Fellow going-placer-er Lienne Sethna and I both attended the Hale Farm Harvest Festival on Sunday October 9. The drive through the park was very beautiful and serene, although that image ends there. The admission price for me was 10$, although Lienne only got charged 4$ for some reason. I was a little disappointed by that alone, but I was hopeful it would be worth it.

I was wrong. The harvest festival was simply a bare-bones version of the normal Hale Farm setup, along with one simple addition to make it the “Harvest Festival.” One station set up for kids to colour small pumpkins along with hay rides (for an additional fee of course) was what made that Sunday the Harvest festival. I have to say, it offered me, a fifteen year old young adult, underwhelmed. Maybe if I was 10 years younger it would have been remotely appealing, but that was not the case.

I have to say that I was expecting some emphasis on the fall and the duties that come with it to any farmer that lived in that time period. All of the actors performed the same way, and if it wasn’t for the wonderful pumpkin colouring station, I would have had no idea it was Harvest time. I applaud Hale Farm for employing a clever marketing strategy to pull little kids in with their parents paying the hefty 10$ admission, but honestly, I have to say it was disappointing to say the least.

I did still make the best of actual Hale Farm itself, and I rather enjoyed the glass blowing exhibit. I found the glass blowing to be truly amazing, although it looked exceedingly difficult to work under such hot conditions. The little glass flask that was blown during our demonstration was very impressive, and I could see that being a useful skill back in the day. I inquired as to how the women learned this and she said she took classes on it at Kent state. I assumed that this was an elective that taught her a useful skill, but come to find out she actually majored in glassblowing, and was going for her masters.

Realistically, the most enjoyable and rewarding part of the whole experience was seeing the sheep pen. It was filled with small baby sheeps, called lambs. They were great. One even came up to me and let me pet it. God was it soft. Lenny would have been in heaven. One day, I plan on having a pen of baby sheeps to keep me company, but for now, this picture will have to suffice.

When the Apocalypse does indeed come, it will be very useful to have my own supply of sheeps. This will provide me with wool (which will remain an insulator even when fighting zombies in the snow and sleet of a post apocalyptic America) and, eventually, little sheep babies AKA lambs. These little tiny sheeps will be a source of joy in my life that will be so important for my survival in such a depressing situation.

My plan C (assuming I don’t get into Stanford and my pancake house fails) is to develop sheep with naturally occurring wool fibers of every colour of the rainbow. This will allow me to have multicoloured garments, that are 100% naturally. Yes, they would be expensive, but they would also appeal to the Hipster fashion market that is becoming such an industry giant in America.  In a world where “organic”, “eco-friendly”, and “no preservatives” is king, I really believe “no dye added”, “naturally blue!”, “hand raised wool!” will become the next it words. Only time will tell.

Biking at Ray’s was definitely something waaay out of my comfort zone. As much as I enjoy riding my mountain bike around the Tow Path and Bike-and-Hike trails, I never even thought about experiencing something more extreme. I consider myself competent enough on a bike, but that did not put my anxiety to rest completely. I am glad I took a risk (a calculated one, of course) and experienced something so new and invigorating. It was good to see a place so interesting and different thriving in Cleveland. Now when people go to take a shot at Cleveland, at least I can say, “Hey, We have Ray’s!”

When you think about it, Ray’s is a perfect business model. It practically has a monopoly on the market of Indoor extreme mountain biking in this area. Meaning, it has no other competition to deal with, and its prices can be dictated without regard to others. Despite this, I still think that Ray’s was very reasonably priced, considering you can spend the whole day inside, with none of your own equipment, for less than thirty dollars.

When it comes to overhead, I suppose that could be a significant cost to running a business of that nature. Paying for rent of that huge warehouse, construction of new courses, heating and lighting, along with whatever insurance they have to have to deal with injuries, would amount to a good deal of overhead every month. I can see a place like Ray’s having a dedicated customer base (especially when weather dictates Ray’s as the only option), along with a good deal of walk in adventure-seekers in north east Ohio. Utilizing the summer months as a time to keep the place shut down not only eliminates excess cost during the slow months, but also allows for new courses to be constructed. This is extremely smart, as it ensures the winter will be only more profitable than the year before’s/

I am not sure if our instructor was the owner, but he was very personal and spent a great deal of the night with our rather inexperienced group. I didn’t feel thrown into something that I wasn’t prepared for, I felt like I had somewhere there watching our, the group that is, backs. The little lodge area with fireplace and tables was nice a cozy. I didn’t feel uncomfortable waiting around in there, and the atmosphere while not biking had a calm and casual feel. I hope to see Ray’s MTB get their name out there more in Cleveland and all of NE Ohio really. I for one have never heard of them and I think most people who would be willing to do that sort of thing haven’t either.

I want to give a big thanks to Mr. Jo and Mr. Testa, for providing us such a great experience that I honestly never would have done without some prodding. I hope our trips in the future can be this exciting, and expose me to more things I have never done before. I apologize for my lack of photos, my iPhone was in the careful holding of Mr. Testa while inside the park, and I didn’t have the chance to snap any shots.

We should definitely go White Water Rafting. That would be great.