Squirrel Sunday.....Ohio version

Move over "Star"......I'm in love with a little red squirrel! He's so cute, he looks like a chipmunk!

When I headed to Ohio, I was hoping to get over to Kent and let Tom a.k.a. The Fishing Guy show me Black Squirrels. But alas, we did not get that far. However, while in Springfield at Mike's brother's house, we saw this adorable little guy.
He was across the street playing with a sibling when I spotted him.

I went outside to take photos and he must have heard how much I like squirrels because he scampered across the street and up into a Blue Spruce tree that I was standing right next to!

This is dark, but I like it anyway :-)

I've never seen a Red Squirrel before, so this was new to me. They have white squirrels in the neighborhood, too, but the only one I saw took off very quickly.....but that is OK. I like this little Red Squirrel much better.

He is so pretty with that red tail and that circle around his eye.

He was so friendly I thought I might try hand feeding him, but when I went in to get something, he took off. I guess he was more afraid of me than I thought :-) I hope "the Star" doesn't find out that this little squirrel is on my computer desktop right now.

Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills.....

Cedar Falls is a beautiful place and I took a lot of photos. I will post the falls first for those who don't want to look at all the rocks and plants that we passed on the way to it :-) If you like details....here is a sign all about the falls.
First glimpse of the falls through the trees.

The falls up close. I love the way it splits and then comes back together. It was a very peaceful, tranquil falls and the whole area is beautiful.

Above the split

Flowing around and back together.

A cave opening next to the upper part of the falls.

Another huge cave opening off to one side up high.

Back at the top of the hill where you start.....as you come down into the lower forest, there is beautiful moss all over the rocks and ferns everywhere.

If I was an artist this place was made for drawing homes of "fairies" or other little forest creatures. I could imagine a whole hillside community of little creatures living in the various nooks and crannies and holes under the moss covered roots and rocks. I did see one chipmunk, but he was too fast for me and I only got his tail as he disappeared.

The plants were all so beautiful and no dense underbrush and poison ivy like I would see here where I live.

One tree had these fungi on the side.

I loved this tangle of roots.

High up on the cliff face an opening and plants and flowers clinging tightly.

More flowers below.

The view along the stream bed....so serene and quiet.

This was interesting.....a tree fallen sideways but still rooted and growing! It just lay there across the stream with all its leaves dangling in the water.

Before you get to the falls, you cross a bridge where water was rushing over the rocks.

A gap high up in the rocks.

The high cliffs around us.

Little ferns on the rocks.

Beautiful ferns everywhere.

The mixture on the forest floor along the trail.

This was a truly beautiful place. I've always known Ohio was beautiful, but have never seen much of southern Ohio. There was so much more we didn't see that I would like to have spent more time doing. Will definitely being going back some day.

Where to start.....

This is technically starting at the end of our trip, but since I already mentioned the Y bridge in Zanesville, I will post it first.Obviously I did not take this wonderful aerial shot....it is a postcard I bought that says it is by Obenour Photography. I wanted you to see what it really looks like. This bridge spans 2 rivers....the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.
It was raining when we took our photos of it from the overlook. This bridge has been rebuild 5 times. The first was in 1814 and was an uncovered toll bridge...carried away by a flood in 1818. Rebuilt in 1819 it was a wooden uncovered bridge and was deemed unsafe 12 years later. The third one was a covered wooden structure lasting 68 years. The 4th Y bridge opened in 1902...uncovered and made of reinforced concrete. Lasted 81 years. The 5th Y bridge was completed in 1984 and still stands....concrete and steel.

This was my best photo....actually Mike took this probably, because he is taller and could see over the railings better.


OK....back to the beginning sort of. We spent one day in Springfield with Mike's brother's family and then on Tuesday headed south to the Buckeye Furnace.....what Mike most wanted to see.

The highways are lined with these yellow flowers right now, plus lots of white daisys scattered along the hillsides. This part of Ohio is very hilly and very pretty. I could easily spend a lot of time exploring this area.

The Buckeye Furnace is located in Wellston, Ohio. This building was not open while we were there. We had drizzling rain off and on the whole 3 days we were gone.

I'm not going to show a whole lot of photos of this furnace, since this is not my area of interest. Mike will be posting it in his blog eventually, I'm sure with much more detail then I could come up with. I just like to look at things and don't worry that much about what exactly they are or what they did.

I liked the plants growing out of the stone.

This opening is so much like the other 2-3 furnaces that we have seen, but overall this structure was much bigger and more elaborate.

Looking up into the rafters. I wonder why birds don't nest there?

Mike standing in front of the opening to give an idea of size...he is 6'4". At the top of those crossbars there is a bird's nest on the right side, but we scared the bird away without my seeing what it was.

A huge wheel used in the process.

I liked the roofline.

In a large open structure up behind, there were examples of the materials. This is charcoal. I was curious bout the holes all over it. Mike said he thought it was from spiders? (The blogging experts....Joan and Eve....have told me these are from antlions. Will have to look those up)

A tree leaf pattern against the sky....it makes me sort of dizzy....like it is moving.

Plants growing over the ore pile.

I thought this looked like someone had planted squash or something of that sort!

I was photographing these white flowers and then noticed the little butterfly...very small. (Eve says this is a moth.)

There was a covered bridge just past the furnace.

We were driving somewhere else when we saw this heron standing in the middle of the road. Not a great shot.

Our next stop was Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills. I'll get to that tomorrow.

Heading home today....

We are headed out for our last day....mostly driving home...but with a few stops we hope.

We've been a lot of diverse places. I have less nature photos then I do other things:-) We hiked at several nice nature places, but the photo ops weren't very good. Here are a few misc. shots for today until I get home and organize stuff. We saw lots of vultures....in trees....
....in the road.

Several deer at different places....

.....this one watched me as I watched it.

This was the coolest old birdhouse I have ever seen! It is in front of a quilt barn, which I will be posting later....saw lots of quilt barns.

One of two covered bridges we photographed...saw a couple more.

Saw incredible architecture in several of the old river towns we drove through, but didn't get to stop for photos. I shot this while sitting at a stop light. This is Batesville, Ohio.

This church in Batesville was so unique looking that I made Mike stop for a couple of photos. I've never seen a church this color or this type of stone(?) I didn't realize the light was wrong and the photos aren't as good as I would have liked.

Well, time to eat breakfast and check out and go take a few photos of Zanesville before leaving town. They have a Y bridge......only place you can cross a river and still be on the same side :-)