36 Hours in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a cute little town with a big sense of community that seems apparent to outsiders like us. Either that, or no city can ever really feel like a city again. It's quiet here, people are super friendly, and the food is pretty decent!

After we got in yesterday, our first stop was a beer and some food. We started off at Greenhouse Tavern for some greens (a fennel salad), some animal fat (a lamb burger), and more animal fat (beef tartare with a 3 minute egg, pomme frites and other accoutrements).

Then we felt human again. Only one night of camping in the rain and its easy to feel dirty and hungry and like we've been "homeless" for more than one full day. A shower and dry socks worked wonders too. Also, we needed to dry that wet tent with the hair dryer in the bathroom. 

That evening we went to the public square for fireworks. I got some jambalaya and hush puppies at the Zydeco Bistro truck...

Took the dog for a walk around while dusk fell...

Then came back to the square with a Mason jar of fantastic strawberry lemonade and a chocolate salted caramel cupcake from Colossal Cupcakes.

A symphony played for a long time before the fireworks started after 10pm. They shot them off the roof of a building right next to us. We'd never been so close to fireworks before! Which was pretty awesome until we started getting pelleted by debris.

But it was still pretty.

On Tuesdays they have this thing called the Chomp, where a handful of food trucks gather at a closed off street for lunch for the nearby business people. Poor working saps. Anyway, I had a burrito with pulled pork and corn and spinach. Rob got a steak grilled cheese. And then the reason we went in the first place: nutella and peanut butter ice cream from Mason's Creamery. SO rich and creamy!

Obviously, we spent a few hours at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame today. I hadn't been in about 15 years and didn't remember that the place is actually pretty huge. They have a really amazing collection of artifacts and do a great job of giving a thorough history of how a genre of music is created, how it spreads, how it influences and grows over the decades.

For dinner we headed to the Ohio District for some brews at Great Lakes Brewing Company. We sampled seven of their ten beers -- I liked the IPA, his favorite was the porter. They also offer some pretty excellent food. I sampled a local fish with lemon and artichokes, he had the smoked gouda shrimp n grits. I'm noticing a Southern influence of food here. They actually seem to do it right!

Tomorrow, we're off to Chicago! I've never been before and can't wait for some deep dish pizza, some art and/or jazz, and general Ferris Beuller's Day Off type of fun.