Hiking. Pregnant.

Not to self: if you're going to go find a waterfall in the middle of a national forest while pregnant, take note of the difficulty of the trail  before you're halfway down the trail. 

Not one of our finer moments, but when you plug directions into your iPhone and it tells you the only way to the trail is to "park your car and walk 1 mile to trailhead," and it's all you can get before you totally lose all reception, well, that's what you do. 

So, out we went. One and a half miles into the hike, Mike pauses and asks me "Did you know this hike is rated difficult/challenging?"

Um, no. If I did, I wouldn't be standing here in my flip flops. "Where did you read that?"

"It was posted on the little map at the trailhead. It also said there was a road we could've driven to get to the falls instead of  hiking. Or we could've stopped at this rest site with the car and then walked instead."

Silence.

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" I puffed. (if you've had pregnancy exhaustion, and can appreciate that I honestly only go legit hiking every couple months and rarely in 95+ degrees, you can probably understand that my face looked something like a mix between Violet Beauregarde and a beefsteak tomato).

"I'm sorry... I thought you knew."

Nope.

But on we went. I wasn't about to stop now, I already felt like I was going to die, and turning around and just hiking right back up the cliffs would be a thousand times worse. So, 4 miles later, I was very ready to head back to the pool. And probably just spend the night on my floatie there with an oxygen mask on, too.

The almost 70 foot high Brandywine Falls was beautiful, though, and well worth the hike. I highly recommend a visit to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park if you ever happen upon Ohio, though as Mike and I both observed it very much so resembles the forests of Wisconsin (however the campsites are MUCH more secluded). Mike of course jumped the railing to climb down to the base of the falls, after literally forbidding me to go because of the steep climb and moss-covered ledges (probably a good idea for the pregnant gal, in hindsight). I was very jealous, but it proved for a great picture. And he got to cool off in the cold water of the falls. Again, jealous.

We also went to The Arcade (the oldest mall in America, built in the 1880s) which was absolutely stunning. The intricate detailing of the mall was impressive. At the time of its development, the building of the Arcade in the 1880s cost $875,000! That's a lot even today, so that gives you an idea of how rich this mall really was. We also took a quick walk down the strip to the Fountain of Everlasting Life, a 35 foot high memorial to veterans who lost their lives in war. We also went to Lakeview Cemetery to see the historical masonry of the gravestones there, and the intricate tomb of President Garfield- the only presidential tomb open to the public. Again, beautiful. Something interesting to us both, was the similarity of Cleveland to Milwaukee. The cities are so strikingly similar in their architecture and placement- both on a Great Lake, both within a half hour to a massive forest/reservation, both with the same types of buildings and look downtown, both dotted with the markings of a nearby Big Ten university. And both surrounded by farmland. Mike and I both agree- of all the states we've been to so far, Ohio seems to be the most like Wisconsin (but it's no where near as awesome, obviously).