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| 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.
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| Beth in front of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Visitors Center. The "garage" on her left is now a small art museum. |
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| One of the old locks along the now dry Ohio and Erie Canal |
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| The Tow Path Trail |
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| Along the Stanford Trail |
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| Brandywine Falls doesn't have much water at this time of the year. |
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| 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.
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| This colorful character was on display in the Costa Rica Rain Forest Area of the Cleveland Botanical Garden |
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| Also in the Costa Rica Rain Forest Area. |
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| A small section of the outdoor area at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens |
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| 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!
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| Mabel's BBQ! |
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| 4th Street |
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| One of the fifth street arcades. It was closed for a private event. Our invitation must have gotten lost in the mail. |
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| Heinan's Grocery in downtown |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Downtown park with city hall in the background |
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| First Energy Stadium......home of the Browns (NFL) |
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| The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Lake Erie in the background |
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| Two old rockers about to join a bunch of old rockers inside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |
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| Downtown is full of Parks and Fountains |
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| Public Square |
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| 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!
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| 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. |
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| 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!
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| Just part of the mass of people patiently waiting at Kozy Rest Jellystone for their time to face the zombies! |
