Ohio: Prelude to an Eclipse (Pt. 2)

(Continued from Ohio: Prelude to an Eclipse (Pt. 1))

Featured Photo: “Blueberry Pond in Autumn, Holden Arboretum”  Kirtland, Ohio—2024

4. Cleveland’s Cool!

On a recent visit to Ohio, my wife and I were strolling through the Willoughby Farmer’s Market when she spied a table covered with creative, colorful, Cleveland T-shirts. Above the table was a sign emblazoned with the name of the local company that designed the shirts: Cleveland’s Cool. Striking up a conversation, the seller informed us the company was started with one goal in mind: to show why Cleveland is cool! My wife came away with two new shirts, and I came away with the perfect title for this part of my Ohio post.

If you Google the Top 20 sights in Cleveland, the results include the highlights listed on the T-shirt and more. Over the course of a dozen-plus visits, our family has visited the majority of these attractions. It turns out many of the landmarks are conveniently situated in Cleveland’s University Circle neighborhood—so named for the trolley turnaround near the Case Western Reserve campus—including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Severance Hall (home to the Cleveland Orchestra), and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

One cold January day in 2010, we had paid a visit to the Cleveland Museum of Art, ranked among the Top 10 art museums in the country for the quality and breadth of its collection.

We weren’t able to view the special Gaugin exhibit, because we wanted to spend more time at our next destination: the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. As we trudged through the snow between the two museums, I was surprised to see an orange brick building adorned with gleaming, curved steel (somewhat difficult to make out against the gray winter sky) that provided a sculptural profile. Designed by world-famous architect Frank Gehry, the Peter B. Lewis Building was opened in 2002 to house the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. I only wish I’d had time to photograph the abstract, wavy, stainless-steel sheathed structure up-close.

We continued our trek to reach one of our favorite museums…

…made all the more special because my father-in-law volunteered as a docent for many years and was delighted to show our boys all around the exhibits.

In addition to their usual prehistoric collection, the museum had curated a more detailed exhibition about dinosaurs.

We took our time exploring the dinosaur displays, and afterwards zig-zagged our way through the other galleries. One surprise from our visit that year was Lucy…

…the fossilized female skeleton of the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis, more than three million years old! The original discovery was made in 1974 in Ethiopia by a paleoanthropologist from Cleveland’s museum.

Noticing they were growing tired of seeing things, Grandpa knew it was time to head for the museum’s hands-on workshop, where both boys found plenty to keep them engaged, including cold, hard fossils and warm, soft furs.

We must have toured the Natural History Museum half-a-dozen times or more, especially when the boys were younger, and there were often new exhibitions to see. Two years after the dinosaur exhibit, the museum presented a more fanciful program that explored the legends of Mythic Creatures, like dragons, unicorns, and mermaids.

Summer’s mild weather let us enjoy Cleveland’s many outdoor happenings, along with the indoor activities. In the summer of 2008, we toured the West Side Market, Cleveland’s largest and oldest continuously operating public market, which has served fresh produce, meats, baked goods, dairy products, prepared foods, and more to residents and visitors alike since 1912. The building’s exterior features a prominent clock tower…

…while the interior boasts a large concourse with stalls occupied by the purveyors of tempting goods. We climbed to the upper level…

…to take in the view…

…and after selecting a few choice locations, proceeded downstairs for a close-up look at the tasty treats displayed in glass cases.

We also wandered through the outdoor produce arcade wrapped around the side of the building and looked at the colorful fruits and vegetables for sale.

In an introductory post, I shared a few pictures from our pleasant excursion walking underneath the Veterans Memorial Bridge and exploring the buildings nearby. On another trip, we took in a patriotic Fourth of July concert at the Blossom Music Center—the outdoor summer venue for the fabulous Cleveland Orchestra—in nearby Cuyahoga Falls. We’ve been to the zoo…

…and took in a game or two at Progressive Field, home of Cleveland’s baseball team, the Indians (now renamed the Guardians). For a twilight game in 2012, we arrived early in the bright, sunny afternoon, but with evening’s approach, threatening clouds rolled in; we didn’t stay until the final pitch.

We left our seats before the rain began, stopping long enough to purchase the requisite souvenirs, which the boys happily wore the following day.

That same trip, we ventured out to the Great Lakes Science Center, on the shore of Lake Erie. We spent several hours exploring the exhibits, the boys having fun riding the escalators between museum levels…

…before eventually taking “one giant leap for mankind,” joining Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon.

Also on Lake Erie, and just a hundred yards from the Science Center, is Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, designed by I. M. Pei—another world-renowned architect—who had earlier installed a much smaller version of the iconic glass pyramid above the Louvre in Paris. As a music lover coming of age in the 70’s and 80’s, the HOF went straightaway on my “must-see” list. I first visited during our 1996 Christmas trip, just a year after the music shrine first opened.

After the boys came along, we took them to the museum, but I recall thinking they were too young to appreciate it…yet. (I don’t remember the year and couldn’t find any pictures.) Many years later, in 2021, we went back again with our younger son, returning home after his freshman year in college. He had taken a class on the history of rock music and was now better informed than I was. It was fun to see Elton John’s flamboyant jacket…

…and ZZ Top’s equally flamboyant instruments.

And of course, it was outside the Hall of Fame where the GMA crew had broadcast following the solar eclipse that we had viewed in Ohio. Following each excursion into Cleveland, we returned to the suburbs to visit and relax with my in-laws, but the specific destination had changed.

5. The Short Move to Willoughby

About 15 years ago, after living in Mentor for more than four decades, my wife’s parents decided it was time to downsize and transition to senior living. They found a retiree community being developed in Willoughby, just ten miles from Mentor and even closer to Cleveland. Back in 2009, we’d taken our boys to visit their grandparents—still living in Mentor—for another Fourth of July. Inside, the boys spent time creating (with Grandpa’s hand-crafted wooden blocks)…

…and computing (on Grandma’s desktop)…

…while outside, they took advantage of the perfect weather in the backyard.

We drove to Willoughby while my in-laws building was still under construction…

…and went inside their apartment as it was being framed. The boys enjoyed the open floor plan with its exposed 2×4’s forming the interior walls…

… and pretended to fall out an exterior opening where a large window was yet to be installed.

The next year, my in-laws moved from Mentor to their new residence in Willoughby, and that’s where we’ve traveled to see them ever since.

6. Still Visiting

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I traveled again to Willoughby to spend a long weekend with her parents. I read my first eclipse post aloud and we were all transported back to that remarkable event. As I recited the story, I emphasized the line, “It was most fortunate that my in-laws’ apartment in Willoughby was directly in the path of totality.” Our timing for this latest visit was also fortunate—October in northern Ohio is stunning. The trees outside their apartment—the same spot where we’d watched the eclipse six months earlier—were spectacular.

When our visit was over, before heading home, my wife and I returned to Holden Arboretum to appreciate the perfect fall weather. The leaves were at their colorful peak! So, I’ll close with a few shots—including today’s Featured Photo—from our short stroll together along Holden’s well-maintained trails. And we’re already planning our next trip to Ohio.