Day 1 – Wyckoff to Cleveland Ohio
We’re off! We left Wyckoff at 6::21 and arrived at James A. Garfield ‘s House in Mentor, Ohio at 2:20. Eric was the sole driver because Scott and I kept falling asleep. Lunch was at Arby’s at 10:30. “Feels like an Arby’s day.”
Who is James Garfield, you may ask? He was the 20th president of the US, inaugurated in March 1881, shot in Washington DC that July and died in September in Elberon, New Jersey (near Long Branch, which was a populat presidential retreat at that time.) So he only served for 200 days. I loved the ranger tour of the house and gave Ranger Alan an A for effort and enthusiasm. Scott rated him A-/B+ and Eric, always the tough evaluator, gave him a B for going on a little too long and not wearing his hat.
We were about 20 miles from Cleveland. We had a quick dinner at Guy’S Pizza, forgetting that the rest of the country doesn’t know how to make pizza (or bagels). A relatively well dressed homeless person assured us that this was the best pizza place in Cleveland.
On to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Gary would have absolutely loved this, but would have had to opt for the 2 day pass. I don’t know if we would have been able to get him out of the first floor exhibit, which traced the history of R &R.
Our favorites:
Ginny: the handwritten lyrics of Beatle songs, Bruce’s pictures of Asbury Park, history of Memphis music scene (note to Gary—I’m doing my homework for October!)
Eric: Michael Jackson glove and costumes, Springsteen’s handwritten lyrics and concert posters for Red Bank, Asbury, Middletown…”I know those places”, pictures from the Matrix Club in SF, Jimi Hendrix’s couch
Scott: Jim Morrison’s cub scout uniform, fat turista in golf shirt and khaki shorts who was waxing on about the best Stones concert he ever saw; the amazing similarity between a pink Stevie Nicks outfit and a pink one from Steven Tyler displayed next to each other; the fact that the featured exhibit was Bruce Springsteen. Gee, pictures of Asbury Park!
We were dead tired by the time we reached our hotel, so although we had wi-fi, we waited to post until today.
Quote of the day:
Eric: “Look,there’s the Cleveland skyline.”
Mom: “Where?” (Come on, it was a little hazy)
Mileage: 507 miles
Oh, it sounds great! Wish I'd known you were staying in Cleveland. We stayed at the Residence Inn, right across from the Baseball stadium. It was the most unusual hotel ever. The garage was down underneath and originally made for horse and carriage arrivals. The drive down was an experience, but then the hotel was remarkable too. If I'm ever back in Cleveland that's where I'll stay.
ReplyDeleteR&R Hall of Fame was great, but we didn't have enough time either. We were on our way home and wanted to get back that day.
Hi guys. Sounds like a great trip so far. I'm having some trouble with the math here though. It seems like in a span of 14 hours you had time to drive 507 miles visit Pres. Garfield's house, R&R hall of fame, Arby's, and Pizza...how do you have time for all of this? Eric, I hope you weren't speeding.
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