4 November 2018 Fall Walk in ENWR

We stopped at Erie National Wildlife Refuge to walk the dogs and once again look for a cache we missed finding during a visit for the spring refuge litter clean-up.  The fall colors were mostly gone with yellow still dominating the remaining color.

The cache is at this bridge.  The result was the same as the cache remains unfound.

Lizzie is ready to move on.

3 November 2018 Hiking ASP

We came for the caches and enjoyed the fall colors.

Oxalis leaves interspersed with a fern in a tree at the park.

Recent rains made the streams attractive with heavy flow.  They also made us re-think a cache hidden in a previous area where Phin and I had ventured across in deep, fast water last year.

24 October 2018 Dishman Hills

Early sunsets in late October make it tough to enjoy even a short hike, but this evening I was able to leave the office in time for a visit to Dihman Hills.  The trail was grand.

After my hike I remembered spotting an old Lark sitting on Sprague Road with a for sale sign.  I'm not looking for any old car to buy, but I'm always interested in looking.

It was a weird stop as some guy also came by while I was there.  He was looking at the car and telling me of having one this color in his youth.  He appeared to be looking for specific things with the car to see if this might have been his.  Who knows?  It was fun talking about a unique, old car.  I hope it found a home.

23 October 2018 Spokane River Walk

Late October in Spokane gives little opportunity for after work exercise.  I had just enough time after leaving the office to visit the Spokane River for a short walk.  There are pleasing views and some river access along this stretch of trail so it made for a pleasant, if short walk.

Spokane's vegetation doesn't offer much fall color.  Some of the best is seen along the Spokane River.  Besides the views and some exercise, I was able to hunt for a geocache I had missed finding on a couple prior walks.  Tonight it was a quick find.

The walk was only about twenty minutes, but the light change from out and back was very noticeable.

21 October 2018 Bluffs Park

At first look, Bluffs Park in Spokane can be intimidating.

Once the trails are reached, they are a little narrow in the steep areas and walking tends to always be at an angle, but easy to navigate.

The trails also flatten out as they pass through a ravine.

Then there's always the walk up and out.  It was the perfect place to walk on a fall day with an early sunset.  I left plenty of unfound caches for another visit (or two).

20 October 2018 Brecksville Reservation

I had an early Sunday flight west to Washington so we were staying near home.  It started as a fine fall  day to spend in the park so we headed to Cleveland Metroparks' Brecksville Reservation for a walk.  We hadn't been on the trail long before the weather turned.  We spent a good portion of our walk in the rain.  It was still good to be together before I had to leave.

16 October 2018 Moebis Nature Preserve

With a perfect fall day and the new old rims installed on the Miata, it was time for a lunchtime walk. Before heading off for a walk, I took a few images of the Miata.  The rims look great to me.  The tires are a little taller profile than those that came off the car.  The car rides a little more sedately with the touring tires, but the handling seems to be on par.

The fall walk was all I expected.

Someone lost a fishing lure.

A white throated sparrow

The woods called to me.  It was a super walk.

14 October 2018 New, Old Wheels

The steelies on our Miata were starting to look  a little tired.  The trim rings are still perfect, but the steel wheels are showing age.  I had two options to freshen up baby.  Have the steel wheels reworked and powder-coated or switch to alloys.

I was contemplating black powder coat to update the look.  Ali wanted silver.  Adding alloys to Miata has always been a thought.  With a Miata, there are few choices for alloys which are light enough to not change the handling of the stock car.  There were also few alloy rims with smaller profile tires.  I held off and procrastinated until I finally got the brilliant idea of looking on Craigslist.  There were three options available from different generation Miatas including a pair of first generation daisy wheels.  These weren't offered when we purchased our Miata, but gave an interesting option of updating the look.  We were off to Canton to look....

The wheels were great and soon in the back of the sport ute.  A quick look at the gps said there was a park nearby with caches.  We were off for a walk.  It's a relatively new neighborhood park.  We enjoyed a loop around and a couple cache finds.

After the park walk, we stopped for a visit at Stark Park's Esmont park.  We were hoping to spot a few ducks on the stream, but the water was quiet today.

We returned home, and I transferred the new (old) wheels to the Miata.  The dogs were restless so we were off for one last park walk at Metzenbaum.

12 October 2018 '57 Chevy Police Car

I stopped in Chagrin Falls to visit Fireside Book Shop.  My parking spot was just across from police headquarters and the force's '57 Chevy was parked outside.  I don't think this is a vintage police car or ever saw duty as one, but it is a fun take on a '57 Chevy.  It is available for expensive tours of the Village.  These rides make the Mayberry Police Car rides an easy bargain.

9 October 2018 Lunchtime Waterfowl

I was back the the office and decided to visit Sunny Lake Park for an afternoon walk.  Before leaving, I stopped to see the ducks at the office pond.

Sunny Lake was lacking the usual waterfowl but was hosting five immature coots.

Days are getting cooler and shorter.

6 October 2018 Caching Indiana (PA)

We were starting our return home with a visit to Indiana County.  Our day started with a visit to the quiet Pine Ridge Park.  Unfortunately as we arrived so did the rain.  We found a place to park and wait knowing big rain storms tend to pass quickly.  Our patience was rewarded with sunshine and good trails to visit.

We hoped to do a loop in the park, but eventually ran into a newly cut gas road.  Wet heavy clay from  gas road activities can ruin a day and a vehicle's interior so we did an up and down.  On the way up we headed for a cache on the other side of Tom's Run.  The cache was a low terrain hide so we assumed the heavy flow in Tom's Run was from the recent downpour.

We decided to pass on the swift crossing and stayed with the quiet woods walk.

Crossing the muddy pipeline road was not in the plan.

On the way down we stopped to see if Tom's Run was any less roaring.  It had instead gained even more flow from the rain run-off.  The earlier clear water was now a murky brown from the lousy erosion prevention work done by the pipeline company.  😠  Run-off control isn't exactly a difficult process.

We enjoyed Pine Ridge Park.  It is a relatively new addition and a fun place to visit.  Our second stop was at Yellow Creek State Park.  I had visited the park ten years prior, but it was our first visit together.  We made and easy find near a pond by the park headquarters.

I picked up a hitchhiker.

The rain once again started heavily as we were walking to a cache at a bird blind in the park.  The bird blind was one of the nicer designs I have seen and worth a walk in the rain.  It would have been even better had there been any passing waterfowl to watch.  The water was quiet during our visit.

We made a last stop in the college town of Indiana, Pennsylvania and made a rare visit to a webcam before closing our day with a multi cache.