For a variety of reasons mainly having to do with the scheduling and location of LL#1's college orientation, it seems our family vacation will be in exotic Cleveland OH this summer. We have a few plans - we're going to Cedar Point for a few days, planning to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and we have tickets to see Dear Evan Hansen which is playing off Broadway there during the time we'll be there. But we still have most of a full day to kill. We're staying downtown but will have a car so we can venture. Anyone have any suggestions for something interesting to do? I've got 3 teens with me, so nothing too hoity toity, and we're not foodies at all. As you may remember from my past vacation threads, we are pretty much "the tackier and more tourist-trappy, the better" type vacationers! Right now I am debating between the modern art museum (my kids get a kick out of the random things that are on display as modern art -- they still talk fondly of a scrap of pallet wood with a nail sticking out of it that was in the modern art museum in Paris...) or the Christmas Story movie museum. We do love museums and I know there's a science museum and an aquarium and a natural history museum, but I'm not sure how those are any different/better than every other science museum and aquarium and natural history museum we've been to in other cities...so if any of those are particularly outstanding in Cleveland, let me know!

I don't have any Cleveland advice for you, but I don't remember if you said where LL#1 is going to college. If you're ok saying that publicly ...

Yeah sure -she's heading to Miami University of Ohio.

Not to derail the thread, but if any parents here are looking down the barrel of the college search, here's our outcome. The TLDR version is that college admissions is stupid competitive and getting worse every year. It's important to set realistic expectations from the get go (which I think we did) because there's several kids in LL#1's high school who are devastated right now because they had their heart set on schools like Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT and in spite of strong extracurriculars, grades, and test scores, they were flat out rejected. It's tough out there!

LL#1 is top 5% of her class, gpa=4.84 weighted, 4.11 unweighted (an A+ counts as a 4.3 at her school, SAT=1460. By the time she graduates she will have taken 7 APs and for the 4 she has already taken exams for, she has all 5s (highest score you can get). Plus she has taken several dual enrollment courses so will also have 14 college credits to transfer in. Strong 4-year intense extracurriculars (marching band and indoor drumline - both require >20 hours a week for months on end) with leadership positions for the past 2 years. She pretty much would have cakewalked her way into Harvard back when I was applying to college, but nowadays, she didn't even consider it or any Ivy League school. She applied to 5 schools - University of Delaware, UConn, UMass Amherst, Virginia Tech, and Miami of Ohio. She was looking for schools that offered her major (neuroscience) and had a marching band with a front ensemble so she could play marimba in the band....those two criteria do not often meet so that was pretty much the list of possibilities (and VA Tech didn't even have the marimba in the marching band, but their neuroscience program was strong so she applied anyhow.)

These are not reachy schools - they are all public state schools and not particularly prestigious, and they should have been a cakewalk for someone with her grades, test scores, and extracurriculars.

She did get admitted to all of them. BUT....she did not get into the honors program at Umass or Va Tech. And VA Tech gave her no money at all -- the others gave fairly nice merit packages that brought the final price down to about what it would cost us to go to Penn State (which in itself is stupid expensive for an in-state flagship). We were really surprised because at the very least, we thought she'd make the honors program everywhere she applied - on paper her stats are far and above the average student at those schools. But like I said, things are crazy competitive these days. And the worse it gets, the more schools people feel like they need to apply to because they are counting on a lot of rejections (people were amazed and alarmed that LL#1 was only applying to 5 schools - most people seem to be doing like 12-14 and there were at least a few kids in her high school who applied to upwards of 20!) -- and then the increased numbers of applications make the acceptance rates even lower. It's a vicious circle and I only see it getting worse from here.

At any rate, she is super excited about Miami -- it was a surprise choice, since it was kind of added to her list on a whim (we hadn't visited) and all along her #1 was UDel but she visited Miami for accepted students day and loved it. I am not so happy about the 10 hour drive but I do have a soft spot for Ohio, having lived in Columbus for a few years. I do worry about the culture shock - we live in a pretty hick part of the Philly suburbs but I suspect that that part of rural Ohio is bound to be a lot more conservative than what she's used to (witness: there's an open carry rally happening on campus this Friday - ugh!). But she'll deal I guess. And another liberal voice in a swing state is a good thing!

Re Cleveland - it’s on the water, are there water activities? Like a boat tour, renting jet skis, or something like that?

Tower City Center has a spectacular view, especially of the twists and turns in the river. It's a little hard to figure out how to get in - you enter via a counter in a shopping mall. If you are interested in recent in recent history look up the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969. The difference in how Cleveland looked then and how it looks now is really striking.

Garfield's Tomb is pretty cool and is located in a cemetery. Another great view.

Depend on what part of Cleveland you're in, the place to eat is "Melt", famous for grilled cheese sandwiches. No need to drive a long way though - there are lots of great little places to eat.

The Cuyahoga Railroad has half day trips down through some really pretty country. They do events like wine trains, food trains, music, etc. depending on the weekend. There's plenty of history too - it runs along the path of the old canal.

There's a submarine you can tour - the USS Cod. The guys who are in charge of the restoration are quite passionate about it and have done a very good job.

The statuary and such in the town square is worth seeing. I especially like the special area they have set aside for protests.

There is a terrific butterfly house and botanical garden near City Hall. It's the largest one I've seen and there are plenty of butterflies in it. The gardens are pretty, too.

Pro-tip: Allow time when going downtown. Parking is a PITA.

Congrats to LL #1!

I'm so glad we're over the college admission thing.

quote:

Originally posted by Nina:
Congrats to LL #1!

I'm so glad we're over the college admission thing.

+ LOTS to both of those sentiments. Not a fun process. Glad it came out well for LL #1.

With one daughter a two-day drive away, and another daughter a three-day drive away, 10 hours would seem like a luxury to me.