Tuesday, July 19th- Rock and Roll!

We woke to find the airbed deflated and the weather still hot and muggy.  A thunderstorm in the night did nothing to relieve the heat and only added to the humidity.  Going outside was like walking into a sauna.  Breathing was similar to trying to breath through a wet wool blanket.  If I could have stripped down and had a nice place to sit, I would have enjoyed it, but as it was.....miserable.  We sat in the coolness of Dixie's house and had coffee and Uncle Jerry went out for kaiser rolls, cream cheese and lox.  What a nice breakfast with wonderful people for company!

Jeff, Uncle Jerry and Dixie

Dixie's house--side and front views

Jeff and I had several errands to run, and people to see before leaving town, but a big priority of the day was visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.   First we went to Davis Bakery to pick up an order for Shelley.  Some of you will remember the coconut bars and russian tea cakes that Jeff brought home from Cleveland last summer.  And some of you are lucky enough to be able to visit regularly.  At any rate, the baked goods are rivaled by none and the smell as you walk in should be bottled and sold as perfume.

We then crossed the street to visit Berger & Silver, Jeff's cousins jewelry store.  Jeff bought me a diamond.  My heart was filled with joy, the glitter, the sparkle, the love.  It was a necklace of a musical note....oh, you guys thought it was something else. The betting pool goes on, sorry David.

Finally we drove downtown to the R & R Hall of Fame.  It really was a dream come true for me.  My whole life I have loved music:  listening and appreciating and playing.  And this is one of the things that Jeff and I have in common.  We both have varied and eclectic tastes and love music with a passion.

We got inside and besides the glory of air conditioning, the atmosphere was amazing, and so was the sound system.  We went downstairs to the main display area.  Here was the entire history of rock and roll spread out before me.  There was a focus on early influences, another long display of artists from cities and towns that were influential, and special areas for individual artists and groups.  There were computer terminals that were interactive so you could look up various artists and find out more trivia then any person has a right to be able to access (Jim Morrison was circumcised.)  The Cleveland room featured a lot of memorabilia from Leo's Casino, Jeff's fathers nightclub.  A tear was seen on Jeff's cheek as memories flashed by.  I saw Michael Jackson's glitter glove, the guitar that Pete Townsend wrote the music for Tommy on, the green suit that John Lennon wore on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, Elvis' '59 Imperial and so much more.  We could have spent many more hours or even days there, but my feet and tummy needed relief, so we hit the store for souvenirs and went out into the heat once more. 

Jeff makes friends with the locals, trying to get access to the really good stuff

Ready to leave the land of R and R.

We went looking for food and found a deli, but it was just closing, so we found another.  It was also closing, but they took pity on us and fixed the thickest rueben sandwich and most wonderful chicken soup I ever had.

We made final stops to see Aunt Jan and Uncle Fred, and then to Aunt Julia and Uncle Joe.  We wanted to stay longer, but also wanted to make some miles on the way to North Carolina and Shelley before nightfall, so off we went, south on highway 77.  We made it down to Coshocton, Ohio before pulling to the side to fall asleep with visions of adventures yet to come.