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!!