Obama Is Following Me

We are back from Cleveland, and apparently we have started a hot new trend. Even President Obama is following in our footsteps with a visit to the city. I am sorry to inform you Mr. President, but we have already gone.

Thanks go out to Weasel Momma for providing us with this fun getaway via her giveaway on World of Weasels. If you don't know her by now then stop by and say hello. She is sure to keep giving stuff away now that she has a taste of giving away showcases like Bob Barker.

For now I will wrap it up with my new updated Top 5 things about Cleveland list.

1. Downtown Cleveland is packed with great places to eat. We had a great meal every night and could have continued that trend for weeks to come. There are all sorts of different cuisines and settings right in the downtown area. We even saw my friend PJ Mullen's hero Michael Symon's restaurant "Lola" on Sunday, but it was closed. With a little better planning we could have eaten at an Iron Chef's restaurant.
2. If food is number one then beer has to be number two. Great Lakes Brewing Company, located in Cleveland, makes several fine beers. While I couldn't try them all I did manage to try a Burning River Ale, a Dortmunder Gold, and an Eliot Ness. All were excellent.
3. Downtown Cleveland is nice. Tons of places to eat and drink within walking distance of our hotel. Also within walking distance are the home fields for the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians. If they could field a decent team with either of those franchises then they would really be on to something. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is right there too.
4. The Christmas story house still makes the list. I liked the place. It is the leg lamp capital of the world.
5. The Rock an Roll Hall of Fame was cool. I am not the biggest museum guy in the world, but any place that honors the best of the best in Rock in Roll is like the Hall of Fame for cool people, so it has that going for it.

Yes I dropped Lou Brown and his troops off the list. I felt since I have actually been to the city that I should focus on the real parts of the city. Major League is still one of my favorite movies and the best thing about the Cleveland Indians franchise.

Also the weather stunk. I froze to death for the entire weekend. It was windy and cold. At least it seemed cold to me being from the south. It reinforced my thinking that if I ever leave Arkansas I will be moving somewhere closer to the equator.

Cleveland, The Bumpuses, and Lou Brown

Friday morning Arica and I are leaving for Cleveland. You may have heard that we won a free trip from Weasel Momma a few weeks back. Well in an effort to miss the fewest days of work possible we are cashing in on the trip this Labor Day weekend.

We are to some degree breaking the rules of the trip giveaway. It is supposed to be a all expenses paid family vacation. We have already had a full one week family vacation this year, so we are turning this into an adults only weekend. It will be nice to have some time for each other.
Arica and I are anxious about leaving Braden for an entire weekend. Arica has never been away from him that long before so I know it will be hard for her. I have been away a lot longer than that, but I will still miss my little buddy terribly.

The fact is that in order to be the best parents we can be for Braden we need to take care of ourselves as well. Mentally and physically exhausted parents do Braden absolutely no good. So we are taking a short little getaway to recharge the batteries. Hopefully after some R & R (both rest and relaxation and Rock and Roll HOF) we will be fully refreshed and ready to conquer the months to come.

I know absolutely nothing about Cleveland. I would have never taken a trip there, but that is a cool thing about free trips. You get to see a part of the country that you may never have considered otherwise. When I return I will have plenty of pictures and  a few stories to tell about all the things I learned about Cleveland.

I thought it would be fun to do a "Top 5 Things I Like About Cleveland" list before and after the trip.Here is my very uneducated before list.

1. Cleveland is the home of the Cleveland Indians. I don't care about the real version. I am talking about the Hollywood versions consisting of Rick Vaughn, Jake Taylor, Willie Mays Hayes, Roger Dorn, Eddie Harris, and the late great Lou Brown.
2. Even though I always thought it should be in Memphis, Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
3. I recently found out that Cleveland was home to the Christmas Story House. That is beyond awesome and moves Cleveland way up the list. The only thing that could be better is if the Bumpus family dog kennel was located next door. And if you hear that the leg lamp has been stolen, don't look at me.
4. Cleveland is on the shores of Lake Erie. I have only seen Lake Michigan but I think the Great Lakes are pretty cool. They are like giant fresh water oceans in the middle of North America.
5. I am going with Jim Brown, former Cleveland Brown here. He was one of the greatest football players ever. He is a notoriously tough guy who, frankly, scares the crap out of me. And he was in the movie "The Dirty Dozen" that I watched many times with my Dad when I was growing up.