We packed up from the Erie, PA area and drove about 4 hours to a small town south of Cleveland, Oh. The 150 mile drive was good except for the usual summer road construction underway. The drive from the interstate 271/71 around Cleveland was on a few small state or county roads, but they were all big-rig accessible. My Garmin RV GPS did not like the small roads as it kept trying to divert me to other routes, but I used the campground recommended roads after checking them on my trucker’s atlas.
The Pier-Lon campground is located out in the country from Medina, about 20 minutes from town. It is a family oriented campground founded in 1969 featuring a 5-acre lake with swimming and fishing, along with several other activities. Many of the campsites are devoted to a summer home for many RVers, but they retain maybe 20 spaces for daily or weekly rentals. We stayed here for 11 nights.
Medina Ohio is the home to my brother-in-law (Tom) and his family, so that was the main purpose for our stay in this area. Tom and Ginny were very gracious hosts and opened their home to us as well as being first class tour guides to the region. After a few trips to neighboring Cleveland it erased most all of my preconceived negative images of the city. While it does have some of the large city traffic and some winter weather issues, it hosts a vast amount of things to do and see. In fact, we packed so much into these 11 days that I will need to segment this blog update into three separate posts to accommodate the many photos.
Here is part 1 of our Northern Ohio adventure!
Downtown Medina Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings. The town has a beautiful tree-lined town square featuring a gazebo in the center. A very friendly atmosphere.They even had several food vendors at the farmer’s market.Many old historic buildings line all four sides of the town square. The buildings have all been very nicely preserved including this 1878 fire house, which now houses a town museum.Cool car parked along the square.They even provide a free concert in the park, featuring a local music school performances. They were very good for their age group!Pat and Ginny enjoying the beautiful day. We also made a weekend trip to a local Canton, Ohio winery – Gervasi Vineyards. We have been to many wineries, but this one blows the others away. It is a destination into itself with high end lodging, a restaurant, walking trails around a lake, and a gift shop to buy the logo shirt or wine glass.Gervasi Vineyards lake. This place hosts many weddings and special events and was having a wedding party while we were there.Pat and myself by the Gervasi Lake sampling some of the product for evaluation purposes only.Tom and Ginny also in this picturesque spot.After about an hour wait, we took our outdoor table located in the garden. Some great conversation and dinner with family (Ashlee, Travis, Ginny, Tom, me, and Trish
Gervasi outdoor diningWhile staying in Medina we had the pleasure of a visit from our son Ross. He flew his club Cessna from Virginia to the Medina airport. The small spec to the end of runway is his approach to landing.About to landSafely on the ground. Ross flies this powered aircraft and also is rated to fly a glider plane. He enjoys the Virginia ridges that provide the thermal lift the glider planes need to maintain or gain altitude after being cut loose from the tow plane.The cockpit in the CessnaAfter a brief 24 hour visit, Ross re-fueled the 4-seater for his 2.5 hour flight back to Blacksburg, VA.Ross performing the safety checklist since Dad was watching.Saying our goodbye after a great time with Ross in Ohio.Using an app suggested by Justin (Tom’s son), I was able to track Ross’s trip back to Blacksburg. The app provide the path as well as speed and altitude. I made sure he did get speed anything over 150 mph!While in Medina, we attended Tom, Ginny, and Justin’s church where Tom plays his guitar in the worship band. They sounded great! It is great to listen to God’s Word being preached at all the different congregations that we are blessed to visit in our RV travels.
We are currently in Lafayette, Indiana seeing the sights and visiting family. More from our Medina trip will be posted tomorrow, I hope, but now a long bike ride on the super bike paths in the Prophetstown State Park.
Have a great day!
2 Replies to “Medina OH; Pier-Lon Park & Family Visit – Part 1”
That’s fantastic! Love that you are enjoying family, food, sights and sampling! Thanks for sharing your epic journey!
That’s fantastic! Love that you are enjoying family, food, sights and sampling! Thanks for sharing your epic journey!
Thanks Laura! The time spent with family has been very special indeed.