Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio is known to theme park enthusiasts as the Holy Grail of Amusement Parks and literally the World’s Best Amusement Park. Now that my 8-year old is finally tall enough to ride all of the rollercoasters, we turned the 6-hour drive into a 2 day, 2 night Labor Day weekend trip and made pit stops at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
“Life is like an amusement park. You have only a limited time to enjoy, so play all the rides before the time ends.”
Divya Manikumar
I have to be sure to mention the delicious and unique breakfast spot we found in Sandusky, Ohio at Wake Up and Waffle. We are still talking about their orange creamsicle milk and waffles. I regret nothing.
The goal of Day One in Cedar Point was to ride as many roller coasters from the park’s opening until it closed. We conquered eight of the craziest, most intense rollercoasters I’ve ever been on! Millennium Force stands 310 feet high and screams along at 93 miles per hour over more than a mile of track. It’s considered a giga-coaster, or a coaster that climbs skyscraper-like hills and then dives toward the ground at a high rate of speed. I am surprised that I am living to tell about it.
The newest coaster at Cedar Point is Steel Vengeance which opened as an unmatched world-record breaker at 205 feet tall, 74 miles per hour, longest hybrid coaster in the world at 5,740 feet and almost 30 seconds of airtime – the most airtime on any roller coaster in the world. It was amazing but my favorite was the Magnum XL, and the view of Lake Erie is spectacular and on a clear day, you can see Canada. What can I say, I am sucker for a beautiful view.
We stayed another night in Sandusky and made our way back home. There are two choices to break up the ride Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame or Canton’s National Football Hall of Fame. My 8-year old chose the Rock Hall and it was a good choice. My favorite part was the displays grouped by city. The Seattle Sound exhibit was even more interesting having been there earlier this year. I left with a new appreciation for Cleveland – it’s charming!
Cuyahoga Valley National Park is about a 20-minute detour from Cleveland to Maryland so we decided to check it out despite the heavy rain that day. We were a bit confused because it’s unlike any other National Park we’ve been to – there’s no grand entrance (it’s free to enter), and there’s no monumental focal point, but learning about the history of the area was fascinating. It’s probably the best ecological success story in the U.S. The area was known for its air and river pollution until efforts were put in place to clean the river. As of 2021, the Cuyahoga River was removed from the lists of environmental areas of concern. It is a reminder that conscientious efforts can help foster renewal and ecological health.
Until next time, Ohio!
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