On the drive to downtown, I shot this of the city skyline:



The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a beautiful building right on the shores of Lake Erie. On the walk there from the parking deck, Improv could not take his eyes off the water. He went nuts over this big lake boat:



It was kind of hard to drag him away from the waterfront, but we found a nice cafe on the 3rd floor of the Hall of Fame with an outside terrace looking right over Lake Erie, so that made him happy. I couldn't get a picture of it, however. BTW, this was the first time either of us has ever seen one of the Great Lakes. All I can say is "great lake" is an understatement.

The Hall of Fame from the waterfront:



And the front entrance:



What defines Cleveland best? Birthplace of rock and roll.






One of the special exhibits is on the making of "Help!" There were lots of interesting articles on display - costumes, original scripts, guitars, etc.:



And yours truly, sitting just outside the Hall entrance texting a message to my daughter, to include with a picture I'd just taken.



We had a great day in Cleveland! I love all the Art Deco buildings that are downtown and was impressed with how clean the city looks. Also, the citizens here have a nice sense of humor: the Great Lakes Brewery, where we had lunch, named one of their beers "Burning River" and there's a skateboard park viewable from the outside terrace at the Hall with a fence of red metal...depicting the river on fire. :lol:

On to Chicago tomorrow afternoon and Wisconsin in the evening!

this is a hellava road trip

my word.

what fun

Great pics, Plays.

I had no idea that the reason they put the Hall of Fame in Cleveland was because that's where the term was coined.

I always wondered how Cleveland got it!

I always figured it was because Cleveland Rocks!


Does the front entrance remind anyone else of Pei's Louvre Pyramid?

Are you planning to hit the Experience Music Project (next to the Space Needle)?

I've never been in there.

Improv and I have had a long and full day! We started off by having breakfast with George and his wife -- and once again, about 90 minutes just flew by and we reluctantly had to say our goodbyes. We took the road less traveled for about three hours and then got back on the interstate (yawn). If one was to judge southern Minnesota by the interstate scenery, you'd believe the state is one big cornfield!! Anyway, we got to our destination about 90 minutes ago (Chamberlain, SD, a small town on the banks of the Missouri River), and I've spent some time uploading pictures from yesterday. Today's remain in the camera. I found out the hard way that it's impossible to edit photos on a laptop when you are traveling west in the afternoon. :doh: Anyway, forgive me if there's no narrative -- I'm pretty tired after 11 hours on the road and want to eat the awesome apple pie that the wonderful George K's gave us this morning. It's been singing a siren's song from the back of the car for HOURS. Time to cave in to the call!

We saw this on the way out of Cleveland. I immediately thought "someone's going to feed Crashtest!" :lol:



Matt's party was so much fun, and kenny was...well, kenny was kenny! Here he's showing off yet another of his "melons"



Lb stunned us all by presenting kenny with a large box full of tools and books that he can put to immediate and good use at PT school. What a kind and generous gesture -- lb, I always knew you were a sweetie!





Here's something y'all thought would never happen:



Lb, it was so nice to finally meet you...especially after our failed attempt in Vienna!



Get a load of kenny's car, people!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:





Kenny and kluurs compare camera sizes:





And Dol, Kenny took this photo of me and all the shoes I brought with me for this road trip and I am to tell you "this one's for you!!". (The 12 pair all fit nicely in a laundry basket! LOL)

Love the pics!

Plays, I don't even have that many shoes in my closet!!!

Kenny...is that a windex bottle I see?

And where are you fitting that box that lb gave you?

PL/USAPT or something...
ARe you still losing weight? You look great BTW!

quote:

Originally posted by plays88keys:

Me, I'm just impressed by the need for two different sets of sneakers. One pair for running, one pair for tennis?

HA!

I thought that at first too, but then saw that one pair was sparkling clean and the other pay was for walking in the woods!

And to think that with all those shoes, she is barefoot!

quote:

Originally posted by lilylady:
...PL/USAPT or something...
ARe you still losing weight? You look great BTW!

The one I noticed losing is Plays. What I notice is that the loss is all over, head to toe, a point that shows amid this flurry of full-body pics. Looking forward to seeing a pic of her in her favorite new outfit when she reaches her goal.

School starts tomorrow and I've got Kenny here so I'll have to reply in more detail later, but it sure was fun meeting everyone at Matt's.

I too was amazed at how true it is that the camera adds 10lbs. to everyone. Everyone looked like they had just done a bulimic purge before the party because all I've ever seen is two-dimensional pics.

Lilylady, you are too sweet. I am hovering at 230. My initial goal was 220. I've lost about 40 lbs. since 2007, 60 since 2006.

Great pics, everyone looks great! Nice to see lb.

I am late to the party but....Way cool!!!

Why am I not surprise by the interior of Kenny's car??

Plays, great pics..though the shoes...hmmm...I can get by with one pair of Birkenstocks!

Rick, thank you for your comment. I've lost 40 pound so far, but I just don't see it. Also, I was horrified by this latest group of photos that my baggy pants, which make me *feel* like I've lost weight, actually make me look *bigger* than I am!

About the shoes: we are packing two, even three different climates on this trip, in addition to needing shoes for hiking, city visiting and dinner, etc. What's a girl to do? I just threw them all in a laundry basket and didn't think anything more about it.

These were taken Saturday.

Scenes from Wisconsin's State Route 14 from Madison to La Crosse. It's my favorite drive so far; it had it all: beautiful scenery, kitsch, nostalgia and history!







When's the last time you saw one of these?



The local VFW in one of the small towns:





When we got into La Crosse, we went across the Mississippi River into Minnesota. There, the state had provided a very nice rest stop with a platform overlooking the great river.



From this angle you can see one of the series of locks used along the river to keep the depth navigatable at all times:



As I said earlier, southern Minnesota is nothing but a big corn field, but windmill farms are sprouting up too:



the ubiquitous corn field:



I kept looking for this particular scene to pop up:



At the end of the day we came upon this thing right across the South Dakota line. I have no idea what it is - does anyone know?



I'll try to do a better job posting, but as kenny has said, it's time consuming. I've shot over 600 photos, have to upload them, pick the ones I want to post, upload to sharing service, resize them, then upload with a witty narrative. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Plays,

You look great now, but then I thought you looked great before your weight loss adventure!

Love the photos. But I know what you mean...it does take time. We appreciate and it is so much fun to see your adventure vicariously!

Yours too Kenny.

And to think that these two adventures met up with one another!!!

Only on the internet forums, I tell, ya, only on the internet!!! And I have to keep taking a sneak peak 'over there' to make sure that I am not missing anything. These are the first things that I look for!!!