Cleveland Rocks

As a reward for our hard work with painting, wallpaper stripping, and drywalling we decided to take a road trip to Cleveland. So after a short 2 1/2 hour drive along I-90 and a quick stop over at Chipotle for some rockin' organic burritos, we rolled into Cleveland and made a beeline for the Roll and Roll Hall of Fame.

We bit the bullet and bought the two day ticket for $30 a pop, and we were not disappointed! As Mom Spangler recommended, we started in the basement, which is by far the biggest area. The whole thing is a spectacle of sights and sounds that can really overwhelm your senses, so we took our time and looked at every thing piece by piece, starting with the early influences of rock and moving into a region-by-region history of rock music. We then moved into some artists' specific exhibits that were mindblowing. We saw Mick Jagger's stage clothes, Jimmy Hendrix's hand written song lyrics, ZZ Top's car, John Lennon's passport, and Jim Morrison's report card, just to name a few. It was really cool, and that floor alone took over 2 hours. We then moved up a level and saw some exhibits on the evolution of the radio DJ and the influence of soul and funk. From there we saw the beginning of the Hall of Fame video but it was getting close to closing time, so we decided to save that for the next day.

That evening we walked down to the warehouse district for dinner and ate at the Chop House, which was pretty good. We both decided to have steak even though we rarely eat red meat, and we were not let down. The prices, however ,were a little steep.

Saturday morning we made full use of the free breakfast and had ourselves some complimentary omelets and all the fixings before heading back to the Rock Hall, as it is locally known. We went back to the basement to check out an exhibit we hadn't got to see enough of the day before. It was a huge interactive computer library of the 500 song that shaped rock. We listened to several of them before deciding we will make it our mission to collect them all someday. After we wore ouselves out with that, we moved up to the Hall of Fame theater to watch the entire video, which gives a little snippet of each inductee by year. We were throughly impressed with the diversity of the artists, and we still haven't stopped talking about who else we think should be in there and who should go in as soon as they are eligible.

On another floor we got to explore Pink Floyd's The Wall. I mean they have the actual wall from the tour there that you can walk around and read about. That was pretty cool too.

The special exhibit was in transition as the Dylan stuff ended this week and The Clash doesn't start until the 20th. but we were so hooked by that point that we knew we'd be back many times in the future.

We made the mandatory stop at the gift shop to pick up a few things and snapped a few pictures of us on the way out. You have to check your cameras at the door. here we are out front of the hall.

We made it back to the hotel just in time to head up to the bar for some lunch and watch the Cards game. The rest of the afternoon was spent in a mild depression as the Cards lost what we had fully expected to be a sweep of the Padres.

A trip to the managers' reception in the evening improved our spirits with free booze (not just wine, but any liquor of your choosing) so we got dressed up and headed back out to the warehouse district. The city seemed largely deserted, and we still don't know why. We walked through some really pretty areas along the lake front, and it was a beautiful evening. Here is Susie by this great fountain by Public Square.

After finding long waits at the places we had wanted to eat, we decided to try XO Prime Steaks . The prices were more than what we were really wanting to pay and we were even considering leaving, but then our waiter Maurice (that's Mo-reese) came by and he was so absolutely fabulous that we had to stay, and thank God we did! Our meal was phenomenol. Rach had a pan seared chicken with proscuitto and mozzarella over rosemary potatoes and Susie had blackened Mako with shrimp and mussles over a shrimp rissoto. It was to die for and we being the gluttons we are added creme brulee with fresh berries and peppermint brownies for dessert. The bill was only a few dollars more than the night before, but the food and serivce blew the other place out of the water! If you ever end up in Cleveland, don't miss this place. It was well worth the moderate price!

After the great meal, we waddled back to the hotel and turned in early in order to get on the road at a decent time today.

We are now back home preparing for another week of school and getting the house ready for our guests! We are looking forward to a visit from the Bloomes starting on Thursday and hopefully we'll have lots to report!