Cleveland/Kirtland Trip- Days 1 & 2

Towards the end of the August we finally took a long weekend to go see Kirtland and Cleveland. Kirtland is a historic site for our church. It is roughly a 5 hour drive. Eleanor started off awesome. Lots of treats and toys, I think I packed two solid bags worth to help her along the way. We were really counting on her taking a nap.

Which she did. 10 minutes from the hotel.
But come on. Can you even stand those cheeks? Those lips?
Those eyelashes?
Her sweet hold of her lamb? She's killing me. This, sadly, would be our most successful
family portrait in about a year.
Go us.

We stayed at a sweet Radisson right across the street from Progressive Park, where the Cleveland, um... Browns? Orioles? Hold on (googling) INDIANS. I remember now, where the Cleveland Indians play. We had tickets to a game that night. At least I remember that they were playing the Mariners, like a good Washington girl would know.
Eleanor LOVED the hotel room. She thought it was all kinds of fun.

Elmo has insomnia.

This little dude in the lobby was soooo interesting.

Eleanor had a lot to tell him.

E learned a new trick.

But soon became discouraged when the door latch above kept
her from getting out.

And by "discouraged", I mean threw a tantrum. Oh, she throws those now. Throws them like a pro. Arched back, crocodile tears and everything.

We enjoyed a nice afternoon at our hotel, then walked to the game.

Eehhh, why do I look like a jack-o-lantern here? We'll blame bad makeup day.

Eleanor loved the game. Or should I say, had no interest whatsoever in staying in her seat. We took turns keeping her amused. Here she is on Clayton's shoulders at the top of the world.

After the 7th inning stretch I walked her back to the hotel. We had to cross this giant pavilion to get to there and she stopped to talk about these balloons for quite a while. I finally asked a nearby cop if we could steal one. He said he was just seconds away from getting her one himself, so together we stole that red star balloon. She was in heaven. I love cops.

The next day our plan was to hit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum. We woke up and decided "eh." It wasn't worth the $50 it would've cost. We would rather go to a real concert with that money instead. So we drove by on our way out of Cleveland and took a picture. Who knew there was NASA right next store?
Aside from the Boardmans.
(Their boy is obsessed with all things space. Hi Bauer!)We crossed a cool bridge.Very LOTR's, yeah?Saw Cleveland from the other side of the river. This is near the restaurant "Lolita's". It's Iron Chef Michael Symon's second restaurant in Cleveland. We had plans to eat there but it doesn't open until 5 on Saturday. Oh well. We decided to head off earlier to Kirtland instead.Stay tuned for the exciting follow up to our awesome three day tour!

GIlbert told Anne to write about what she knows...

...So what do I know? Hotels. My job requires me to spend 2 to 4 nights a week in them. In fact I am in one right now. It has a PC(!), lovely antique-looking tables and a puffy, all-white bed that I can't wait to get into for my three and a half hours of z's. This hotel rules. Others, not so much.
Things that make a hotel awesome, in no particular order, are: Good soap-shampoo sets. The fancier the better. After five plus years of free amenities I still get some odd rush at a fancy mini lotion sitting on my bathroom counter waiting for me. Mini mouthwash? So cute! So un-neccesary! Cozy bed with clen sheets. Now I know clean sheets sounds like it should be a given, but you would be surprised. The stories I could tell, but won't. Good cable. I love the food network and hate to miss a night of Alton Brown. I like two to three channels of movies so I don't have to be stuck with the semi-porn that is always HBO. Seriously it is so stank! Wake-up calls. He-elpful! Good food nearby. I like the assortment of fast food and a few mid-range eateries like Flingers and Chachies. Mini-fridges (empty) and microwaves in the room. So handy. Birthday cake and diet coke. O.K. so I have actually never been in a room with these amenities, but a girl can dream right?
Now, things that suck or that I don't like: Germs. From dirty sheets and bathtubs to hair on the towels or crusty stuff, well, anywhere, It is all really really bad. I take a handi-wipe to all surfaces that I might touch. Controllers, phones and alarm clocks get special treatment. Um, this hotel room is nice, but I DO NOT NEED A PHONE NEXT TO THE TOILET! I barely use the one next to the bed. No way am I touching the one in there. Seriously. That's messed up. "Joey? Promise me you will never call me from that phone". Heat/air units. There is no middle of the road for these loud industrial sized horrors. You are either bone jarringly cold or menopausally hot-flashing through the night. Snooty Hotel Staff. Some are great. And some are miserable. Hotels fight very hard to win contracts from companies like mine. Yes we get a deal on the rates, but they get a guaranteed block of rooms paid for 365 days a year. We keep some hotels in business during their off season. And yet some hotel employees treat us like second rate citizens because we aren't paying for it with our own credit cards or we aren't paying "full price". Any other company that uses corporate rates gets treated like royalty. Not us, they are doing us a favor by letting us spend the night in their spare room. It's beyond annoying.
So. I had no idea that this was going to be so dull. Sorry to my two to three readers. I will try harder this month.