And one did look interesting. Just a couple miles west of the Avon Commons shopping area, off Route 611, is Northgate Park. While there’s nothing that particularly unique about this little park, it’s a delightful neighborhood reserve that’s worth a stop if you’re in the area.

We brought our dinner—Mmmmm, Costco pizza—to the park and ate in the very well-maintained pavilion. Then the boys tackles the playground, which had a few more activities than most parks of its size. It was a beautiful, warm Sunday evening, but we had the park mostly to ourselves for our whole visit.

Northgate has a good-sized (I’d guess three acres or so) fishing pond, complete with grass carp, snapping turtles, a fountain in the middle, even a little island. On the other side of the lake from the playground is a pretty formidable sledding hill, which also has a nice view of the entire lake and the cute neighborhood that wraps around the north of the park.

There were also some very friendly … uh, almost too friendly … ducks that patrolled the area near the pavilion. They’ve obviously been fed a lot by people and pretty much aren’t scared of humans. Both boys were very amused by them, but it did make me a tad nervous for a few minutes during dinnertime.

I didn’t realize it at first, but there is also a fitness track that wraps around the lake, and a couple of soccer fields way in the back (west) part of the park. And there is ample green space to just run around in—or it would be a great open area to play frisbee, too.

We did bring our fishing poles, but about 30-minutes of fishing didn’t result in even a nibble for the three of us. There are quite a few benches arranged around the lake (all facing it), so we picked one and that made for a nice place to sit while holding our poles. Saved us the trouble of lugging out folding chairs from the car!

The more I think about the vast swaths of green space, the more I think that we’ll be back to this park soon, but with some frisbees in the trunk.

All the kids got free fishing rods, tackle boxes, bait, t-shirts, etc. Prizes were awarded for the first fish caught, the largest fish caught and the smallest fish caught. As luck would have it, a little boy right next to Josh—whose line was about 2 feet away from his—caught the first fish. But Josh did win one of the 15 door prizes, a nice collection of lures and an Applebees gift certificate, and he couldn’t have been happier.

The weather was less than ideal this year—temperatures hovered in the low 90s and there were only high, scattered clouds. And given that the derby itself started at 8:15 a.m. and ran for three hours, my little guy was over-broiled after a couple of hours. So we cheated and snuck out for 30 minutes for a milk run to McDonalds, enjoying the air conditioning the entire way (we’d run out of bait as it was).

Josh ended up catching just one little sunfish, but that was better than last year, when he didn’t catch a thing. It’s really surprising for my little fisherman, as he does a great job fishing the little 1/2-acre lake next to our home. I will say that the fish were biting a lot more this year and they cleaned up on stealing our worms without getting hooked. An enormous snapping turtle stole the show for a while in our section of the pond, attacking one unlucky fish and slowly feasting on it over the course of 20 or 30 minutes.

Thomas is a genuinely likable guy and walked the whole perimeter of the lake over the course of the event, visiting with the kids and the adults, signing autographs and having his picture taken. Just as at last year’s event, he was very approachable and took a real interest in helping the kids—and share his passion of fishing.

John “Big Dawg” Thompson, the Dog Pound superfan, was in attendance, roaming the shore wielding his enormous bone and wearing his #98 jersey along with dog mask and orange hard hat. We had a great chat (about snapping turtles, of all things!) and I give him credit for wearing that mask for the kids. As hot as I thought I was, I know it had to be about 120 degrees under that rubber getup!

The day ended with catering from sponsor Fahrenheit (delicious!) and the raffle of door prizes. All in all, I give Joe Thomas and the people at MAR Sports Marketing a lot of credit for this great family event. We can’t wait for next year!

This event is very nicely done, and the two times we’ve been previously, the traffic has been crazy—prepare to park on the entrance road itself or in an overflow parking lot, unless you get there during a slow period. We lucked out this year and arrived about 2:30 (the event ran from 10-4), finding a great spot close in.

Most everything at Train Day is free, the only notable exceptions being food and drinks and a goofy little trainlike vehicle ride that costs $1.

We skipped the ride and went straight for the model railroad exhibits, which are located at several different places on the grounds of the park, as well as inside the visitor center. Wandering further afield, attendees can check out an entire (impressive!) Lego train exhibit, complete with skyscraper, hotel, church, airport and other city mainstays.

One of the most creative and different parts of this event is the hobo trail. Organizers set up signs with hobo signals along the meandering pathway from the visitor center to the canal. The challenge is to guess what the various graphics mean, and you can lift little placards to discover the answers. Along the pathway are volunteers dressed up as hobos, cooking stone soup, playing harmonicas, singing old railroading songs or just telling stories. Josh (9) was pleasantly surprised by this part of the event, and reported it to be his favorite part of the day. (He hadn’t remembered it from previous times, but he was a good bit younger then.)

So, you may read this and think, “Well, that’s all good, but now we have to wait until June 2011 for the next installment.” That’s true, but I’d still suggest a visit to the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation. This small park, just NW of the intersection of I-480 and I-77, is fascinating. It’s a wooded oasis in the heart of Cleveland’s industrial valley, and it is easy to forget that you’re in the midst of a huge metropolitan area from some parts. From others, huge industrial buildings hulk in the distance, presenting an interesting juxtaposition.

The visitor center is beautifully done and gives a nice perspective on the valley, the canal, and the industrial workings of the area. Take the main path toward the canal, and you’ll encounter some great displays of objects that kids may not pay attention to—railroad crossing gates, electrical transformers, sewer pipes. Read about what they do and how they work and why they are a part of the fabric of the city. And then look up to see the same items in the distance in action. It’s really well done.

There is also fishing available near (or in?) the canal, but we didn’t investigate that. We hadn’t thought to bring any of our fishing gear—and it was a very hot, humid 86 degrees!