P3D Re: Ohio vs Washington...

[Ronald Beck <ronald-beck@xxxxxx>]

First, George said...
> This was my first visity to a national park and it was really great.
> My wife asked how often we would be taking trips like that if we were
> living in Seattle.  Not very often, that's for sure.  We tend to take
> our home-town for granted.  I am sure there are very nice areas around
> Cleveland and in Ohio.  Something to explore during the weekends...

Then, Paul said...
> Yes, I hear Cleveland usually nips out the Pacific Northwest in most
> surveys on scenic beauty!  ;)  ;)  ;)  ;)
> 

Now, Ron is about to say...

Living in the Cleveland area as I did for the first 23 or so years of my
life, I can tell you that there were some BEAUTIFUL parks in the area. 
I'm, of course, assuming that the majority of them are still there. 
There was a trail called the "Emerald Necklace" which was numerous parks
connected by hiking trails.  Seems to me you could purchase a hiking
staff and have decals or some type of applique for each park you visit.

My fondest memory of that area was the one park we'd frequent for
afternoon picnics.  The area had a small stream that the road ran
through.  We'd always kick our shoes off and play in the water and swing
on the swings while mom cooked up the hotdogs.  Sure wish I had some 3D
pictures of that area.  Sure wish I could find Tim Klein again as he had
a slide of a similar area (the only realist slide he owned BTW).  Sun
filtering down through the trees, dew on the leaves, water flowing in
the creek, etc...

Then, a mere four hour drive south you get into the foothills of the
Applachian mountains and, for me, more memories of Ohio University and
camping with my roommates out there.  Again, I wish I had some knowledge
of 3D photography the year we had "snow rolls" all over the place.  It
had snowed a couple of days before, then got a bit warm, then cooled off
which crusted the snow over.  Then it started to get windy which lifted
the crusted snow and curled it over into rolls about twice the size of
donuts.  An amazing site!  I remember one photo I took looking through
one of the rolls into a field full of the things.  If I could only find
that slide today I'd do a 2D-3D conversion just to see what it'd look
like.

And don't forget the wonderful colors and structures of Cedar Point
Amusement Park and all the 3D photo opportunities it offers.  Working
there for five summers certainly would have given me many 3D photo
opportunities, many the normal tourist wouldn't have.  Had I only known
back then.  My photos of the 1977 tornado that took out part of Frontier
Town would have been much more spectacular!

Anyway, sometimes I really miss Ohio.  Then I remember how I felt
shovelling snow up in Twinsburg (3-5 of snow annually) and feel quite
content here in Texas, even if we have had many many days of 100+
weather lately.  So, don't sell the beauty of Ohio short.  There's a lot
of neat areas.  Even my grandfather's 1950 slides of Great Grandma
Masar's cottage and the Cuyahoga river still look good today.

Ron


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