Wow … what a day!
We awoke fairly early for a vacation day and headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, our primary destination for this leg of our trip. We arrived there around 10:30 a.m., 1/2 hour after it opened. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photographs to be taken inside the Hall, other than in the lobby.
On the way, we were fortunate enough to see several 10-foot-tall Fender Stratocaster Guitars that were part of a 2004 United Way fundraising campaign. Sponsors underwrote artists who created custom designs for the guitars, which were then on display throughout downtown Cleveland, including inside our hotel and at the Hall of Fame.
We photographed as many as we could find, including this one of a peacock with the boys beside it.
The Hall of Fame was truly unbelievable. It was amazing to me to see the artifacts of the rock legends, along with the stories about how they got where they did in their careers. Perhaps most impressive was how their stories humanized them, reminding me that they were, at some point, just regular people, and how many of them never lost touch with that side of their pasts.
The boys were equally impressed, what with their musical talent and hopes for their futures. I don’t think anything we can do from here can surpass Cleveland in their eyes.
After leaving the Hall, we headed to Quicken Arena, home of the Cleveland Caveliers NBA basketball team, where we promised Tyler–perhaps the biggest LeBron James fan in Indiana–we would let him go the Cavs’ gift shop. Unfortunately, Cleveland was playing AT Detroit, not at home, in game five of the conference finals. At Jacobs Field next door, though, the baseball Indians were hosting the Tigers, but we didn’t attend.
After that, we hopped on the Interstate and shuffled off to Buffalo, where we are now. We stopped at a Burger King in Erie, Pennsylvania, for a quick dinner and arrived at the Days Inn by Buffalo International Airport right around 11 p.m.
Both the fitness center and the indoor pool were open until midnight, so we headed there for some relaxation from all the driving. Tomorrow we head 25 miles to Niagara Falls and then we’ll pop into Canada for a quick visit. It promises to be another fun-filled day!