Friends held their rehearsal dinner here on a hot summer night inside the enclosed pavilion at the Rookery. I’m not sure hot expresses the weather accurately. Sticky. 110% humidity. Hellish. Surface of the sun. The heat of all of those descriptions combined still doesn’t come close. Unfortunately, there are no ceiling fans. I would have paid a million dollars to have a ceiling fan that night. If it seems like I’m emotional about all this, I am. It was my job to bring most of the food and supplies from my Lakewood villa to this Geauga county pavilion. Then, I needed to setup the dinner, which was to have a lovely Italian Bistro feel. We had red and white checked table cloths, bread sticks in mason jars, votives, candles in wine bottles, and a salad buffet. The building has a log cabin feel, complete with a wood burning fireplace. Inside there are 8 or 10 solid picnic tables and two long buffet tables along the back wall. The main course was wood-fired pizzas which were made outside in a wood-fired oven, which created even more heat. Yippee.(The wood-fired pizza oven was rented… it is not a service of the Rookery). The bathrooms are a short walk from the building and are some fancy composting, flush less system. The building is pretty nice for being glorified port-a-johns. The grounds are well kept and lovely.
Rebecca C.
Place rating: 5 Miami, FL
Michelle and I, with 2 children, walked through the entire winding Forrest trails without getting eatin’ alive by serial killers or mosquito’s. Yeah, it is that safe. Not to mention, I got great cell phone service… you know, just in case an isolated incident… I think we walked at least 5 miles. We saw trees, birds, fish and a golf course at the end. We picked flowers for grandma too. I think that was probably illegal, but it made me feel like a sort of rebel teaching our kids that it was ok. And grandma didn’t hand spank us for doing so either, so I guess it was ok. Lots of rain the days before, so the river was high and full. Might I mention that the weather this day was perfect? A little chill in the air, dry, and clear. Oh how I love these types of days! We did however have to borrow some of grandma’s attire… we needed jackets. I would post a picture, but I am afraid that you will find that we are too much of a sexy bunch to our fellow Unilocalers. Michelle did forget to mention the open holed toilets at the entrance. It was like peeing into darkness. I looked in the hole before I sat. That was the scariest part.
Michelle C.
Place rating: 5 Miami, FL
I did not know that Ohio had swamps. I’m from Florida. We have swamps. But we also have bad mosquitoes. It was nice to see the swamp and swamp life up close without being eaten alive. 562 acres and home to a large Blue Heron rookery(hence the name). Very well maintained trails. So smooth, I was able to push my toddler in an umbrella stroller, no problem. Through the swamp, through the forest, through a covered bridge over a swollen river… It was just beautiful! I saw where the bike trails criss crossed our trail and they have more dirt and whoops and turns and such. There are, what looks like, normal bathrooms. But they are really permanent porta potties. Hey, it gets the job done.
