There is something nostalgic and comforting about waking up surrounded by baby Christmas trees. The sun’s golden light was just beginning to peek through the trees, bathing them in a gentle mint green color. The campsite was quiet as Joseph and I packed up our car and headed to our first stop of the day.
Cuyahoga Valley was established as a national recreation area in 1974 – this land was protected to give residents of Ohio the opportunity to enjoy nature and outdoor recreation, even in such a short distance to nearby cities. In 2000, the park was re-designated as a national park.
We decided to hike the Ledges Trail and Pine Grove Trail Loop. As the hike began, I found myself wondering what was so exciting about this highly rated trail. It had been rated as moderately challenging, but there was less than 300 feet of elevation, and all we could see were the expected trees that adorn the edges of most trails.
I became very excited when we came across a patch of little mushrooms in a row. With them being all different shapes and colors, it looked like a little fairy village. It was at this point, as I watched the mushrooms glisten in the sun’s light, that I told Joseph about what I had recently learned about glimmers.
Glimmers are the small things in life that bring you joy. Working in holistic health, we talk a lot about triggers – the things in life that bring up trauma or difficult feelings. Triggers are often unexpected, but by working with a licensed therapist, you can begin working on identifying, dealing with and, when possible, avoiding triggers. Glimmers are the exact opposite. Like triggers, we can track them and identify the things that bring us joy, and this can increase mindfulness in the moment as we notice them, or we can purposefully bring more glimmers into our daily lives. For me, on a trail that looked like something I probably could have walked close to my own home, these little mushrooms brightened my entire morning.
Shortly after this, we finally stumbled upon what was actually supposed to make this trail special. Tall, stone ledges stretched above our heads, forming valleys and caves that, when we traversed inside, were wet and chilly. We found ancient carvings in the rock and wondered how long these formations had been here and how many people had walked through them. According to the National Park Service website, these geologic formations were part of the Sharon Conglomerate, which is made of sandstone and expands into Pennsylvania and Maryland. It was formed millions of years ago.
After our hike, we jumped back into the car and drove to the West Side Market in Cleveland. The city was bright and clean, a surprise to me after having walked through many cities that were the exact opposite. The West Side Market included an open-air market with fresh produce, and an enclosed space filled with butchers selling meat and cheese, a smelly fish market, and glass cases filled with mouthwatering pastries.
There was not much of a selection of ready-to-eat food, so out of necessity, Joseph and I got in line at a stand where we could buy coffee from City Roast Coffee and Tea and crepes from Crêpes de Luxe. We ordered our usual latte and americano, and then I ordered a crepe filled with fresh spinach, egg and cheese, and Joseph ordered his first crepe ever, filled with an assortment of meats and cheeses. We watched as the crepes were made in front of us, cooked on a steaming hot plate.
We were handed our crepes wrapped in paper and placed in cardboard cones that still felt too hot to hold. With our food in one hand and coffee in the other, we walked up the stairs to a narrow platform with a bench that overlooked the bustling market below. We bit into our crepes and each gave a resounding, satisfied sound of approval. It was the most delicious crepe I have ever tasted. The crepe itself was light and fluffy, and the flavors inside were perfectly balanced – the earthiness of the spinach delicately interplayed with the salty egg and creamy cheese. We didn’t even mind the scalding butter running down our hands as we savored every bite.
Before returning to our car, we stopped at another stand to try Ohio’s famous treat – buckeyes. Buckeyes are balls made of peanut butter and sugar and dipped into chocolate, creating something reminiscent of a Reese’s cup but with at least four times the amount of peanut butter. Joseph surprised me by stating he had never tried a buckeye either! I had never had an authentic one from Ohio, but I had made them homemade many Christmases ago. The two of us sat on a bench outside the market to enjoy.
Immediately upon biting down, I felt a rush of sugar to my head. The peanut butter was thick and overpowering, laden with literal chunks of white sugar. The chocolate melted beautifully against my tongue. I took a sip of coffee and savored the the bitter taste that felt quite needed after such a sweet bite. Joseph enjoyed the treat, although he mentioned dark chocolate would have been a better choice, which I had to agree with – a little bitter to counteract all that sweet would have been a much more balanced bite.
Now practically buzzing from caffeine and sugar, we forced ourselves back into the car and drove farther north to Huron. We parked at a beach alongside Lake Erie, where, despite the gray clouds above, families gathered in the warm sand and children splashed in the shallow water. The two of us walked down to the end of the wooden boardwalk, where a long row of rocks and choppy waters separated us from the Huron Lighthouse. Before us stood a sign detailing the history of the site and a tower viewer to look more closely at the lighthouse.
The base of the white lighthouse was cube shaped. It then angled upward, like the roof of a house, and from the top sprouted a tall, rectangular tower, like a very tall chimney. The current Huron Lighthouse was actually the third one made. The first one was destroyed by a storm, and the second one had to be replaced when the pier was extended. The current lighthouse was constructed in 1939, and it was one of the first lighthouses in Lake Erie to provide an electrically powered beacon, which can be seen for over twelve miles. From our vantage point through the tower viewer, we watched as seagulls flew around the tall tower and rested on top.
I was still riding my sugar high, but Joseph, it seemed, had crashed during the drive, so we stopped for an ice cream cone before getting back in our car and driving to D&D Smith Winery, a small winery run by a family of four and located in an unassuming house right off the road. When we arrived, there were many jovial customers gathered inside for a local wine competition, for which many had brought their own homemade wines for customers to taste and rate.
The tasting process was unlike any I had before. We were given a tray with a dry erase sheet and a marker. On the sheet were over thirty circles, and written inside each was a different kind of wine. We marked the ones we wanted to try, and then little cups filled one-ounce servings of the wine indicated were placed on top of each circle. Joseph and I sat at a picnic table outside to sample our wine.
One thing I learned about Ohio wines is that they are sweeter than the average wine. At first, I thought maybe it was just my taste, or this particular winery, but upon further research, I found this was actually true. Ohio uses a variety of hybrid, non-vinifera grapes that tend to create sweeter tasting wines, and many wines are also made with a blend of grapes and other fruits and extracts. Lastly, because of the grapes used and whatever distillation process is favored, there is more residual sugar in Ohio wines than the average wine on the market, which means even the wines marketed as “dry” or “medium bodied” are sweeter than their average counterparts.
Sweet wines are not normally my cup of tea (or “glass of wine” – get it? Okay, never mind, moving on). However, I still enjoyed tasting all the different flavors and trying some I normally would not buy. The Blissful Ignorance was exactly as it was described – a crisp, medium-bodied white wine with fruity tones. The Cabernet Sauvignon was also good – not the best cabernet I have ever had (although, a cab enjoyed in the Dutch town of Solvang in the middle of California is hard to beat), but it was thick on my tongue and had a delightful flavor. The 401 W, a dry blend of red wines, was also decent. The Strawberry quite literally brought a smile to my face – it tasted just like the strawberry jam of my childhood. I had to fight off the urge to make a peanut butter sandwich and dip it right into the cup. The This n’ That, an award-winning wine, was unfortunately not my favorite – to me, it tasted very much like grape medicine. But, I have to admit, my parents force fed me grape medicine as a child, and now I have an aversion to anything that tastes remotely grape-flavored besides literal grapes. Our final taste of He Said She Said, a raspberry/blackberry wine, reminded me of one of my favorite wines served at the Renaissance Festival and made me all too excited for the coming fall season.
The afternoon was slowly fading into evening, and we still had a long drive ahead of us. We bought a bottle of wine and some charcuterie to go and hopped back into our car to drive to our campsite in Indiana. As we drove, we listened to an audiobook on tape (one of my favorites – 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult) and watched as the sky darkened ominously around us and then went back to sunlight as we crawled our way through a tornado watch. We held hands and chatted, and I was reminded of our first road trip to Colorado, newly engaged, hours spent in the car, filled with excitement and love.
I took note as we drove to how late the sun remained in the sky. We were getting close to a time zone line – tomorrow, it would be an hour earlier in Central Time. But even as 9:00 approached, golden light still spilled across the fields of tall grass and crops. Swarms of birds sat on power lines that bobbed across the landscape and disappeared into the blushing sky beyond. Fluffy, cotton candy pink clouds floated lazily above us as we drove on empty roads. I began counting to see just how many cars we passed, and I was amazed by just how few were out. Despite the late hour, I could not imagine any time of day in Maryland when I would ever be on the road alone for so long. Life seemed to pass by a little slower and taste a little sweeter out here.
The world faded to a gentle peach haze as the sun dipped away. I smiled at the beauty around me, and one word came back to my mind: Glimmers.
It’s quite easy to find glimmers on vacation or on a lazy weekend day. It gets much harder when life is filled with challenges and, well, triggers. But glimmers can be as simple as watching the setting sun, enjoying your favorite book, or holding a loved one’s hand. It can be the taste of your favorite food, or even seeing something seemingly ordinary in a new way. This evening, for me, it was the beauty of the setting sun; the glint in Joseph’s eye when I know he, too, was savoring the moment; and his hand wrapped around mine.
There are glimmers everywhere to find, from tiny mushrooms to baby Christmas trees to big open skies. All we have to do is look for them.
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