Cultured and Crafty....

Masterfully decorated pumpkins...…….left to right, Beth, NaNa and mine

We're in the middle of a three week stint on Anna Maria Island (AMI).  I've blogged so much through the years about the island that I'm running a bit short of new material.  I can say that although the calendar shows it's the end of October, it still feels like summer.  The high temperatures have been in the 90's many of the days.  This is the least crowded time of the year on the island, although there really isn't too much of an off season anymore.  The construction on the new city pier is coming along pretty nicely now and it is expected to be opened in April.  As always, we've been enjoying the magnificent sunsets most evenings.

Framing and roofing the new Anna Maria City Pier

Every sunset is different and they never get old!

We did manage a couple of cultural outings last weekend that we really enjoyed.  On Saturday Beth and I were able to get away for a few hours to St. Petersburg.  We're really enjoying the lively waterfront area overlooking Tampa Bay.  They have a nice Saturday morning market appropriately named the Saturday Morning Market.  It runs from the beginning of October until the end of May in the parking lot of Al Lopez Stadium.  There were plenty of vendors selling all types of foods and products.  We arrived toward the end of the market (hours are 9:00-2:00), although it was still going strong as we walked around.  We were able to take advantage of one the food trucks that was getting ready to close for the day.  Our intent was to order a couple of bbq sandwiches, but when they offered up their last full slab of ribs at a discount, we jumped on them without hesitation.  They were so meaty and plentiful that we shared them with a nice couple from Toronto who were kind enough to share their table with us.
Saturday Morning Market
With full bellies we then headed for the Mahaffey Theater for an afternoon concert by The Florida Orchestra.  The music was "Latin Pops" which was fun and lively.  While living in Texas we had season tickets for the Fort Worth Symphony Pops Series for a number of years.  Neither of us have a discerning ear for music but we do like the symphony pops music.  I'm not sure we'd make it through a classical symphony concert but the pops concerts are a lot of fun.
The Florida Orchestra
Mahaffey Theater

The Florida Symphony Orchestra!

We continued our "cultural weekend on Sunday.  This time we went a little south of AMI to Sarasota to see "The Fantasticks" at the Players Centre, a non-professional community theater that is currently celebrating it's 90th year anniversary.

Pre-theater lunch at O'Leary's Tiki Bar and Grill on Sarasota Bay

O'Leary's is located in Bayfront Park

The play, which was written in 1960 is billed as the world's longest running musical.  It's the story of two fathers who devise a plan to use "reverse psychology" to get their son and daughter together.  The plan calls for them to constantly "feud" with one another in hopes that the kids will fall in love and marry.  Of course there are twists and turns along the way, but it has a happy ending.  The acting and singing were very well done by the entire cast which made for a fun afternoon.

The Players Centre for the Performing Arts

The Players Centre for the Performing Arts
Beth's mom, NaNa, loves doing crafts.  There are paintings out by her pool that she helped paint a few years ago that she admires on a daily basis.
We decided to have "craft day" once a week while we're here.  We kicked it off last week with pumpkin decorating.  As you can see from the lead picture in this blog, there's a lot of talent in this house!

NaNa proudly showing off her creation

Tuesday we invited NaNa's sister (Sally) and her husband (Duane) along with their daughter (Shelly) to join us for a project using canvas, paint and buttons.  We quickly discovered that talent runs deep in this family and that Sally is a big fan of abstract art!  It was a hilarious couple of hours.  Beth, Shelly and I enjoyed listening to the unfiltered comments that age allows you to make while everyone was working on their masterpieces.

NaNa, Duane and Sally diligently working on their art.

After all that crafting we had worked up a hearty appetite!  Thanks to Shelly for providing the majority of a delicious lunch!

Clockwise from the top left...…..Sally, Shelly, mine, Duane, Beth and NaNa's finished products

If you're looking for some art instruction give me a call.  If you're looking for quality art instruction, call Beth!

   

The Pennsylvania Laurel Highlands................

Fallingwater…….one of Frank Lloyd Wrights finest works and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Currently Ben's days off are Tuesday and Wednesday.  Yesterday the three of us left Slippery Rock around 8:30 in the morning to spend the day in the Southwest region of Pennsylvania known as the Laurel Highlands.  When we got back to his house last night around 9:00 we all agreed that our three destinations were outstanding and very diverse.  It was a long day, but a fun day.  The leaves through the rolling hills continue to become more colorful by the day, making the journey equally as enjoyable as the destinations.
First up was a quick stop and tour of Jellystone Park in Mill Run.  Ben has become good friends with the General Manager and several other members of their leadership team.  He wanted to say hello and wanted us to see the park.  We didn't have much time, but it was fun meeting them and getting a quick tour.  This is a really nice and very large campground with shaded campsites, cabins of all sizes and enough amenities to keep adults and children of all ages entertained spring, summer and fall (they do keep some of their cabins open through the winter).   We're glad we had a chance to stop by for a few minutes.  It's a beautiful campground managed by some really nice people!

Hey, Hey, Hey...….the Jellystone Park at Mill Run is fantastic!

Just a few miles from the Jellystone Park is what has been recognized by members of the American Institute of Architects as "the best all-time work of American architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.  This home, which recently received the UNESCO World Heritage designation was designed by Wright in 1935.  The weekend home and adjoining guest house, were built over a waterfall on Bear Run Creek for a prominent Pittsburgh family (Kaufman family).  It was completed in 1939.  In the early 1960's the surviving son of the Kaufman's turned the house and it's 1,500 acres of land over to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.  In 1964 it was opened to the public and has attracted millions of visitors through the years.  All visits are guided tours with small groups (we had fourteen in our group).  Our guide was very informative, providing way more information than I can remember during our one hour tour.  Please note:  We purchased our tour tickets about a month in advance and many tours for yesterday were already sold out at the time of purchase.  If you're planning to visit Fallingwater, you'll be glad you did, but plan ahead!
Fallingwater

The Kaufman family thought the house would be built beside the fall.  Wright had a different idea and built the house over the falls

We had a nice lunch in Ohiopyle, a small community on the Allegheny River

The Allegheny River

Ben checking out Cucumber Falls in Ohiopyle State Park

The Laurel Highlands is famous for it's covered bridges

Our final stop for the day was at the United Flight 93 Memorial near the small community of Shanksville.  On this cool, crisp late afternoon the setting couldn't have been more of a contrast to the terrible event that occurred here on the morning of September 11, 2001.  The memorial honors the forty passengers that lost their lives that morning as part of the orchestrated terrorist attacks.  It is operated by the National Park Service and includes a visitors center, which details the events of the day and honors the legacy of passengers on board the flight, including those who fought bravely to regain control of the plane.  Beyond the visitors center is a memorial wall leading to the crash site. There is a wall with individual panels that has the names of all the passengers on board.  While in some ways it is a difficult place to visit, it is also an important place to visit to reflect and not forget.
We were all moved by the peacefulness of the site, set in the rolling country side of the Laurel Highlands.  
United Flight 93 Memorial

The visitors center at the United Flight 93 Memorial

From the visitors center overlooking the crash site

The Tower of Voices at the United Flight 93 Memorial.  When completed it will have forty windchimes.

Although not operational yet, eight windchimes are currently in place.

   

28 hours in Cleveland............

Cleveland Rocks!

To say that Cleveland has come a long way since the Cuyahoga River caught fire on June 22, 1960 would be a gross understatement.  It has made a complete transformation from a decaying manufacturing/industrial city to a diverse and lively city anchored by banking, healthcare, education and technology.
Cuyahoga River Fire
The downtown which is bordered by Lake Erie on the north and the Cuyahoga River to the south and west is full of apartments, restaurants, three modern sports venues, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the second largest theater district in the US (New York is the largest).  A few miles east of downtown is the University Circle area which is full of museums, the botanical gardens, a huge park and Case Western Reserve University. We quickly discovered that CLEVELAND ROCKS and that 28 hours isn't enough time to see everything this, the 33rd largest metropolitan area in the US has to offer..  
Ben lives just a little over an hour and a half from Cleveland so it was a great opportunity to see if what we had heard about Cleveland was true.  As you can already tell by the first couple of paragraphs it lived up to it's advanced billing.
Our first stop was the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is just 20 miles south of downtown.  The park is just under 33,000 acres in size and has more than 125 miles of hiking trails.  One of the unique features of the park is that the Ohio and Erie Canal once ran through what is now the national park.  One of the trails we hiked was called the Towpath Trail.  This trail ran beside the canal (which is now dry) and was the path that mules used to pull the barges.  This trail intersected with the Stanford Trail that took us to Brandywine Falls.  At this time of year there isn't too much water running over the falls, but there was enough for us to appreciate what it must look like in the spring and summer when much more water is flowing.  All the trails were really well marked and while there wasn't a significant amount of elevation change, there was enough rolling hills that by the time we finished the five miles we knew we had gotten in a pretty nice hike.

Beth in front of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Visitors Center.  The "garage" on her left is now a small art museum.

One of the old locks along the now dry Ohio and Erie Canal

The Tow Path Trail

Along the Stanford Trail

Brandywine Falls doesn't have much water at this time of the year.

In the spring and early summer it's a different story!

Before heading to our hotel on Friday afternoon we made one more stop at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, located in the University Circle area.  The gardens included two indoor gardens (a desert and Costa Rica Rain/Cloud Forest) and outdoor gardens.  The outdoor gardens were nicely decorated for the fall, making it even more enjoyable.  We were able to use our reciprocal pass from Sunken Gardens to get free admission.

This colorful character was on display in the Costa Rica Rain Forest Area of the Cleveland Botanical Garden

Also in the Costa Rica Rain Forest Area.

A small section of the outdoor area at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens

We had walked by this display about thirty minutes earlier and it was completely intact.

Our hotel was located in the easy to navigate downtown.  The downtown is fairly compact and very walkable, so once we parked the car we didn't move it until it was time to leave. (parking on the street is free after 6:00 PM and on weekends).  The architecture of many of the downtown buildings is similar to that of Chicago and there is plenty to see in and around the public square.  The 5th street arcades are downtown shopping malls set in several of the old buildings. Heinen's Grocery on Euclid Avenue between the Public Square and the Playhouse Square is a "must see".  East 4th Street is a "pedestrian only" street lined with restaurants.  Ken and Shelly Burton, a couple of emerging "Traveling Idiots" suggested Mabel's BBQ.  Having lived in Texas for as long as we did, we consider ourselves to be somewhat snobbish when it comes to BBQ.  While we had never associated Ohio as a BBQ mecca, the brisket and ribs were every bit as good as Texas BBQ!

Mabel's  BBQ!

4th Street

One of the fifth street arcades.  It was closed for a private event.  Our invitation must have gotten lost in the mail.

Heinan's Grocery in downtown

The ceiling in the rotunda of Heinen's Grocery

With full bellies, we wandered the streets a little more before calling it a day.  We enjoyed the Playhouse Square area, which has a massive outdoor chandelier over the main intersection.  Jerry Seinfeld was in town for the evening at one of the eight theaters in the square.  I'm sure it would have been a great show.  I doubt if tickets were available and I'm not sure we would have been able to stay awake.

Playhouse Square

We woke up Saturday morning to much cooler temperatures, a sign for folks up here that winter is on the way.  With jackets on, it was a chilly but very tolerable 10 minute walk from the hotel to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is located in a very modern looking building along the shores of Lake Erie.  We both enjoyed the multi levels of displays, which included several short documentary films, a live band (talented guests could play and sing along......we're not talented) and interactive displays.
It was fun seeing all these old folks like us walking around proudly displaying their favorite bands t-shirts.

Downtown park with city hall in the background

First Energy Stadium......home of the Browns (NFL)

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Lake Erie in the background

Two old rockers about to join a bunch of old rockers inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Downtown is full of Parks and Fountains

Public Square

Progressive Field...…..home of the Indians (MLB)

Our last stop in this fun filled 28 hour adventure was at the Christmas Story House.  This is where one of our favorite Christmas movies, "The Christmas Story" was filmed.  The leg lamp is on display in the window of the house.  The Oldsmobile was in the garage across the street and you could buy a Red Ryder BB gun in the gift shop.  Just don't shoot your eye out!

In front of the house where The Christmas Story was filmed.  It's a little hard to see, but the leg lamp is in the window.

Red Ryder BB Guns...…...just like Ralphie's!

We loved our time in Cleveland, but we had an important event to get back to in Pennsylvania.  There was a Spooktacular Haunted House at Kozy Rest Campground.  We had to see it and were thrilled to see the amazing Activities Director working his magic by narrating the back story of evil zombies lurking in the campground!

Just part of the mass of people patiently waiting at Kozy Rest Jellystone for their time to face the zombies!