Tales of Two Road Trips (Part 3: The Conclusion)

It was a rust belt summer for me.  In May (yes I know, May is technically Spring--work with me) I managed a quick trip to Pittsburgh to visit Jeff R.  And in typical Ken vacation fashion, I squeezed a lot into a brief 48 hour visit.  Perhaps you read about it here, or click  the link if you missed it or wish to relive the magic all over again.  The thing is, I once spent a week in Providence, Rhode Island back in 1991 and did almost nothing for the seven days I was there.  I mean, I did do a few things, like play basketball every day and saw Fugazi at the Living Room, which was cool.  But aside from that, I just kinda drank a lot and slept in, it was my Spring Break.  Here I was a hour's train ride from Boston and I couldn't be bothered to make the trek.  I've always regretted that which is why now whenever I'm in a new city, I cram as much as possible into those visits, in case I may never make it back.  So when the opportunity to go to Cleveland to witness the wedding of some good friends presented itself, I saw road trip potential.

We could've taken a Southwest flight for $119 per person roundtrip and been there in an hour but where's the fun in that?  We'd have to rent a car anyway, so why not cram the MINI's boot full of luggage and make the six hour journey via car?  I'd never driven the MINI more than three hours, so I was psyched that we could make it on a tank of gas each way and actually spend less on fuel than airfare would've been anyway.  Plus we'd get to see the splendor that is Northern Indiana and Western Ohio, which is nearly as mind-numbingly dull as the drive across Nebraska.  But geting there is half the fun, right?  One highlight was the absolute delight in the discovery of a street that crossed over the Ohio Turnpike called...Fangboner Road. 

I've been hearing great things about Chick Fil-a Restaurants for years: great healthy fast food, friendly service,  but closed on Sundays and only available in 38 states, none of which are named Illinois.  I remebered that one of states with Chick fil-A's is Ohio and found one right off the interstate, which is where we had lunch just outside of Cleveland.  We told the 60-something gentleman manning the counter that it was our first ever visit to a Chick fil-A and he gave us free sodas and coupons good for our next visit, whenever that may be.  The legendary chicken sandwich lived to the hype, as did the chicken nuggets.  If you've had McDonald's new chicken sandwich, it's a pale imitation of Chic fil-A's signature menu item, right down to the sole condiment of two dill pickle slices. 

We pulled into our hotel parking lot at 2PM, with just under an hour to check-in, change clothes and drive back down to downtown Cleveland to catch the 2:55 start of the Indians/Angels game.  Now in just about any major city--including Chicago--that would've been impossible but Cleveland is remarkably easy to navigate and maneuver around.   We found secure parking two blocks from Progressive Field (formerly Jacob's Field) for only $10 and bought upper deck box seats and were sitting down before the Indians came to bat in the bottom of the 1st inning.  Built in 1994, Progressive Field is among the newer parks in baseball and HOK (the architectural firm who designed it) clearly learned from the missteps they made with the "new" Comiskey Park.  While not as cool as PNC Park (Pittsburgh's park has a better skyline and lots of bridges) Progressive is among the better new parks.  The day we were there was "Turn Back The Clock Day", in which the game was presented as it would've been presented in 1948.  This meant the Jumbotron in left field was relagated to being a giant, 'virtual' manual scoreboard and the P.A. was only used for player announcements, no music in between innings.  Of course when they do these promotions, they never turn back the prices, do they?  Then again, Cleveland is still smarting from ten cent beer night.  The food was standard ballpark fare and beer was actually fifty cents more than at Wrigley but they do get credit for a clever take on the standard soft pretzel, the Progressive Field version is shaped in the Indians' trademark script "I". Very cool and tasty.  The Indians lost.  After the game, we had a few drinks and dinner at pub across the street from the park.  When we got back to the hotel, Carla was wiped and went to bed so Curtis and I watched Michael Phelps make Olympic history over Ketel Ones in the hotel bar.

Thankfully the wedding ceremony wasn't until 5PM, which gave us time for a hearty breakfast and then then the closest thing I have to a hajj, a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Now I'd be happy to join any of you in a discussion about the R&R HoF, such as why certain artists aren't in yet (Cheap Trick) but some dubious artists are (Dave Clark Five anyone?) but all quibbling aside, it's an impressive collection of artifacts housed in a remarkable building.  Among the expected items (guitars, outfits, etc) are unique items like Janis Joplin's Porsche, Roy Orbison's Corvette and pieces of the plane Otis Redding died in.  Alan Freed, while dead, is also there--literally--in ashes form as his urn is on display.  Perhaps the most impressive display for me personally was an entire  10' x 5' case dedicated to Joy Division/New Order inlcuding Peter Hook's first bass guitar, Ian Curtis' handwritten lyrics for "Love Will Tear Us Apart" an unused ticket for Joy Division at Tut's in Chicago and the first test pressing and early artwork for New Order's "Blue Monday" 12" single.  It wasn't until after we left that I discovered there is a part of the Hall where plaques of the inductees are on display, something the program didn't point out very well.  Next time, I guess.

We dashed back to the hotel to get into our formalware and grab the shuttle to the wedding.  The wedding ceremony and reception were both held at a gorgeous tudor mansion that was once the home of a former Federal Reserve Bank President which had been converted to a private club.  It was a tradtional Jewish ceremony for which the groom had coverted to Judiasm, prompting the father of the bride to remark that the groom likely knew more about their faith than anyone else in the family at that point.  The weather was perfect for the outdoor setting.  There were some terrific speeches, the band was great and the food was top-notch.  I vaguely remember some dancing and also some Grey Goose but more of the latter than the former.  There's just something about an out-of-town wedding that bonds all the guests who travelled to get there.  We are both asleep by 1AM as we had a 7AM wakeup call to get back on the road home because I had to work that afternoon. That return trip always seems so much longer.

Ever been to Cleveland?  The Rock  & Roll Hall of Fame?  An Indians game?

Comments

[Jeff]

Wow - you really have seen it all this summer. I've been through Cleveland coming back from Niagara - it looked nice enough - but didn't have time to stop.

Rock n Roll hall of fame sounds awesome. I finally saw Control and it really brought out the Joy Division fan in me once again...

[ken]

Jeff - You have no idea how thrilled I was to see an entire display case filled with Joy Division/New Order artifacts. Next to it was a case of Mick Jagger's stage outfits over the years. To see those two next to each other really validates JD/NO. Not that I needed validation.

Now you have to see the Joy Division documentary. Where the biopic was sad, the doc is uplifting in a way.