Jeff here: Our first full day in Cleveland, home of my childhood, where I cut my teeth and became the man you see before you today - OK Cleveland, not such a ringing endorsement to settle here.
We charged out of Amy and Sheldon's at 9:30, actually charge, not so much, more like an easy saunter. First destination, drum roll please....Jack's Delicatessen at Green and Ceder Rd. A place that is a treat for your olfactory nerves and comfort for your taste buds - I had my old stand by, the LEO - lox, eggs and onions with a Kaiser roll with a mound of cream cheese. Happy? You betcha! A gallon of coffee and "The Cleveland Plain Dealer" and we were raring to go so Kat checked out the powder room and we were off.
It was still cool from all of the rain so we headed out old route 306 for Holden Arboretum. This is a crown jewel in Cleveland's bonnet, a gardener and outdoor enthusiast's delight. We got there around 11:45. Due to the miles of trails and Kathy's bad knee, we decided to take advantage of a mobile tour which was scheduled to leave at 1:00. We hung out in the butterfly garden which is designed to knock 10 points off your blood pressure. Every color of the rainbow was represented with interesting blends of texture, design and fragrance. Just this garden was worth the price of admission.
We boarded the 5 passenger golf cart at 1:00 with another couple, about our age from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and our intrepid guide Steve. Well, I normally don't like these kind of things and quickly realized that my attitude would not be changing today. At each stop as Steve would point out... "a ginko tree", Marge or Frank would feel it necessary to go "ohhh, ahhh, isn't that marvelous," or "oooh, that is just amazing!!!" I wanted to turn to them and ask them pointedly, "Damn it woman, don't they have trees in Wisconsin????" There were several times that I just wanted to throw myself under the cart and end the pain. My ears felt like they were about to bleed. Well, as you can all surmise from this missive, we survived the one hour tour without any manslaughter charges.
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| Selfie in the garden |
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| Crayfish escaped the pond |
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| Pond at the butterfly garden, not a selfie |
We hung around for another half hour, stopped for a beverage and corn dog and then headed over to visit with my Aunt Dixie. Dixie lives out in the country and is a very amazing lady for 74 years young. She has a kind but very straight forward approach to life - we both love her and enjoyed the visit.
We then headed over to Chagrin Falls, a quaint older town that is a tourist destination. We window shopped, Kat picked up a book on suicides she had been looking for, (Cleveland can do that for ya) and had a Rib dinner at Rick's Cafe. We polished things off with an ice cream cone and a walk around the falls and headed back home, stuffed but happy.
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| Downtown Chagrin Falls |
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| Geese under the falls |
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| Ready for the 4th |
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