Hiking to Brandywine Falls

My brother, Chris, came to visit us for the long weekend, and we decided to go on a hike. When we first moved here three years ago, I was surprised to learn that Ohio has waterfalls, and I thought it'd be cool to take Chris to see one. For those local to the Cleveland area, we started at the Stanford House, went to the Falls, looped around on the Brandywine Gorge Trail, and then back to the Stanford Trail.

We got off to an adventurous start when I ran over a belt, and the hook got stuck in the tire. I've never learned how to change a tire, so I was glad that Chris was with me. It didn't take too long to get back on the road, and we were able to get the tire patched that afternoon.

The hike was wonderful! The weather was perfect, it was a tad bit challenging with a couple of hills and some stairs, and the falls were pretty. We even saw a couple of deer along the way.

It was about four miles and two hours from beginning to end.

Here's Chris checking out a fallen tree on the way to the falls. About 1.25 miles in, there's a boardwalk & stairs that will take you to the base of the falls:

Posing with the falls behind us:

After leaving the base of the falls, we went up to the lip of the falls, and walked past the Brandywine Inn to the Brandywine Gorge trail, and saw two goats on the way. Both had their heads poking out of the fence. This one was gnawing at some bark:

The trail to the falls was dry - all of the creek beds we saw were dried up. The gorge trail after the falls was along the Brandywine Creek, which was flowing. Chris checking out the creek:

To get back to the Stanford Trail there's a crossing made of quarried stepping stones. The third or fourth one was very slippery and sloping down, and I almost fell off - quite a scare!

It was nice to have some time alone with my brother - it's been a while, and I think we both enjoyed the time! And now I know of another cool place to take visitors. The falls can also be accessed from the top, minus the hiking, which will be a great place to view them with the kids some day.

Cutting shapes

One of Taisim's favorite things to do these days is to cut shapes - almost always using pin paper.

Here are some cut-outs she made of our family. From left to right, me, Yuta, Taisim & Taipan:

Store

The party platform box is also being used as a store counter. Simi likes to set up the cash register on it, put on her apron, be "a worker", and sell us stuff. She's got very good prices, and this picture shows how she would sit in between customers:

My favorite people

A fun picture from last week - not posed. Taipan climed on Yuta's shoulders, and Simi jumped into his lap, so I grabbed the camera.