Crooked River

For this Independence Day, what could be better than visiting a national park?! Yes, there is an actual national park (the same designation as Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, or Yosemite) just outside of Cleveland -- Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It preserves and reclaims the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland. Cuyahoga is the Mohawk word for "crooked river". For us, this visit is #24 of 58 national parks. Making progress on that bucket list!

Too hot, so no one would get out of the car for my pic!

Cleveland Rocks!

We checked out from Hotel Breakers first thing in the morning and grabbed some breakfast to eat on the road. About 90 minutes later, we were in Mentor, Ohio (~30 miles northeast of Cleveland) to visit James A. Garfield NHS.

Wheeeeeeee!

One of the benefits of staying “on Point” is entry into the park an hour earlier than the general public. Thanks to one of my friends from high school, we were armed with all kinds of information about the park (i.e. which rides to hit in what order). We ate breakfast at the Perkins restaurant in the hotel and headed over to the gate for early entry.

After the national anthem was played, the gates were opened, and it was off to the races. At least that’s how it felt with the throngs of people running towards the back of the park. Haha!

Here's the final installment (for this trip) of the Saiki-delic Awesomeness Review...

Five for the Road

As per their usual custom, Uncle K took the nephews with him to Starbucks before church this morning. Hot chocolate for J and a double chocolate chip frappuccino for M (just how many calories are in that thing?!) We caught up with them at church – so nice to see so many familiar faces this morning!

After church, we grabbed a quick lunch and loaded up the car. K is coming with us as far as Cleveland, where he’ll stop in to visit some of his customers before flying back to Chicago. Until then – it will be a cozy ride in the back seat of our full-size car.



American Pickers

One of the shows that our family likes to watch is History Channel's American Pickers. If you've never seen it, the show is about two guys (Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz) who travel across the country to pick through other people's stuff, looking for "rusty gold" (i.e. antiques and other Americana). To me, all of the junkyards, barns, & rooms stuffed to the rafters are just a nightmare of hoarding run amuck.

Since my in-laws will be downsizing eventually, one of the things that R needed to do on this trip was go through his stuff that is still at their house. And so this afternoon, my very own set of pickers went to work...

Now they're ready to go see the Pawn Stars in Vegas to see what their new-found "treasures" are worth!

The Genius Files

Earlier this year, J read “The Genius Files 2: Never Say Genius” by Dan Gutman. In the book, the main characters, Coke and Pepsi, have been recruited into an agency for super-smart kids. They are on a cross-country road trip to their aunt’s wedding. But along the way, they are being pursued by bowler-hat dudes who are trying to kill them. The author has used various real-life places in developing the plot of the story, even providing websites and additional info about those locations in the margins of the book.

One of these spots was the McDonald’s #1 Store Museum in Des Plaines, IL. So when J asked if we could go visit, how could I refuse?! Besides, R and I have never stopped by there either!