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CLEVELAND ROCKS!
© 2001
by Darryl Musick
Cleveland was sort of an accident really. We had planned to stop at Erie, PA or Ashtabula, OH for the night on our way to our next stop but were making such good time we pressed on to Cleveland.
Our first Cleveland moment was seeing the new Brown's stadium with its message board flashing "CLEVELAND ROCKS" at us in larger than life letters. It was a fitting welcome because the city truly does rock.
Priority number one, however, was finding a place to lay our head this evening. We had no reservations for this night having left it open for wherever we might land. Mostly, it was planned strictly as an overnighter on the way.
Consulting the AAA Tour Book, we first made our way to the Cross Country Inn on the west side of town. They had a handicapped room available with two dinky full size beds for $59 a night. Thinking we might do better, we came upon a Radisson hotel nearby. They offered a very large, semi-accessible (no roll-in shower) room with a king size bed and a full size sofabed with a full breakfast for $79. I willingly paid the extra $20 for a more comfortable room and food.
I did not regret my decision. The Radisson was an excellent hotel with a very comfortable and quiet room.
We awoke to a fresh day with very little driving to do so we decided to spend it seeing what this city has to offer before moving on.
My son and I would have loved to see the Indians play at Jacob's Field but they were out of town this week. We settled on taking a tour of the stadium.
Inside the Press box at Jacobs Field
It was a wonderful tour. Starting out in the press box, we got to sit in the reporter's seats and do some pretend play-by-play. Onward, we were allowed to spend a few minutes in a luxury suite before seeing the club-level private restaurant. Next, it's down to field level where we went inside the batting cages under the stands and roamed the network of tunnels below street level. The tour finished off on the field and into the Indians dugout where we could sit on the players bench and take photos. We had a great time here.
The Indians' New Bench Warmers
Afterward, it's just a short hop on an accessible trolley over to the East Flats area where numerous restaurants offer great food and drink along with riverfront views of freighters coming in from Lake Erie. We had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack which had good food and slow service.
The Warsaw Tavern Really Exists!! (Except it's Really
Called the Memphis Lounge)
Those summer rain storms came in again so we left the rockin' Cleveland. On the way out, we saw the tavern whose exteriors were used as shots of the Warsaw on the Drew Carrey show. Now it's on to Part Four...Cedar Point.
NOTES: The trolley system is fully accessible downtown but is only sporadically accessible as it moves out to the suburbs.
BUDGET (one night, 3 adults):
Hotel - $86
Food - $30
Jacobs Field Tour - $27
Trolley $3.75
TOTAL - $146.75
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