April 2025 - 58 years on this Earth

Fave show, fave saying - "Andor" Season 2 this month!!! 

4/1 - No foolin' - it was more work on the road this week, but I was able to get back home in time to go with Ashlee (and Sunny) to meet up with friends at the newish Tailgate Brewing location in Antioch (photo above).  Along with some dream-worthy pizza, I had their excellent NEIPA called Trees: Doobie Decimal System, and then their equally good Hoppy, Respectfully, Hazy IPA.  

4/2 - Work took me through Cookeville again today, so it was lunch again at Father Tom's Pub and the house salad I got with added blackened chicken and blue cheese crumbles was out of this world good!!  I will get that again for sure!!  My brew of choice was the Classic Amber from nearby Calfkiller Brewing over in Sparta.  

Back at home again tonight, I won a small buy-in NLHE bounty tournament on Global Poker.  I lost the details, but it was about an 800% ROI.  

4/3 - More CU at CJ!!  I placed another CU sticker in the men's room at Common John Brewing in Manchester today on my way back home from a work trip outside Chattanooga.  I enjoyed their new lager called Thingamabob with a tasty chicken finger basket for a late lunch. 

Way to go, Mocs!! I enjoyed seeing my alma mater take down the NIT Basketball Championship over CU-Irvine on ESPN tonight.  During the game, I enjoyed a pint can of the tasty Parched Pig Toasted Amber ale.  It was another gift from Ashlee from her recent girls' trip cruise. 

4/4 to 4/5 - I started a pet-sitting weekend gig over off Hwy. 109 tonight.  It's a repeat client with two sweet girl dogs:  Izzie and Lily, and one old grumpy female cat named Cali.  Easy-peasy duty.   I also made a very deep run in a mid-size buy-in NLHE deep-stack tournament on Global Poker making the final table and finishing 6th out of 519 other players for right at 1,900% ROI!!  It was good enough to cash out $200 in profit for the night!  With most of my winnings I bought Ashlee a super-nice beach chair and beach tote that she wanted for her birthday - or for our upcoming anniversary. 

4/7 - What started out as a quick stop at Cedar City Brewing Company after work to check out the new collab brew from CCBC and East Nashville Beer Works called A Glass of Paradise - which was excellent by the way - turned into dinner and our foursome grabbing second place in the trivia contest with a come from behind go for broke last question that we nailed!! 

I got a smile from this screen-grab quote from the 1993 classic, “Tombstone.” RIP to one of the most underrated actors of our time, Val Kilmer, in arguably his best role ever as the legendary, Doc Holliday, which should have earned him an Oscar IMHO.  Man, look at that cast! Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton (RIP) and a then relatively unknown Billy Bob Thornton.

4/8 - I went to see the new Jason Statham action flick, A Working Man, at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) with my pal, Toney on $6 Discount Tuesday.  Look, his movies aren't winning any awards, but they are pretty entertaining, and he does have a great on-screen presence. This one was OK, but mostly forgettable.  A lot of weird bad guys in it which was interesting at least.  

4/9 - It's so nice to get some public love from the Ante Up Magazine folks for my monthly column with them.  They posted this on their Facebook page today regarding my column in the April 2025 issue of their online magazine.  

4/10 - After seeing Tom Hanks in person in Nashville tonight interviewing his daughter, E.A., who has a new book out, I stopped by Homegrown Taproom for a late dinner and a couple of half-pint libations from Industrial Arts Brewing (NY) including their IPA called Power Tools and their Wrench NEIPA which were both great.  

4/12 - After a hard day of spring-cleaning including vacuuming our dirty pool.  I got my first float in afterwards along with a cold beer.  I had a pint can of the West Coast IPA from Parched Pig Brewing  NOW, the pool is really open!! 

I got a satellite "win" tonight vs. 46 other players with the top 6 getting tickets to a tournament whose buy-in was worth 1000% ROI.  It was a hyper-turbo NLHE on Global Poker.  

4/13 - The Last of Us - my second favorite show - Season 2 started today! 

(Editor's note:  Holy shit!  Joel gets killed in the second episode??  WTF!  He was the best part!  This definitely drops the ranking of this show now IMO.) 

Before watching the first episode tonight, I got a NLCP tournament win on Global Poker vs. 20 other players for an ROI of over 800%! 

And before all that, we had a great afternoon down at East Nashville Beer Works - Wilson County for Yappy Hour with Sunny and a bunch of butt-sniffers.  I had a nice collab pale ale called Off the Hop Rope that they made along with Tennessee Brew Works here in Nashville.  I also had their throwback Roaming Dog ASB - the first beer I ever had from ESBW back in 2016! 

4/15 - I was on the road again for work down in Chattanooga and stayed a couple nights in Cleveland, TN, again at the same nice, new by Courtyard by Marriott hotel (rack up them points!).  I had most of the day to poke around before a late afternoon fair today, so I took a drive up into Mullins Cove along the Tennessee River Gorge and it was a beautiful day for it.  The trail to Blowing Wind Falls was closed due to hunting unfortunately.  I will tackle it another day.  

A nice alternative that was nearby were these two small sister-falls on Middle Creek coming off Signal Moutain.   There's a trail coming off Suck Creek Road to this area that used to be closed.  I can remember someone yelling at me, Ashlee and Paige years ago when we stopped to hopefully take a look.  Now it seems open to all visitors although I still don't know who owns it.  

I moved on to the base of Lookout Mountain in St. Elmo next to The Tap House there for some lunch and libations.  Along with my excellent house-made pimento cheese and warm naan bread I had the solid Czech-style pilsner call Zuzu from Oddstory Brewing here in Chattanooga.  I finished with a tasty IPA called Ocoee #1 from nearby Copperhill (TN) Brewing.

It was a perfect day to revisit Point Park upon Lookout Mountain as well today.  I haven't been here in many, many years, but what a special place and the views are simply amazing.  I don't remember having to pay $10 before to get in, but I also don't remember it being in the national park system either so I didn't mind. 

My main goal in going back to Point Park other than the perfect weather for overlooks was to see the famous and historic Umbrella Rock which has been cordoned off from the public now, but you are still able to get a picture of the interestingly stacked sandstone.     

On the way back down Lookout Mountain I caught glimpse of small waterfall I had never seen before near Ochs Highway.  It was on private property, but I got a decent shot of it from thru the car window. 

I stopped by Tremont Tavern in North Chatt before my evening high school fair and was excited to try the (now) world-famous Wrexham Lager from Wrexham Brewing (Wales). It was excellent!  I finished with a very nice Dead Guy Pilsner from Rogue Ales (OR). 

I closed out a good day with a late showing of the new film, Warfare, on $6 Bargain night at the UEC (recliners! like the Roxy at home, only cleaner and newer) Theaters in Cleveland.  I thought the movie was sort of an interesting concept and very matter of fact, but overall, I wouldn't call it great.

4/17 - I flew to Akron, OH, this evening on a dirt-cheap fair with Allegiant Airlines.  I am staying 3 nights at The Inn at Brandywine Falls as my base of operations for this year's waterfalls/breweries/birthday trip.  I'm going solo which is fine by me.   The inn is technically in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, so that's another NP checked off the long list as well!
My friends, Curtis and Kate, dropped me at the airport since Ashlee was out of town on a business trip.  We stopped at Homegrown Taproom for a pre-flight brew.  I had the too salty and too limey (shoulda only gotten a half pint) Sky Dog Chelada lager from Wiseacre Brewing over in Memphis.  
Allegiant flies out of the new, but separated by shuttle bus, Concourse C at BNA which has a giant Fat Bottom Brewing bar in it!  I had their solid Sandy blonde ale just before taking off. 

Might as well turn 58 driving the roads of northern O-h-i-O!! 

The Simon Perkins Room at The Inn at Brandywine Falls was awesome!  Beautifully furnished and roomy.  Even tasty and fancy Oreos were complimentary.  It was a bit pricey, but worth it.  YOLO!! 

4/18 - Before my complimentary (and very tasty) breakfast this morning, I grabbed some coffee and walked down to the namesake, Brandywine Falls, for a look.   Like most waterfalls here, the stream has cut its way down dramatically into the relatively flat land and common sandstone here to form this beautiful drop.  But unlike an elevated drop that could be seen from the inn, I could see just the top of the falls from my second-story room.   The bridge running above it takes away from the aesthetic somewhat, but that's kind of a running theme up this way I came to find out.  
 

The weather looked iffy for tomorrow, so I headed to my farthest north point of interest first and planned to work my way back.  The beautiful Fairport Harbor Lighthouse up on "da pig vater!" as my boy, Kee-har, calls it in my favorite book, Watership Down, was first on the list.  This historic Lake Erie beacon has been greatly cared for.   Well worth the 40-minute drive.  

A bonus in Fairport Harbor is the quaint little West Breakwater Light.  I kinda wanted to walk out to it, but was a little pressed for time, so I moved on instead.  Beautiful weather today though! 

Pretty little Paine Falls was next.  Oh look, a bridge above it.  Seems familiar.  

Buttermilk Falls was next and I'm glad this little cascading slide was roadside and not after a hike of any amount.  And, yes, there's a walking bridge above it that I cut out of this shot! 

Chagrin Falls has a town named after it, and a pretty cool little
(but busy) town at that.  Hey, when the town is named after the falls, I expect a bridge above it...and buildings around it, but at least it isn't completely dammed up like some are with towns named after them.  Great little place and a dandy roaring waterfall! 

I also had lunch and a couple brews here in town at Pub Frato which looked to have a good local craft beer list.  I had their amazing and huge luau bowl for lunch along with a pint of the NEIPA called IPA Factory from local Crooked Pecker Brewing (gotta go see those guys! great name!).  I finished with an excellent Progress Pilsner from Market Garden Brewing up in Cleveland.  Those guys were one of my fave Cleveland breweries on a G.A.M.E. trip there years ago.  Wonder if I still have that great T-shirt I got there?? 

I was expecting a bit more of a dramatic drop at the Great Falls of Tinker Creek.  My innkeeper told me about this one and it was a good addition.  It's seen a lot of history and industrialization around it, so I guess we are lucky it's even still around.  Just downstream is a huge tunnel that was built to divert the creek after an aqueduct over the canyon was filled in to make way for the railroad.  

I decided to continue west this afternoon instead of back toward the inn with the weather still predicted as not so good tomorrow.  I am glad I did because there were some nice surprises awaiting.  I almost skipped this next one based on where it was.  It's actually in Cleveland city limits and as I got close and noticed I was definitely "in the hood" I was not feeling great about it and having flashbacks to getting rear-ended here in a rental car at the end of the aforementioned G.A.M.E. trip here several years ago.  But Mill Creek Falls turned out to be a surprising beauty in a nice little park that was free of clutter, graffiti or hoodlums.  

Now I'm beginning to like bridges above waterfalls!  This is the amazing (best of the trip IMO) West Falls of the Black River in Elyria, OH.  I love the multiple splits and volume on this one.  

If there's a west one, there must be an East Falls of the Black River in Elyria, OH.  This picture turned out pretty good despite some challenging cropping out of buildings and such.  I included the dam above it because it works with the falls pretty well.  This was only place I felt a little weird.  I thought I had the place to myself nearing sunset right in downtown Elyria until I walked up on some teenagers doing God knows what on a hidden bench near the overlook.  I snapped a few pics and go TF outta there. 

I got greedy-lucky to include Olmsted Falls in my day as well.  This odd little set of very small falls in the center of the town by the same name make up for volume with their interesting layout.  This small stream converges into another larger steam with a straight-line fall on it as well, but the smooth rocks make this one more interesting.  All the other falls today had sandstone with rough edges being carved by the water, but not here.  Pretty cool little spot.  I am glad I added it.  

Well, if you've been counting that's nine different named waterfalls in just one day!!  That's a new record for me, folks!! 

I stopped at the promisingly named and super-busy Hop Brothers Brewing for dinner tonight in nearby North Ridgeville, OH, and the Asian salad I had was excellent, but the beer was just so-so.  The Route 80 West Coast IPA was decent enough, but the Palmers Light kolsch was pretty awful.  I couldn't finish it. Yechh! 

4/19 - I started the day with another great complimentary breakfast at the inn.  Such a beautiful and historic place!  Several window shades in the home have original paintings on them from the first dwellers there.  The painted scenes are usually renditions of what you see out the window itself.  Evidently, this was a common thing in this area in the past, but I've never seen it before.  Very cool.  

Fearing rain today, I decided to skip waterfall hunting and booked a morning passage on the Cuyahoga Valley National Park train for an hour and a half ride through the park, down to Akron and back.  It wasn't pouring, but I still think it was a good call based on the weather.    CVNP is not the most scenic of the national parks here in the U.S., but it's got a great story of recovery and survival and well worth some time and a visit.   

They had a pretty nice selection of craft beer on board as well.  I enjoyed this pint can of the rich Coffee Then Beer milk stout from HIHO Brewing down in Cuyahoga Falls.   

After lunch at the world's fanciest McDonald's, I made the executive decision with drizzling rain still coming down to head south about an hour to rainy day back-up plan location that's been on my bucket list for a good while now. 

I headed south about an hour to Mansfield, OH, to take a tour of the long-time closed Ohio State Reformatory and the shooting location for most of the classic film, The Shawshank Redemption, which is easily in my top ten favorite films of all time.  What an amazing place!  And to think they almost tore it all down!!  The movie filming here was actually the start of the saving process.  
I even got have a craft beer here as the Scofield Cafe inside had a good selection of canned brews.  I had the very good IPA called Wicked Willy's from Fat Head's Brewing here in Ohio.  

An iconic shot from the movie where Andy first enters Shawshank Prison and looks up at the foreboding structure.  

Even some of the few parts set outside the prison in the movie were filmed here including Brooks' room when he was released.  

I did a "Beyond the Bars" walking tour that took us everywhere in this giant, amazing place.  Upstairs, in the basement and even up in one of the guard towers.   90% of the prison is in need of drastic restoration, but the non-profit organization running it now is taking on the immense project day by day and money from tours really helps, so I was glad to contribute.  Two modern real working prisons within view next door really intensified the visit as well. 

While in the town of Mansfield on the way to the prison, I saw a street sign for "Fletcher Falls" so after my tour and with the rain subsiding, I was able to find it pretty easily and she's a little beauty for sure. 

While it was out of my way a bit going back from Mansfield, I was determined to stop and check out Crooked Pecker Brewing back in Chagrin Falls.  Their beer continued to be outstanding as I enjoyed a pint of their Beastly DIPA.  But, man, their merch selection was not great.  That's disappointing given the hilarious name and excellent beer.  

4/20 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!  58 years and counting!!  Oh, and it's Easter as well.  So, amen to the big guy and his cool son.  After a last great breakfast and checking out of the awesome Inn at Brandywine Falls with a couple hugs from the innkeeper, Vicky, I headed into the Cuyahoga Valley National Park for a few planned stops since the rain had moved on.  I had most of the day here since my flight home was not until around 8 PM.  My first stop was the pretty little Bridal Veil Falls.  

Blue Hen Falls was also small, but I had the place to myself when I hiked a short distance to it, so that was nice. 

I took a longer than planned hike around The Ledges area of the CVNP with its cool rock formations and cliffs including their own version of Rock City's Fat Man Squeeze.  

My next stop was the Everett Covered Bridge - this modern-built replica of the original was nice, but a little hard to photograph from the outside due to telephone lines and other clutter around it. 

The last stop in CVNP was the Beaver Marsh which is an amazing story of a car junkyard being cleaned up and brought back to nature in not even the way the park folks intended.  It's what the beavers intended, and the park just finally went with it.  You gotta love that!
I will be the first to admit the CVNP is not the most stunning of our national parks, but it's got a great story behind it in a lot of aspects such as recovery, rebirth and preservation in the nick of time.  

I had enough time to drive about an hour south of the airport to pretty Dundee Falls in heart of Amish farm country.  There were even some Amish young folks there enjoying the falls as well.  And, hey, no bridges anywhere! 

You know what's not open on Easter - craft breweries!! I mean none of them other than some Easter brunches and then closed immediately after.  So, with even more time to kill before heading to the airport, I doubled back to the town of Cuyahoga Falls and found Little Falls in the video above to be much more charming and cool than I had previously read about and decided to skip.   Big Falls evidently got swallowed up by a damn dam, but at least they preserved this one and it's excellent whitewater canyon right in downtown.  

I finally found some craft beer birthday love at the Canton/Akron airport (yeah, CAK(e)!!) with a can of the solid Elliot Ness Amber Lager from Great Lakes Brewing up in Cleveland.  
Also, while at the airport I managed to finish on the final table (7th outta 126) of the USPO Players' Championship GC (play money) Final which looks like it earns me some more Global Poker swag including a robe and slides...hmm, we shall see.  

All in all, a great little trip.  By the numbers it was 15 waterfalls, two lighthouses, one covered bridge, two new-to-me breweries (that's low for me), 10 new-to-me craft beers (that's more like it), one Shawshank visit, one train ride, one new-to-me national park, plus a better appreciation for an area of the country that probably doesn't get a lot of thought overall.