Cleveland Rocks

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We arrived in Cleveland on beautiful summers morning, after a 17 hour greyhound ride from hell. It wasnt that bad really but we didnt sleep much and the bus driver insisted on turning all the coach lights on whenever we stopped, just so you couldn't get any real sleep.

Greyhound USA is vastly different to Greyhound in Canada. In Canada once you check your bags you dont have to worry about them until you reach your final destination, in the USA you have to move your own bag at every change of bus. In Canada Greyhound will board passengers with reserved tickets first (something that is not even available in the USA), then parents with children, then disabled passengers, then continuing passengers and then everyone else, in the USA it is every man for himself - if you make it to the front of the line then you are first in line. In Canada if there are more passengers than there are seats then they will put another bus on, in the USA you just have to wait for the next bus - something that has not happened to us yet (touch wood).

Well for those of you that have watched the Drew Cary show you would have heard the opening title track - Cleveland Rocks. I would have to say that it is true, quite literally. Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Cleveland is also where the term Rock and Roll originated, a local radio DJ coining the term in the early 50's.

We have been lucky enough to stay with a local Cleveland family - friends with Warwick's Aunt Judy from way back. They took us in and showed us around. It gives you a different perspective of things as well. Whilst travelling around and staying in hostels is cool and you get to meet interesting people from all around the world it means you dont really get to meet the locals. Staying with Carole and Larry in Parma (south side of Cleveland) has meant that we have not been limited to seeing the typical tourist stuff, we have been able to see their local hangouts and do the things that they do. Larry was a little embarrased that we were staying in the basement and apologised for it - Bec and I said there was no need for an apology and we told Larry that we thought it was actually pretty cool to stay in the basement, after all I have never ever seen a home in Australia that has a basement!

We went out to Huntington Beach for a picnic with some fried chicken and soda. It was a lovely spot on the south side of Lake Erie and once again I was amazed by the size of the Great Lakes, so big you can't see the other side and all fresh water! It was all nice and quiet as well because it was just before the Labour day weekend so all the kids were at home getting ready for school and some already there. We had some ice cream whilst we were up there. You often hear about servings in the US being large but this was ridiculous. We got the small size servings with only 2 scoops of ice cream in a cup, there must have been nearly 1/2 a litre of ice cream there, it was so big it could have been a meal on its own!

Caole and Larry took us to a Family cookout in the country for Labour Day. The BBQ was the usual Yankee fare - Hotdogs and Burgers (come on guys where are the lamb chops and steaks?). But the BBQ was not the focus - they have a tradition at this cookout where people bring marinated wings and everybody votes on whose wings were the best. There was 11 different types of wings, varying from the sweet to down right burn your mouth off hot! Bec and I didnt know any wing recipes so we baked some ANZAC biscuits (cookies to the yanks) and took those along. They went down pretty well with none left at the end of the day and Larry actually kept a stash at home. There was games of Horseshoes during the day as well as a game called 'Cornhole' - which I am going to bring home to Australia and teach you all (and no it has no sexual play involved - keep your minds out of the gutter). People were drinking beer all day, I wasnt quite sure how they could just keep drinking and drinking - then I found out that most American beers have only 3 to 3 1/2 percent alcohol in them. Where is the fun in that??????

Cleveland is an interesting city - for music fans it has a Lincoln Park and for fans of the smutty it has a South Park. When pollution was bad in the past and the river was full of junk it actually caught fire - Yes the river caught on fire. Fortunately the place is a lot cleaner now and the river is no longer a fire hazard.

Carole and Larry's son Chaz took us on a private tour of his workplace - The Great Lakes Brewing Company. This brewery is one of the new fandangled micro-brewey types. Actually a really sweet setup and the beer was really good. That clean crisp taste that comes with no preservatives and leaves no hangover. Chaz and his girlfriend Chantelle then took us out to a pub called the Lincoln Park Hotel - kind of a local hangout but really nice with friendly locals and Chaz would not let us pay for a drink all night - he used to work there and got mates rates on the drinks. Again it was nice to go to a local hangout as opposed to somewhere that would be full of tourists and backpackers.

Carrie (Larry and Carole's daughter) and Chantelle took us to another local hangout. This pub had a bit of an island theme with fluro coconuts and palm trees and a nice outdoor deck area. It was a little chilly when we were there and that was in summer - I can't imagine the outdoor island thing goes all that well when the snow hits...... The pub was pretty cool though, it had wings (the people are obsessed with them) not just one or two types of wings but 41 different flavours and styles of wings!

Larry and Carole also took us to a Historical Society of Cleveland Museum. It was really sweet, we wandered through the cars for hours. There was everything from 20's vintage magnetic / electric vehicles to Cord's and Chrysler 300D's, a Yenko Camaro and '64 GTO with the 389 Tripower. It was really like heaven - awesome. And just when I thought it could not get any better there was 1930's air racers and P51D Mustang and it also had the Giant Neon Brave off the old Cleveland Indians Stadium.

We went and watched a Baseball game. We tried to see a Yankees game whilst we were in New York but all the tickets were sold out. So when Larry told us there was a make up game (another game was rained off) going in Cleveland we jumped at the chance. So we got some $6 tickets and sat high up on right side of the field. For the cheapest seats in the house I thought that they were actually pretty good, we could see everything. Baseball is pretty strange - if the ball goes into the crowd then they get to keep it -try that at a cricket match! The crowd are so used to changing channels on the TV that between the innings there has to be entertainment to break things up and I guess it is better for the TV audience not to miss anything while the adds are on! It was also pretty weird watching crowd behaviour - there was no spontaneous activity or cheering they all waited for the electronic signs to tell them what to do. If there was a home run by the home team then fireworks were set off and the crowd went a little crazy - wonder what they would think of a cricket match in West Indies?

If ever you go to Cleveland you just have to visit the Rock and Roll hall of Fame and Museum. Go at opening time and be prepared to be there until closing time and seriously consider getting the two day pass. Wow. Best museum I have ever visited. There is everything there including a chronological display of the evolution of Rock and Roll - from Robert Johnson to Marilyn Manson. There are costume exhibits from the Beatles to Britney Spears, Michael Jacksons glove and David Bowies stage outfits. There are Guitars from Johnny Cash to Kurt Cobain, Cars from Roy Orbison to ZZ Tops's Eliminator. The museum has interactive displays that let you listen some of the most influential Rock Songs ever recorded - you would not belive the list of artists and the quantity of songs. Amazing. I was a little disappointed that you are not allowed to take a camera inside but I would have filled the memory card and still have missed things. We definately needed more time in this place.

Overall I must say that I loved Cleveland. I got a really positive impression of the city. Carole and Larry and everyone else in town went out of their way to make us feel at home and it is certainly one of the places I will remember most fondly in the US

Cleveland Rocks.

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Comments

[Danie]

SQUEEE
You saw the Cleveland Indians Play - jealous as here! Ok, ok so i ended up a total baseball addict from living in Japan, you want crowd participation you want the Hanshin Tigers ;) Need to find decent baseball here in Australia... Anyway glad to here you are still alive, was wondering and all... Any chance you want to look up my old primary school penfriend - she lived in Cleveland ;) Sounds like you are still haveing a ball. Love Danie