Monday, August 22, 2016

The Joy of Simple Entertainment and Bad Timing in Cleveland, Ohio

Friday, August 19 - Sunday, August 20, 2016
Amherst, Ohio

Friday we continue along Interstate 90, through still more corn and soy beans. Ohio seems to have figured out toll booths, which makes the drive much more relaxing. Pull a ticket when you get on the highway, pay for the ticket wherever you get off the highway. How you pay is clearly marked large enough to see from a distance - and all pay methods are taken. It's the little things......

Timber Ridge Campground is a sweet little park with a private lake, indoor pool, breakfast and dinner on weekends for a small additional fee, and friendly people. There are several seasonal units here, and everyone seems to have a golf cart, although the park is not large.

Our very long site on the lake has a large concrete pad with a picnic table, and a fire pit in the lawn by the water. Spacing is good, the site is very level, and the few trees provide shade while not blocking our satellite. No in-park WiFi, but our AT&T gets 5 bars of LTE.

The humidity is lower, and with no bugs here we hang out by the lake for a couple hours being entertained by the campers.


Breezy retrieves the orange ball, drops it on the very edge of the water, and returns to wait for it to be thrown
Mom explains that he needs to bring the ball up on the grass so it's easier for her to pick up, then she throws the ball
Breezy gets the ball and returns
to drop the ball in the same spot.
He looks back at the ball, and Mom, who tells him she's not throwing it again!
It takes five minutes of "stern" commands to come out of the water, with helpful laughter from the neighbors
for Breezy to return to his house.
This young man fishes here every weekend and uses three different poles with different lures. He fished the whole lake over about 45 minutes, and caught and released a few Bass.
It was a fun Friday evening in our pretty back yard.



I stopped here so we could visit nearby Cleveland. Bill has a collection of music - rock and roll - of over 6000 albums on file. Classic rock is his favorite and I want him to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Cleveland Browns stadium is next door so we can add another one to our list as well.

We can't avoid every place on the weekends, so it's Saturday when we head to our destination. It's not Chicago, but Cleveland's skyline is pretty from the highway. There's no traffic and finding a parking place in the large lot is no problem. 

The location is lovely, right on Lake Erie, sharing the grounds with a large science museum. 


Hall of Fame
On the harbor.
We enter from the back and notice a lot of people standing in lines on the floor above. Must be a special showing of something. When we take the elevator up to the main floor we look for "where to start". A staff person points to all the people and says "In that line." He tells us that in his twenty years here he has never seen it this busy - great!

The cost is $26 per person and the wait is expected to be three hours. Just to get a wrist band to see the museum. There are four floors, it looks amazing.




We pass. 

I'm so disappointed, but there's just no way we're going to stand in line that long, and then have to wade through that crowd. It will be here next time we come through.


So close
It's a cool building
Before returning to the parking lot, we walk around the Dawg Pound, Cleveland's NFL stadium.





While the museum is nice and cool, the outdoor temps and humidity are up again, and we cut our self-tour short. 

We check out some of downtown Cleveland from the comfort of the air conditioned Jeep, before heading home.



The odd angle on this Hilton really grabs my eye
Huh?
New towers over the old

Sailors and Soldiers Memorial in the downtown square
Sunday is another travel day. We get fuel at one of the great travel plazas, and I'm even more sold on what a perfect idea these are for travelers. As we leave the Ohio Turnpike and pay our toll ticket I have made peace with the toll booths.

Pennsylvania is our 16th state, and we seem to have left the corn behind at last! Interstate 76 even has some hills - and very pretty forests. It looks like a different state.

And the toll booth is the worst! The lane is so narrow that I inch along to assure I'm not leaving paint on the four-foot-high-concrete curbs. A human and no gate.

There are two options - the EZ pass or cash. What if you don't have either one? I figure we can just pay online as we did in Illinois. "No, I'm sorry I can't let you do that." Seriously? "We're going to be taking debit cards pretty soon." Great. In the next few minutes?, or should we just put down our jacks?

Bill finds some cash and we're on our way. With no gate to stop us, I'm curious what would have happened if he hadn't.....

Mountain Top Campground in Tarentum, Pennsylvania is actually on a mountain(ish) top. The website gives specific directions which we're able to follow most of the way except where there's a detour sign (turns out there is no detour). Still, we make our way along the narrow, rough, steep road to the park without incident. I actually have a really good time navigating the route - I know, still weird.

We have stayed in some beautiful parks since entering "this side" of the country, and this may be the best yet. Our level grass site has spectacular views over the green forests below us. The park itself is a large grass meadow with sites around the perimeter. Water and electric only with a gray tank dump at the site, and a dump station near the entrance.

It's under 80 degrees for the first time in at least 10 years (feels like it), and the humidity is lower, BUT the biting bugs come out as the sun goes down. So although it's very pretty here, I'm back inside for the evening. Still lovely out the windows :-)


Sweet site
Expansive views
Wide open space



Monday we take a day trip to Pittsburgh to visit the home of my Steelers!!




22 comments:

  1. Ha ha! I can just see you blazing through the toll booth if you couldn't come up with the cash!!! Makes me glad there are very few toll roads in the West!

    Looks like some pretty sweet campsites lately. Especially the view on this last one!

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    1. I swear that would have been our only other option! If we didn't have to get to the airport further east we'd extend our stay, it's so pretty here.

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  2. We got stuck at an unmanned toll booth in Florida. It was 75 cents. That's all we had in change. We dropped it in and the light stayed red. And, it continued to stay red. It's a $100 fine to run those and they have cameras. We picked up a payment envelope and sent a check in for another 75 cents. Maybe it's a way to get $1.50.

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    1. Arrghh! The unmanned ones are the worst. Glad you didn't get stuck with the fine!!

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  3. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is on our list too...timing is everything. I would not have waited either!

    Enjoy Pennsylvania. We loved Elizabethtown, but was very disappointed in the Hershey tour. It's beautiful country!

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    1. Definitely not a place to try and see when there's any big game in town - for sure a week day place!! I'm sorry we don't have more time here, but there's just sooooo much to see :-))

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  4. We were really surprised about the PA turnpike not taking credit cards. What would happen if you really didn't have cash? I can see that happening. Glad you are enjoying the trees. People from the west coast who visit always remark on the forests. You know people describe PA as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in the middle. Kind of true once you tour the state:)

    So sorry about the Hall of Fame. You both would have loved it, but not with that crowd!

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    1. We were commenting on how the west must look to folks who lived here their whole lives - must feel like a foreign world too! You're not going to drive in forests just 10 miles from Los Angeles - although the ocean is pretty wonderful there. It's so exiting that we get to experience all these difference.

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  5. The Ohio Turnpike also has several separate RV parking lots where you can stay overnight. They are before you hit the other facilities though making it a challenge to use them.

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    1. I saw the lots but didn't realize they were for overnight as well - such a great idea!!

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  6. The pay for it at the end type toll road is my favorite too only surpassed by the Sunpass in Florida where you get the pass, put money in the account and you hardly have to slow down to pay. A campground with breakfast and dinner is a new one on me. I’d love to see what they serve. THREE hours just to get in? Come back on a Tuesday. Week-ends are the pits. I’m amazed that people actually waited that long. Would LOVE to see the list of Bill’s 6000 titles. That’s amazing. I think the old is much more attractive than the new towers. Beautiful views and sunsets at your site in PA. You're getting closer to us. Sunday we'll be at the Delaware Water Gap in PA.

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    1. We are getting closer!! Westfield, NY for the next week. I'm going to see Chautauqua while Bill is in SoCal. I'm looking forward to seeing the grounds and surrounds. There wasn't a sign or a guide where people got in line so I don't know how long they waited before they found out it was three hours. I'm so glad we asked. We're loving all the old architecture in these eastern cities.

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  7. Sounds like the line we ran into at the DMV today. Your campsites by the lake look great.

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    1. Ha! They are always such a popular attraction :-)))) We love it here.

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  8. A little history on the Fifth Third name, Jodee: Third National and Fifth National merged in the early part of the 20th century. While Third National was the larger bank, prohibitionists were gaining steam at the time, and the name 'Third Fifth' was seen as a problem. Hence the current name. No joke. :)

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    1. That's so cool!! I kept meaning to look it up and forgot. Thanks for sharing that fun piece of history.

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  9. How I remember the tollbooths of the Midwest and sounds like it's only gotten worse. Along with the bugs. I had a non-stop fetching Labby mutt much like Breezy. Bummer about the museum but the town provided entertainment with the wonky buildings. I too enjoy negotiating a challenging road.

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    1. Tessa doesn't do water or fetch so it was especially fun to watch Breezy!! I still can't believe we didn't get to see the museum :-(((

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  10. I wouldn't have waited in that line either. But one day I would like to see it. Ron and I probably enjoy the same music as you two, although our play list isn't nearly as long :-) Rufus plays fetch but his version ends in keep away or tug-o-war. And he doesn't like the water either :-) Nice camp sites too. We made our first reservations! We'll be going to Idaho for a friends wedding very soon :-))

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    1. I've learned a lot of new artists from his collection, but we mostly listen to the classics. So excited to see the new home and your first adventure on the road!!!

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  11. Oh, I'm so sorry you didn't get to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! We want to go there, too. But we would never have waited in that line and fought the crowds, either. You're right, it will be there when you return. If you guys make it to Memphis this fall, you would love the Rock n' Soul Museum and Sun Studios.

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    1. We are going to try to catch Memphis - specifically for Sun Studios!! We know we'll make this trip again, we have a list of "come back and see" that's getting long already :-)

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