Oh Hi, Ohio! - Cleveland

Alex had a couple of days off of school for fall break, so we decided to take a little road trip down south to our next-state-over-neighbor Ohio! Our first stop was Cleveland which was a really fun city. We left Friday morning and got to Cleveland in the afternoon. We had a picnic at Willard Park which overlooks Lake Erie. It was an absolutely beautiful space that had some cool mirror sculptures, so of course we had to take pictures! We then walked downtown a bit and came across some really neat things: a huge water fountain, the public library which had cool architecture and Addie-sized sculptures, and a giant rubber stamp.

We then headed over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame- a Cleveland must! The building itself is this big glass pyramid with multiple levels. Most of the exhibits are on the lower level, and there were things like Michael Jackson's glove, Beatles memorabilia, music listening stations, an Elvis and Rolling Stones exhibit, and lots of outfits from various artists that were donated to the museum. A memorable moment we had was trying to find a place to feed Addie. We finally saw a sign that said to ask about a family restroom/nursing area, which we did. Turns out it was just an employee bathroom where they put a sign on the door and it just has a separate space apart from the actual bathroom with a chair. Oh the joys of being a young parent on vacation!

top L to R: in front of the museum, The Decemberists accordion, Beatles guitar, MJ's glove, Daddy dancing with Addie, Rihanna's "Rude Boy" outfit, future Elvis impersonator?

Friday night we drove outside of Cleveland to Melt. It's a grilled cheese sandwich restaurant that we heard about from the Travel Channel. They have different varieties, and so Alex ordered the Monte Carlo and I ordered a BBQ version that came topped with an onion ring. These were undeniably the best grilled cheese sandwiches either of us had eaten, and I may or may not have finished my leftover sandwich after a 3 am feeding later that night! The restaurant itself was pretty cool. When you arrive they had you pick out a name/phrase out of a container for them to put down, and we were T-Boz. I also may or may not have pronounced it T-Bo 2, because in my defense the 'Z" really looked like a 2! Other names called that we heard were Uncle Frank and Thank You for Coming. The place was also decorated with really kitschy plastic lit-up holiday decorations.

Saturday morning we headed over to the Westside Market, which is a large indoor market that has vendors from around Cleveland who sell a variety of foods. We loved walking around and seeing everything! We ended up buying some fudge, artisan bread, jerky, flavored couscous, a couple of pears, a pineapple, blackberries, a sub-par cupcake, and the best apple fritter in the city! We also got lunch at one of the stands called Steve's Gyros. They had some crazy customer service! There was a sign out that basically said they would serve people when it was convenient for them, and Alex ended up waiting in line for over 30 minutes. But, the gyros were amazingly good and it was totally worth the wait. We ate lunch outside in a square that is right in front of the market and the weather could not have been more perfect. After lunch we walked around a bit more and explored places nearby, like at a food spices shop that sold a very tempting orange peel that smelled heavenly so we can only imagine how it tasted! We then got in the car and made the next leg of our trip to Granville and Columbus.