Tom and I recently explored a new-to-us metro park, Carolyn Ludwig Mugrage Park in Medina.  We like to do active things with our friends whenever possible.  Tom complains about just meeting people for lunch or supper.  A meal, preceded by or followed by a walk in a nearby park, is better than just a meal.  Not only do we get to work off some calories, we also have more time to be with our friends.

We met Wendy Bower in Medina.  She lives in Strongsville, so it was a bit longer drive for us.  But we haven’t been to Medina much so it was interesting to explore a new place.  We started at Thyme 2 restaurant for lunch.  The pictures on the website made it look fancy, but the restaurant has three areas.  There is an outside, informal area.  A formal dining room with fancier food and linens.  And a downstairs pub/tavern area.  We chose to eat outside.

I was still getting in the routine of being back in Ohio, so I didn’t take any pictures of our food.  In fact, I forgot to take any pictures at all until we were leaving the restaurant.  I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and Tom got a burger.  The food was good but not spectacular.  The company was better than the food.

After our lunch, we headed to Carolyn Ludwig Mugrage Park.  The property was a farm owned by the Mugrage family.  Carolyn was the matriarch of the family who kept the farm going during the Depression.  The 102 acres of the park exhibit various levels of restoration from farmland.  The forest in the park has ash, maple, white oak, pin oak, American beech, red oak, shagbark hickory, and black gum trees.

The park includes two parking lots, a one-mile paved multi-purpose trail, a one-mile gravel trail, and a three-acre fishing pond.  There is a dog park completely enclosed by a five-foot high fence that provides over an acre of space just for small dogs (under 30 lbs.) and a separate area for large dogs (over 30 lbs.) that is over six acres.  An inclusive playground is for children of all abilities to access and enjoy.  A StoryWalk, in cooperation with Medina County District Library, is changed every season.

We combined the two trails to get a couple of miles of walking in.  It was a very hot day, well over 90, so we weren’t interested in walking in the sunshine.  But the forested area was cool and beautiful.  We skipped walking around the fishing pond because it didn’t have any shade.

It was nice to spend some time with Wendy.  We area always glad to meet with her because she likes to be active as much as we do.  Exploring a new place and meeting an old friend is the best of all possible combinations.