Ohio

     First day of our big cross country trip was spent getting to Ohio making a few stops and getting out of Ohio. It was a crazy ambitious day and by dinner we all felt it. May not have been the best day, possibly the worst of the trip, but that could have been because of all the hype and excitement we all brought along with us that first day.

     We got up real early, was about to say bright and early but we were on the road before the sun came up so that wouldn't be accurate. On the road before 4am, all of us had stayed up late except my husband the driver so we'd (read the kids) would sleep more in the car. Too bad that didn't work out. We were all too jacked up. No one slept much at all. Maybe an hour here or there along the first long stretch but that's about it. We'd been through Jersey and some of Pennsylvania before. Once we hit Ohio everyone was very excited. We were really doing this!

     Our first stop was Sunset Hills Burial Park in Canton. Thurman Munson is buried there. The Yankee fans we are, and with my sons middles name being Thurman, my husband had to make this the first stop. Of course in the excitement to get out of the car one of the kids spilled Gatorade all over. So while Rob and the kids paid their respects and took some pictures, I cleaned up the mess. It was lunchtime by then so we found a Mcdonalds close by, figuring a playground to run on would be good before jumping back in the car for another hour.
     Best laid plans right? Well everyone ate, forgetting about the whole yucky mustard thing on burgers out of NY State, but noone made a big fuss. The kids played and Rob went to try to get a quick nap in the car. To give him a little extra time we ate sundaes too. We were pulling out of the parking lot on our way to our next stop in Cleveland when Emily threw up all her Mcdonalds. Not just a little either. Guess she waited to be in the car where she was comfortable. So we pull into some parking lot and clean her and the car up. Baby wipes and a quick change of clothes for Em, some clorox wipes and air freshener for the car and we were set. Glad I thought to bring all that and have it handy in the car. I was hopeful, as she is my puking child, that it was just all the excitement and running around that did it and not a real sickness. Thankfully I was right.

     About an hour later we were at our next destination The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Although parking there proved to be interesting as we pulled into the garage with the cartop carrier. We didn't immediately realize that it made out car too high to park there. The carrier bent under the beams of the garage as we tried to pull in. It did not sound good. The attendant had to stop traffic coming in while we figured out what to do. All I was thinking was how much it was going to suck unpacking it and taking it off to get the car out. Rob had other plans, he figured it bent once it could again and we'd get out. Well, it worked but was damn scary watching the top on our car get cruched again by the beam, praying it would not break open and everything come flying out. We found another outside lot not far away and cheaper to park in. For the rest of the trip shied away from parking garages and paid very close attention to height limits.

     The Hall of Fame is in a pretty nice area right on the water so we walked around a bit before going in. Then we paid our admission and were bummed to learn you cannot take any pictures in the museum itself. You start downstairs and work your way up through five levels. Granted they get smaller as you move up and most of the third is a food court. The collection is housed mostly on the first two floors. A bunch of cool stuff to see. Unfortunately with Jake it was hard to take the time and really see everything they had. Of course the ZZtop car was cool for him to see, and there were some music players he enjoyed listening to and playing with. The top two levels were quite small and change as they pay tribute to different artists at different times. While we were there it was Bruce Springsteen, as we're not big fans of his, it was disappointing. Overall we thought it would have been much better.

     Before leaving Cleveland we tried to get dinner at this place called "Melt" we had seen on Man Vs. Food. Unfortunately the wait was just too long as we had a few more hours of driving to do to get to our hotel for the night. We had orignally thought to just stay in Cleveland but were told that might not be the best idea from people who'd been there before. So we were off for Louisville, Kentucky. I wanted to find somewhere to stop and eat right away when Melt didn't work out. My husband was confidant we'd find something along the way and hit the interstate.

     By the time we were all starving and absolutely had to stop there was not much of a choice coming up on the GPS. We picked a pizza place out of three that were coming up in the next town. We think it was called Jeffersonville. I called and ordered a pie. When we got there it was a very small quiet little town. Almost like a main street you'd see in the movies except no one was around and it looked a little run down. The place looked like it needed help, or maybe it was under renovation and we went in to pick up our pie. The people there were very nice and it seemed like they did a lot of delivery business but we were the only customers inside. My husband didn't want pizza and so went up the street in search of something else with Emily.

     Me and the boys took the pie across the street to the car. We sat on the sidewalk with our pizza and drinks from the cooler in the back of the car. We were all quite moody at this point. Cranky and hungry. The pizza was cut into tiny square pieces like I'd never seen before. It wasn't too bad, it was food and we ate it all. Rob wound up with some kind of cheesesteak sandwich from another pizza place up the road. Finally full of our interesting dinner we got back into the car for another few hours and finally made our way to Kentucky and our hotel for the next 2 days.

     It was a stressful, long first day. Rob got to see Thurman and all the Michael Jackson stuff in the Hall of Fame. I was happy to see John Lennons Sgt. Peppers outfit, though it would have been better if they had them all, or if i could have gotten a picture with it. The kids made the most of it. And we were at the start of a great adventure. 

Outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland