Kathy again: Dennis woke us with a knock on the door at 6:30 and boy was it hard to get up. But up we got and after a quick breakfast, shower and packing we were out the door by 8:05. The traffic was pretty heavy as we drove through Detroit, but got less as we went further southeast. After trading drivers and a couple of rest stops we were at the Cleveland city limits.
Jeff here - Well Neara, our navigation system got us to the Tick Tock tavern - a very old towny bar where the menu focuses on comfort and ethnic food at reasonable prices. I chose City Chicken which is basically cubed pork on a stick, breaded, fried, covered in gravy and onions with a heaping mountain of mashed potatoes - yes, I know, not the best choice on a healthy food scale but OMG - was it good. Kathy was a bit more sensible, barely with her Beef Stroganoff. We rolled, both literally as well as figuratively out of the happiest of Ticks around 2:20 and I decided to go over to The Westside Market at 25th and Lorain.
The market is an institution that is actually on the National Historic Registry. Inside this cavernous building with the imposing clock tower lies individual stalls filled with the best of the best of everything from meat to flowers to amazing pastries and treats. The air is filled with shouts of joy, recognition and bartering - a great place to go for groceries or just a hit of Cleveland ambiance. I was so excited until we went up to the door to read that they are closed on Tuesday's and Thursday's - what? No one gets hungry on those days or is this just another example of their being out to get me. With heavy heart, we did a bit of window shopping and then headed East over the Lorain Bridge.
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| The Westside Market |
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| Window shopping, we bought the tinted thermopane |
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| Joys candy, only the best treat ever |
I snaked my way through the city trying to find this ethic neighborhood over on Kinsman or Woodland where I spent some of my misspent youth at The Elegant Hog. The Hog was gone as well as everything else I knew, bulldozed for the sake of progress or folks who had no sense of history. The population had also changed fairly dramatically and Kathy started to question my sanity of putting her into such a questionable milieu. I only had to be asked once and I had good old, dependable Neara get us over to my cousin Amy's in Hudson where we will be staying.
A nap for Kathy, a chew the fat session with Amy for me and we were out the door around 6:30 to meet my Aunt Jan and Sheldon, (Amy's husband) for dinner. Now I should warn the unschooled that Jewish folks were the World's first foodies - if we aren't eating it, we are talking about it, (it's amazing that we were able to procreate with all of the time we spend on Sustenance.)
Dinner was at Abuelo's - upscale Mexican with heaping handfuls of laughter and memories of days gone by. A good time was had by all until it was time to leave. The weather had taken a nasty U turn where lightening etched the sky at 28 second intervals followed by thunder that shook my fillings. This was highlighted by sheets of rain where wipers set at ultra fast could not keep up. Well, it was a fun 25 mile white knuckle ride home complete with an upcoming Olympic event - Competitive hydro-planing. Amy was amazing and I did not fault her for taking a few slugs of Scotch directly from the jug upon our arrival home.
What added to the ambiance was finding the electricity out. Sheldon lite 40 candles and distributed flashlights to all. He has a generator (Mr. Prepared) which allowed the pump to function so we still had the use of the loo's for our basic needs. We watched an episode of Doc Martin on Kat's computer and turned in early. It was a new and interesting experience huddled under the covers and both of us reading by the light of one small flashlight. Every time I turned the page, the light would swing wildly across the walls. The lightening show went on way past midnight and the next day, folks stood around discussing the storm of '13, the worst seen in memory.
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