On Friday night as we sat at the gate for our flight to Ohio and waited to board the plane, Jose, Nick, Heather and I managed to offend nearly everyone in the area with the following:
“Why are we going to Cleveland again? Is there anything good about Cleveland? Oh well, at least we’re getting the hell out of Texas…”
However, after an absolutely fantastic 48 hours, I’m happy and a little bit surprised to report that the song is actually true — Cleveland does rock!
We flew in on Friday night and spent the late evening hours hanging out in the breakfast area at the Holiday Inn Express. Not the most auspicious start to the weekend, but it was all we had. Saturday morning came bright and early with a return to the breakfast area for cinnamon rolls and coffee. It turns out that not a single one of the four of us is really that much of a morning person, and we sat at breakfast for an hour trying to wake up.
We headed downtown in search of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As we arrived, we realized that the museum was right next to a small airport right on Lake Erie that happened to be hosting the Cleveland National Air Show all weekend! Very exciting. There was a balcony at the Hall of Fame where we were able to sit down and watch the aerobatic performances for a little while — we could see the end of the runway without a problem. It was a great view.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame turned out to be really cool. I had pictured just a bunch of signed guitars, but the whole place was very well done. Someone (and probably many someones) obviously put a lot of time and effort into getting that place going, because the amount of items that they have in their collection was really impressive. Yes, there were lots of guitars, but there were also tons of other items. The red jacket that Michael Jackson wore in the “Thriller” video. A sheet of paper with Aerosmith’s lyrics to “Walk This Way,” along with plenty of other lyrics scrawled on paper by other musicians. Costumes from various tours and music videos — Madonna is one skinny woman, judging from her clothes. John Lennon’s report cards and doodles. Bono’s first guitar. Receipts from Elvis’s hotel stays. Johnny Cash’s tour bus. Pieces of the plane that crashed, killing Otis Redding. Plenty of stations with headphones to listen to music, and huge displays of tour posters, CD covers, album art, and photographs.
Sadly, photos weren’t allowed, but it was a great museum, and I’d highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in Cleveland. We were only able to stay for a couple hours, and we could’ve stayed for more. I mean, we didn’t even see the actual Hall of Fame exhibit, which was a movie and multimedia presentation! But we did see the Thriller jacket, so, you know, priorities.
Off we went. We arrived at the mall, which was much more of a mall than the first place, and Nick was able to find some shoes at Payless while Jose and I went off to search for a black belt. (Jose had forgotten his, which was funny enough but paled in comparison to Nick’s forgotten shoes.) The only ones we found were at Brooks Brothers, and they were $88. Needless to say, Jose went to the wedding without a belt. We speed-walked back through downtown and got to the car at 2:40. Nick drove like a Texan and got us back to the hotel right at 3:00. We calculated that we needed to leave by 3:30 to make it to the wedding with some time to spare, and we hurried into our respective rooms to iron, primp, and get dressed. We were back in the car at 3:35 and headed to the chapel, which was about 8 miles away.
It was a nerve-wracking drive, but we knew we’d make it. It would have really sucked to have come all the way to Ohio only to miss the actual wedding ceremony. We finally turned the corner onto the chapel’s street and breathed a sigh of relief. The chapel was only a quarter mile down the road, and we could see the steeple. And that’s when we saw the train.
Just before the chapel, a train was crossing the road. We could see the steeple of the chapel just beyond the train tracks. It was so close, and yet so far. We came to a stop behind at least 10-15 cars backed up in front of us, and the fact that there were so many cars ahead of us reassured us that the train had probably been passing for a while, and would end soon. It was 3:51.
But the train kept going, and going. It was 3:54, then 3:57. The clock clicked to 3:59, and then 4:00. Panic set in.
“This is unbelievable!”
“This is the longest train in the entire world!”
“I can see the freaking steeple!”
“Melissa is going to absolutely kill us!”
At 4:01, a second train appeared. A second train. There were two sets of tracks, and while the first train continued to slowly pass, a freaking second train joined the fray. At 4:02, the first train finally ended, but the second train was still passing.
“You have got to be kidding me!”
“I cannot believe there are two trains!”
“I’m going to throw up.”
“Melissa is going to kill us and then revive us, just to kill us again!”
At 4:04, the second train finally ended. We had sat in the car for the longest 13 minutes of my life watching two trains pass between us and the wedding chapel.
The ceremony was lovely, and afterwards we blew bubbles as the newlyweds came out of the chapel to board a limo bus bound for the reception. Melissa’s “aunt” made this amazing piece of artwork that was posted on the back of the bus, a drawing of Matt and Melissa and all sorts of things significant to them and to their lives. It was really cool.
Jose and me at the reception
At one point, the crowd in the upper deck of left field started to shout and cheer. The Indians were losing 8-0 at that point and there wasn’t much to cheer about, so we were confused for an instant — and then the roar of 6 F-16s shook the stadium as they flew directly overhead, the shadows of 6 military jets streaking across the outfield grass. I’m sure it was hell on the pitchers to concentrate amidst all the engine noise, but it was awesome for the crowd.
I put a set of photos on Flickr, and you can enjoy them here as well.
txrunnergirl says
Wow Sarah, your post made me want to go to Cleveland! Rock & Roll, a fun wedding, an airshow and an outdoor baseball game…sounds like an awesome weekend to me!
Becca says
So weird. The last time I was in Cleveland (hm, like 5 years ago also for Labor Day weekend), I went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame AND was suprised that that same air show was going on and the Blue Angels were flying low through the skyline! I also really like Cleveland, I have a lot of family nearby…
Steeeve says
Cleveland – great place. Love Jacobs Field, love that you can watch baseball out of doors in Ohio. The RnR Hall of Fame movie and multimedia are fantastic, you need to take them in next time.
Jon says
I caught the Happy Valley reference!
Sarah says
Jon — I knew you would! They both graduated from Penn State. It’s where they met.
laanba says
I usually don’t get all excited about wedding dresses, but I really like that one. The detailing is really nice.