Day 3

Day 3: 5/20/15 (Taughannock Falls to Mason, OH through Cleveland)

600 miles

Last night was pretty chilly.  We checked Accuweather while we were in Syracuse and it said the lows were in the 30s…brrr.  Luckily we brought some sleeping bags for that kind of weather and we weren’t too cold throughout the night.  We woke up around 6am to pack up the tent and by 7:30am we were on the road to Cleveland.  We’re happy we won’t have to camp again until South Dakota – repacking the car is the equivalent to solving a Rubik’s cube (as long as you suck at solving Rubik’s cubes).  We passed through Amish country again and saw another horse and buggy, but once again we were slow to the draw and missed getting a picture.  We made a pit stop at a rest area with wifi so we could upload the blogs for Day 1 and Day 2.  We were impressed with how many views our blog got!  Though we’re thinking at least 100 of them are from Chelsea, our only follower and apparently #1 fan. J

The drive to Cleveland was mainly a 250 mile stretch on I-90.  We arrived a little before 2pm and headed straight to the West Side Market to search for some lunch.  Walking through the front door we were overwhelmed with a plethora of meats, cheeses, bread, and of course sweets, representing a range of different cultures.  We made our rounds like kids in a candy store wishing we could have it all, but recognizing our situation and the 5 hours of travel in front of us before reaching Mason, OH, we settled on splitting a small variety of smokies (glorified Slim-Jims), a turkey and swiss pasty (Irish ‘meat pie’), pimento cheese spread (for our crackers), and a box of Grandma Campbell’s cake truffles (Mocha, Sea-salt Caramel, Turtle, Choco Lovers, Red Velvet, Cheesecake, German Chocolate).  Truly an amazing market worth visiting.

After drooling all over the glass cases at the market we made our way to the Cleveland Hard Rock to grab another set of drumsticks for Sean.  Next on the list was the famous house from A Christmas Story across the city.  Cleveland was fairly easy to navigate into; however, finding locations within and leaving proved to be difficult with dead end streets and constant construction that gave the impression that they decided to scrap half the city and start from scratch.  Anyway, after a few wrong turns and minor frustration we found the house, leg lamp and all.  If ever considering to stop here, DO NOT be misled by the aisle of orange cones or give in to the incessant flag waving of the crazy next door neighbor who attempts to coral you into his yard to charge for parking…it’s a small neighborhood and street parking is free if the gift shop lot is full.

Between Cleveland and Akron and located just east of Cuyahoga Valley National park we found another Hard Rock Café and Casino in Northfield, OH where we grabbed a third pair of sticks for Sean.  Finding ourselves so close to Cuyahoga Valley we decided to backtrack a little and check out Bridal Veil Falls.  In the book the falls are described as cascading over a series of sandstone ledges within a steep-sided valley.  After seeing it, we now know why the book left out pictures of any of the "waterfalls".  We can imagine that Cuyahoga Valley is a peaceful sanctuary for the city dwellers of Cleveland and Akron, but only driving through a small portion of it and having just come from Niagara Falls, Cuyahoga was a little bit of a letdown.  

(The "waterfall")

From there we drove about 3 ½ hours to Mason to stay with the Aldrich Family who are friends of the Knights and are UNH Alumni whoop whoop!  We spent the night catching up and went to bed, but in a real bed this time, for a nice long night of sleep.  Oh and we were so excited to meet their kitty Roxy since we’re missing our own little Khaleesi.

Here is a video compilation of Day 2 and Day 3, enjoy!

Day 2 Video

Day 3 Video

  

Fact: 

Drew Carey thinks Cleveland rocks, but really it’s just the West Side Market that rocks.

Lesson: 

If the publishing company didn’t include a picture of the attraction, then it might not be worth the visit.

Eat Well; Travel Often

Rico & Jillian