to the area around the Cedar Lee Theater, to see Mer’s friend and former classmate Jill. We had a grand visit with Jill in her apartment, talking about music (mostly Over the Rhine) and eating french fries from the shop downstairs from the apartment. Later in the afternoon the three of us went over to the Case Western area to check out MOCA – the Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum itself is worth seeing – it is a funky building with lots of angles and glass. I’m not much of a modern art appreciator, although I do like some of it on occasion. Most of the art in MOCA was very abstract and did not excite me too much. I liked a small building made out of found and rescued stained glass, and I liked some sheets of colored paper that had been exposed to the sun, one day at a time, to form a sun-faded calendar. One hallway was “painted” in different colored lights with music playing that had that color in the title of the song, and that was fun. It was good to see another museum in Cleveland, and we went on a free-admission day, and the museum is easily toured in ninety minutes since it is only three small floors.

After a brief swing back to Jill’s apartment, we headed over to Shaker Square to meet up with Jill’s family to go to the Shaker Square Garlic Festival. The festival is two blocks long and celebrates garlic. The food we tried was excellent, and we saw the entire festival in about an hour. It was very enjoyable, and great weather for it. The only downside was admission – it was $8 each and that just got you into the festival – food was extra. I’m glad to have done it once, but $16 is too much for two people to then pay even more for expensive food.

As if the french fries and garlic festival were not enough, we headed over to Little Italy to meet up with one of Jill’s friends, also named Jill. Jill-2 lives right on the edge of Little Italy, so we walked there from her place. We went to Mama Santa’s restaurant, which is known for pizza, so of course I got pasta. The pizza that Mer and Jill-1 got looked really good, so I will get pizza next time. After supper, Mer and I picked up too many deserts from an Italian bakery, which we took home with us and ate back home. First, we walked back to Jill-2’s place, and then took Jill-1 back home before heading home ourselves. We did not quite eat our way through Cleveland, but we managed three distinct areas.

Saturday was my day, and I’m happy to say we did not do too much. We headed down to Hartville, to the Hartville Kitchen, where we picked up a wedding gift that Mer had ordered two months ago (the order was delayed several times for various reasons), and of course we ate in the Kitchen itself. They have pretty amazing food, and it is all comfort food.

We went home, where we both took really long naps. We followed that up by my renting the superhero cartoons Justice League:  Doom and Batman:  The Mystery of Batwoman. Neither was amazing, but both were entertaining. Doom was more serious and for an older audience, but Batwoman was based on the classic Batman:  The Animated Series. I enjoyed them both.

That was the sum of the events of the day. Sometimes lazy days are pretty great.

Sometimes puttering during the week has serious aspects. I worked with John Schwarz at CVCA for ten years. He died last week from cancer at the age of eighty-five, and his calling hours were on Tuesday. It was a sad occasion with some happy aspects. I will miss John, of course, but it was good to see former students who showed up to pay their respects. John was a brilliant man, and we talked pretty often. The greatest advice he ever gave me was to tell me that my body must age, but that I did not have to get old. John disliked old people, and he never became one, always creating and reading and living.

On Wednesday, Zach and Londa came over, and we had supper together while watching a BBC show called The Power of Art, this episode being on the life and art of Rothko. Zach is a Rothko fan, so I wanted him to see it. Unfortunately, Mer was at the hospital with her dad, who had an urgent but non-life-threatening medical issue, so she missed the evening, not getting home until almost 10:00. I had Mer’s assurance that I could stay home, and I had a good time with Zach and Londa.

On Thursday, we headed down to North Canton to visit with Aunt Mary. She took us to a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant called Mama Guzzardi’s. The food was great, and it was a cozy place inside. We did not get to visit long after supper, but I enjoyed the time we did get to spend together. These are the ways to live a life.

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.