Well it's no longer the Jake (Jacobs Field) and now it's Progressive Park, but like a lot of Sports stadiums that are taking the money and the sponsor's names some will always be known by names from the past...................so we visited The Jake yesterday in Cleveland, Ohio. This is the home of the Cleveland Indians, and yes they still have a team here if you'll recall from the movie Major League. We actually got a late start yesterday and changed some plans, but hey that's the way it goes with plans on a trip like this. Originally we had planned to take a lunch cruise on Lake Erie and then spend some time in down town Cleveland before taking a ballgame at the Jake, but as it turned out we got a rather late start.
We had driven by the day before a place down town call the warehouse district and East 4th street so we just headed down town to spend some time before the game. On the way we remembered seeing Thistle Downs on the map and I had placed bets on ponies from Thistle (via OTB ) but never really new where it was located, so we decided to pay a visit to Thistle Downs and take a couple of pic's for my horse racing buddies........Matt and Andy! Thistle is an old but pretty well kept race track here in Cleveland and yesterday they had live racing so we took some pictures and placed a bet on race 11 but didn't cash. I was talking to a local while in the restroom and found out that just 3 days before the Harrah's group had just bought the place via auction and were going to start renovation immediately. The plans are in place to update the track and all facilities and add a full casino, and the gentleman I was talking to said a referendum that was stalled all of a sudden looked like it would be going to the Governor for a formal signing soon. Another Prairie Meadows or Louisiana Downs in the making!
Then it was off to East 4th street down town and some dinner before the ballgame, as it turned out there was a "House of Blues" there just like in Vegas at the Mandalay Bay so we stopped in there for a bite. We got there just in time because shortly afterward the place got very busy and a 40 minute wait was put into place...................why you ask, because Cindy Lauper was preforming very shortly at the House of Blues. Needless to say the crowd was predominately female or somewhat female or well you know what I mean.
The Indians game was a win and that was good for us and the fans, it made for a wonderful evening and it was rather on the cool side (we froze) at a temperature in the low to mid 60's with a good breeze off the Lake. We bought our required souvenirs and a fitted hat for our "house sitter and care-taker", met a few nice fans and just plain had a good time while watching a Tribe win!
We're now in the process of putting things away and getting things buttoned up for our move towards Philly............made reservations to stay at an RV park outside of town for a week so we'll be spending the 4th in the city of brotherly love and Rocky!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Day one in Cleveland
Our first day in Cleveland was a good day, weather was good too for a change. The Rock n' Roll hall of fame is very, very large and filled with a whole bunch of junk...........OK maybe not junk but pretty much a whole bunch of old and new rocker's junk! Don't get me wrong the experience was a good one but I do now understand why they sell "2 day passes" like some of your larger amusement parks. Bev and I arrived late as far as having time to spend a day there, we arrived about 12 or 12:30 and the place closes at 5:30 pm so we started off slow and had to end up rushing to hit all rooms and displays. It seems they have a special area for a new inductee or something like that and right now Bruce Springsteen is the person enjoying the spot light right now, and that was very interesting. I was disappointed they didn't have have pictures or comments on Bruce's many visits to The Bird Cage in Prescott, Arizona, those of us from Arizona know that was one of his favorite stops (unpublished stops) to visit and play for some friends from the joint.
We walked down to the lake on one of the piers in town and watch a few locals catching Perch and Buffalo heads (junk fish) and chatted for a bit with them, locals trying to catch dinner. We checked out one of the Lake Erie lunch and/or dinner cruises for today and drove through what they call "The Warehouse district". This district is a neat down town area like most larger cities have for dinning and drinks etc., we'll most likely visit closer before attending a Tribes game tonight. Yes, we plan on visiting "The Jake" or what is now Progressive stadium to catch an Indians game.............yep right out of the movie Major League. The way the Indians are playing I'm sure we'll see a few pitches "just a bit outside" as Bob Ucker(sp) would put it.
Let me say one more thing about the Rock n' Roll hall of fame, they have signs all over banning camera's and video camera's from the entire experience (other than lobby) and if your on Face book you've seen I took a few without being caught. In my opinion this is pure bunk, there is no reason not to allow camera's in this huge building filled with old rockers junk! I'm relatively sure the banning of camera's is so you must pay the $20 or more a head to get into the place and while there eat the nacho's without peppers, mac n' cheese, hot dogs made yesterday with onions in a tiny catsup like package along with the same kind of relish................and pre-packed salads that are very soggy at the bottom to the point of looking like dumpster lettuce! If I'd taken 50 pictures of different displays I don't think that would stop anyone else from visiting when and if their in the Cleveland area. The hall must have had 2 or 3 dozen dudes just standing around telling visitors to put the camera's away and check them at the door, and they were going nuts with folks and all the cell phones taking pic's. I guess one good thing is that if they allowed photo's to be taken there would be dozens more folks on unemployment and not making $5 an hour to wear hall of fame security shirts!
By the way the nacho's sucked and so did the hot dogs!
We walked down to the lake on one of the piers in town and watch a few locals catching Perch and Buffalo heads (junk fish) and chatted for a bit with them, locals trying to catch dinner. We checked out one of the Lake Erie lunch and/or dinner cruises for today and drove through what they call "The Warehouse district". This district is a neat down town area like most larger cities have for dinning and drinks etc., we'll most likely visit closer before attending a Tribes game tonight. Yes, we plan on visiting "The Jake" or what is now Progressive stadium to catch an Indians game.............yep right out of the movie Major League. The way the Indians are playing I'm sure we'll see a few pitches "just a bit outside" as Bob Ucker(sp) would put it.
Let me say one more thing about the Rock n' Roll hall of fame, they have signs all over banning camera's and video camera's from the entire experience (other than lobby) and if your on Face book you've seen I took a few without being caught. In my opinion this is pure bunk, there is no reason not to allow camera's in this huge building filled with old rockers junk! I'm relatively sure the banning of camera's is so you must pay the $20 or more a head to get into the place and while there eat the nacho's without peppers, mac n' cheese, hot dogs made yesterday with onions in a tiny catsup like package along with the same kind of relish................and pre-packed salads that are very soggy at the bottom to the point of looking like dumpster lettuce! If I'd taken 50 pictures of different displays I don't think that would stop anyone else from visiting when and if their in the Cleveland area. The hall must have had 2 or 3 dozen dudes just standing around telling visitors to put the camera's away and check them at the door, and they were going nuts with folks and all the cell phones taking pic's. I guess one good thing is that if they allowed photo's to be taken there would be dozens more folks on unemployment and not making $5 an hour to wear hall of fame security shirts!
By the way the nacho's sucked and so did the hot dogs!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Maple Lakes RV Park, Seville, Ohio
30 miles from down town Cleveland and a very nice RV Park in Seville, Ohio. The place has a fishing lake too and I going to try and take a few minutes and catch a few of those 16" bass or hand size and larger Bluegills, but first tomorrow a trip into town and the Rock n' Roll hall of fame. We plan on being here at least three days as of now and after that who knows, there are a few things we'd like to do while here. Tomorrow the Rock n' roll hall of fame and then Tuesday maybe a lunch cruise on Lake Erie and later on a ball game at the Jake....Jacobs field, home to the movie Major League. If we go to a game (the Indians are in town playing Toronto) who knows we may run into Coach Brown (selling white walls) or the "Wild Thing" out in the bullpen, what a movie what a game! Local folks are telling us to take in a minor league game in Akron so we can see a baseball team that actually wins games.............the say the Indians are "shitty".
We rode over to a nearby small town of Wooster and we ate at a place called Jake's after the owners Labrador retriever (wish I'd have remembered my camera) and afterwards we visited the movie house and saw Grown Ups...................laughed our asses off! I guess the town of Wooster was named that by Elmer Fudd, yep he was looking for Wabits and Woosters on a local farm in the area, the local Buckeyes didn't understand my humor. Oh wait, maybe they didn't like what I was wearing, I had on my Hawkeye shorts.
Severe thunderstorms in the area tonight, light rain in the a.m. and then sunny Monday afternoon thru Thursday with hi's in the low 70's each day, we need these days!
We rode over to a nearby small town of Wooster and we ate at a place called Jake's after the owners Labrador retriever (wish I'd have remembered my camera) and afterwards we visited the movie house and saw Grown Ups...................laughed our asses off! I guess the town of Wooster was named that by Elmer Fudd, yep he was looking for Wabits and Woosters on a local farm in the area, the local Buckeyes didn't understand my humor. Oh wait, maybe they didn't like what I was wearing, I had on my Hawkeye shorts.
Severe thunderstorms in the area tonight, light rain in the a.m. and then sunny Monday afternoon thru Thursday with hi's in the low 70's each day, we need these days!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Hello Cleveland.................where's Drew?
It may not have been far but today we made it to Cleveland. We have a spot reserved in an RV resort for tomorrow and a few days beyond that but for tonight we're visiting one of Sam's RV parks (Wal-Mart parking lot). It was a bit late when we arrived and the park was closed so we're here for the night and checking into the resort tomorrow and planning to stay 2 or 3 days. We'll most likely visit places around the area on day trips like the Rock n' Roll hall of fame, Canton, Cooperstown, Lake Erie shores and who knows what else.
We traveled a good portion of the day on I-80/I-90 Toll way through Indiana and Ohio and the roads really sucked, like riding over wash-board roads in the desert. Anyway in order to travel on these fantastic roads we had to pay a toll, through Indiana $9.25 and through Ohio $21.25, we're considered 4 axles beings we're towing the Jeep..........what a freaking rip-off. We're not in any hurry so probably no more toll roads, but can't say never I guess.
We can't wait to get set-up in the RV Park tomorrow, get out the awning, flags, lights, and all that RV'ers junk and then just relax for a bit. Yep, Cleveland will be home for a few days.........here's hoping "Cleveland Rocks".
We did spend a few hours in Elkhart, Indiana visiting the RV/Motor home hall of fame. Very extensive and enjoyable looking at some of the first and oldest RV's, motor homes and travel trailers ever made. Honestly some of the old and I mean old ones were pretty well set-up and very unique in many ways. We enjoyed the visit and would recommend it to anyone who is in the Elkhart, Indiana area.
We traveled a good portion of the day on I-80/I-90 Toll way through Indiana and Ohio and the roads really sucked, like riding over wash-board roads in the desert. Anyway in order to travel on these fantastic roads we had to pay a toll, through Indiana $9.25 and through Ohio $21.25, we're considered 4 axles beings we're towing the Jeep..........what a freaking rip-off. We're not in any hurry so probably no more toll roads, but can't say never I guess.
We can't wait to get set-up in the RV Park tomorrow, get out the awning, flags, lights, and all that RV'ers junk and then just relax for a bit. Yep, Cleveland will be home for a few days.........here's hoping "Cleveland Rocks".
We did spend a few hours in Elkhart, Indiana visiting the RV/Motor home hall of fame. Very extensive and enjoyable looking at some of the first and oldest RV's, motor homes and travel trailers ever made. Honestly some of the old and I mean old ones were pretty well set-up and very unique in many ways. We enjoyed the visit and would recommend it to anyone who is in the Elkhart, Indiana area.
Friday, June 25, 2010
New Buffalo, Michigan
Don't ask me how I ended up in New Buffalo, Michigan but here we are and we're going to spend the night here and head for Cleveland in the morning. Yep, we decided to head towards Cleveland, Ohio and maybe stay in a nice RV park and spend a few days there and take some day trips from that location.
We left Amboy, Ill. not knowing for sure how far we'd get today and as it turns out not too far. I believe at this time without checking for sure we made about 150 miles or so. It took forever to get through Joliet and it's not because of Jake or Elwood Blues................a lot of road construction and we ran into a Harrah's Casino of which we are Diamond member's so we had to stop in. The Diamond lounge had some great food waiting for us, BBQ ribs, salad, corn bread, bean dish, mixed greens and plenty of deserts (those are killing our diet program) and drinks. Diamond status sure has some fantastic privileges in Harrah's anymore, but why not we pay for them in the long run I guess.............but it feels good to be pampered.
Do you realize Chicago actually runs from Iowa, Wisconsin to Indiana and Michigan, what I mean is we're traveling on I-80 East or secondaries paralleling I-80 and even though your going through places like Rockford, Joliet, Gary etc. your basically traveling through "south Chicago" the entire time. Even if we hadn't spent a few hours at Harrah's taking that route during the time of day we did, 150 to 200 miles wasn't a bad day.
We're about 5 hours out of Cleveland and hope to find a great RV park in or around the city, will let you know tomorrow.
This New Buffalo place is really nice, a full service resort for all kinds of travelers and it's right on Lake Michigan..........we'll be on Lake Erie tomorrow!
We left Amboy, Ill. not knowing for sure how far we'd get today and as it turns out not too far. I believe at this time without checking for sure we made about 150 miles or so. It took forever to get through Joliet and it's not because of Jake or Elwood Blues................a lot of road construction and we ran into a Harrah's Casino of which we are Diamond member's so we had to stop in. The Diamond lounge had some great food waiting for us, BBQ ribs, salad, corn bread, bean dish, mixed greens and plenty of deserts (those are killing our diet program) and drinks. Diamond status sure has some fantastic privileges in Harrah's anymore, but why not we pay for them in the long run I guess.............but it feels good to be pampered.
Do you realize Chicago actually runs from Iowa, Wisconsin to Indiana and Michigan, what I mean is we're traveling on I-80 East or secondaries paralleling I-80 and even though your going through places like Rockford, Joliet, Gary etc. your basically traveling through "south Chicago" the entire time. Even if we hadn't spent a few hours at Harrah's taking that route during the time of day we did, 150 to 200 miles wasn't a bad day.
We're about 5 hours out of Cleveland and hope to find a great RV park in or around the city, will let you know tomorrow.
This New Buffalo place is really nice, a full service resort for all kinds of travelers and it's right on Lake Michigan..........we'll be on Lake Erie tomorrow!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Mendota Hills Campground, Amboy, Illinois
We left Bagley, Wi. right at 9:00 am and made it to Madison and the Camping World just outside of Madison in Deforest, Wi. The folks at Camping World got us in without having an appointment at around 1:00 pm and we were out of there at 3:30 pm with the oil changed and filter. These guys were very nice and squeezed us in when they had a full day scheduled and we were very greatful, thanks to the crew at Madison Camping World.
I want to again thank Mike and Patty for being the most gracious host and for all the good meals while we were in Bagley, and our time together was so much fun we can't wait to see them again! We will make it a point to look them up whenever we're within a few hundred miles from them in any direction, wonderful old friends and we want to see them more often now.
While waiting for the coach to have the oil and filter changed Bev and I made our way into down town Madison, a nice down and capital area and combination college town. Bev had been there a few times before attending company annual meetings, the home office of Fairway Independent Mortgage is based in Madison. Bev was excited about showing me around a bit and we had a nice walk and lunch while visiting the capital area. I left the camera in the coach so no picture but they would have been great pictures of a quaint capital surroundings, sure looked nice in the summer but couldn't help but picture those streets packed with snow come November and on....
We're going to sit down tonight and at least figure out a destination for tomorrows travels, can't wait to see where we end up.
Mendota Hills Campground is way out of the way and a bit off the beaten path, but a nice little campground non the less. There are plenty of permanent campers here and a series of 4 little lakes, three of which are for fishing and one for swimming............catch and release on the bass but the rest are for the taking! I would come back or stay longer most anytime. Oh by the way today was a great weather day, sunny all day and temps from the 70's to the 80's, now that's more like it.
I want to again thank Mike and Patty for being the most gracious host and for all the good meals while we were in Bagley, and our time together was so much fun we can't wait to see them again! We will make it a point to look them up whenever we're within a few hundred miles from them in any direction, wonderful old friends and we want to see them more often now.
While waiting for the coach to have the oil and filter changed Bev and I made our way into down town Madison, a nice down and capital area and combination college town. Bev had been there a few times before attending company annual meetings, the home office of Fairway Independent Mortgage is based in Madison. Bev was excited about showing me around a bit and we had a nice walk and lunch while visiting the capital area. I left the camera in the coach so no picture but they would have been great pictures of a quaint capital surroundings, sure looked nice in the summer but couldn't help but picture those streets packed with snow come November and on....
We're going to sit down tonight and at least figure out a destination for tomorrows travels, can't wait to see where we end up.
Mendota Hills Campground is way out of the way and a bit off the beaten path, but a nice little campground non the less. There are plenty of permanent campers here and a series of 4 little lakes, three of which are for fishing and one for swimming............catch and release on the bass but the rest are for the taking! I would come back or stay longer most anytime. Oh by the way today was a great weather day, sunny all day and temps from the 70's to the 80's, now that's more like it.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Bagley, Wisconsin
Well we're still in Bagley and having a great time! We had planned on leaving this morning but Bev decided we should stay another day so we'll hit the road tomorrow morning and head to Madison, Wi. then onto..................yep we don't really know for sure at this point. We'll be going to Madison and make a stop at Camping World and hope to get an oil change on the coach and pick up some supplies for the motor home.
Mike and Patty Thornton have been very gracious host and have showed us a great time here in Bagley, Prairie de Chien area of Wisconsin, very nice area of small towns and beautiful scenery. Yes, we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the land of cheese heads! There has been many, many laughs during our chats about those years of working together for Trausch Baking co., and remembering all the good times with those friends. I'm joining Mike in a few minutes for our walk and we'll be stopping in to pay another retired ex-bread man, Kenny Warren for a cup of coffee. Kenny is another guy from the days of peddling bread that I haven't seen for many, many years.
We visited the Prairie de Chien river boat last night for a couple of hours, it reminded up of the old Rock Island river boat casino...........very quaint comfortable but these Midwest boats are some tight son-of-a-guns! Didn't stay long or lose but a few bucks and enjoyed our visit on board the "Lady Luck"........Lady Luck, what a joke!
Some major thunder storms last night, big booms and cracks of thunder and yes plenty of rain, but all while in bed and during sleeping time. I think Bev had a bit of a problem getting to sleep but I was out and back to sleep after each thunder boomer!
I'm watching out the window for Mike who was supposed to be here at 7:30 for our walk to Kenny's but still don't see him now at 7:35 am. Bev's still sleeping and I'll let here stay there to hopefully get some sleep this morning that she missed last night. Time for a cup of coffee and Mike just showed up!
Mike and Patty Thornton have been very gracious host and have showed us a great time here in Bagley, Prairie de Chien area of Wisconsin, very nice area of small towns and beautiful scenery. Yes, we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the land of cheese heads! There has been many, many laughs during our chats about those years of working together for Trausch Baking co., and remembering all the good times with those friends. I'm joining Mike in a few minutes for our walk and we'll be stopping in to pay another retired ex-bread man, Kenny Warren for a cup of coffee. Kenny is another guy from the days of peddling bread that I haven't seen for many, many years.
We visited the Prairie de Chien river boat last night for a couple of hours, it reminded up of the old Rock Island river boat casino...........very quaint comfortable but these Midwest boats are some tight son-of-a-guns! Didn't stay long or lose but a few bucks and enjoyed our visit on board the "Lady Luck"........Lady Luck, what a joke!
Some major thunder storms last night, big booms and cracks of thunder and yes plenty of rain, but all while in bed and during sleeping time. I think Bev had a bit of a problem getting to sleep but I was out and back to sleep after each thunder boomer!
I'm watching out the window for Mike who was supposed to be here at 7:30 for our walk to Kenny's but still don't see him now at 7:35 am. Bev's still sleeping and I'll let here stay there to hopefully get some sleep this morning that she missed last night. Time for a cup of coffee and Mike just showed up!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
