Tag: Cleveland

AR#1 -Alternative Reflections

RJ Walters

Alternative Reflections is a new category for me here at RJsCorner. It is meant to allow my creative side a little more leeway in my life. Most of the posts in this category will be where I take some of my favorite photos and expose them to artistic apps to turn them into “art”. Of course art is in the eye of the beholder, so I will wait for your judgement on whether I am doing a good job.

The first installment is a picture of me taken at a cafe attached to the Westside Market in Cleveland. It was taken last year during our trip to see Punxsutawney  Phil. A full post on that soon. 🙂

An enjoyable breakfast in a small Cleveland cafe.

Cleveland – A Different View

RJ Walters

Last Saturday’s “Artsy” post gave you a snapshot of our trip to Cleveland earlier this year.  This post will put some flesh on those bones. 🙂

Our first extended visit to Cleveland was in 2013. We were visiting a couple of my high school classmates of fifty years ago. We took in the downtown area and most of the usual tourist places during that trip. The trip this Spring was a two-day pass-through one and I was determined to see a different view of the city. As mentioned Saturday, we stayed at the Aloft Hotel on the Cuyahoga River a short distance from Lake Erie.  It was a very different place than we usually stay and that is exactly what I was hoping for. Since I didn’t get any internal shots of the hotel I took some from their website, I’m sure they won’t mind the free advertising.  (Oh, by the way, click on any of these groups of pictures to see larger and captioned versions.)

The backside of the hotel where our room was was literally abutted up to the commuter train tracks. The views were amazing. This is a slideshow of my pictures.

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As you likely know, I am a planner so I had checked out the Westside Market as the place to go for the next day which was a Tuesday.  We got to the market plenty early so there wouldn’t be too many people but found out they are closed on Tuesday! We did eat at the local cafe attached to the market and had a humongous breakfast.  Finally here are some pictures of that.

 

This place has been around forever
I sneaked a picture through the cafe door glass
Sorry I missed you
Me, having a pleasant time waiting for breakfast
My Hubby of 33 years seemed to be enjoying herself

It was an enjoyable experience, even if we were disappointed about the market. From Cleveland, we went to Punxsutawney PA to see Phil. More on that in a future Tuesday post.

 

Coastal Taco – Cleveland

RJ Walters

Coastal Taco - Cleveland

For the first “Artsy Saturday” post at the reformatted RJsCorner, I chose the Coastal Taco in downtown Cleveland Ohio.  The picture was taken just after sunset from our room at the very eclectic Aloft Hotel. As you can see the restaurant was under a very large bridge going across the Cuyahoga River near Lake Erie.  The food was pretty good and the inside atmosphere was delicious. 🙂

Cleveland Treasures

RJ Walters

For this Artsy Saturday, I wanted to give you some pictures that I see as the quintessential Cleveland.  I am not a sports nut by any stretch of the imagination so their well-known teams just aren’t “Cleveland” to me.  The Cleveland Clinic is a crown jewel for the city but I will talk about that in a future post.

When I visited the city a few years ago I discovered that it has a much more diverse population then I imagine. Part of that is ethnic neighborhoods. The restaurant sign below is in the Italian district.

The city center includes the Terminal Tower constructed in 1926. These fantastic windows are located there.

Some cities “modernize” and throw away these types of things. Cleveland rightfully celebrates them.

ClevelandCleveland-2

Emporiums….

Emporiums….

RJ Walters

Cleveland, OH – Emporium

This emporium in downtown Cleveland while pretty much vacant now was once a vital part of the city. These were the first shopping malls in America. Like this one they are pretty much abandoned now because everyone now goes to the modern ones in the suburbs.

American Food…

American Food…

RJ Walters

Cleveland, OH – Guarinos

I know the hot dog is supposedly very American but I kind of think our food, like our population, is a melting pot of different ethnic varieties.  In reality I don’t think of our population so much as a melting pot but as a stew; maybe I should think that way about the food also? Any large city has at least a dozen different nationalities restaurants in their environs.  My favorites have always been Chinese and Mexican. I do like a hot dog now and then but the flavors from many ethnic foods pulls me in.

On The Road Cleveland – Day 8, The Final Run…

RJ Walters

Cleveland 30Here we are in the final hotel of our Cleveland vacation. We are in Newark Ohio which is a little east of Columbus. We spent much of the day in more Amish country of Berlin Ohio. It claims to have the largest Amish community in the U.S. I bought a couple of framed pictures as mementos of our trip.  When we left this area to head south to I70 we found you couldn’t get there from here. Two of the three roads we tried were closed!

Cleveland 31Finally after three failed attempts we managed to find our way south and will jump on I 70 tomorrow morning for  the trip home. It was a good vacation; we certainly enjoyed the cultural aspects of it and the visit with my high school friends. We learned quite a bit about Cleveland that we didn’t know before. When we visited the historical society building yesterday we came to understand that it is critical to say you are from east Cleveland or west Cleveland, not just Cleveland. We learned that there is much ethnic diversity in Cleveland than we thought. We learned that you can’t get there from here when traveling south out of northeast Ohio.

It was an interesting vacation. We will likely be back sometime soon for another visit to our re-found friends. But the next time we will find an easier way to get from there back home 🙂 Tomorrow I will be getting back to my usual posting about life in general…It was nice to be away but it will also be nice to get back; even for that mountain of Spring chores waiting for me…

Amish in Berlin OH…

Amish in Berlin OH…

RJ Walters

Here we are in the final hotel of our Cleveland vacation. We are in Newark Ohio which is a little east of Columbus. We spent much of the day in more Amish country of Berlin Ohio. It claims to have the largest Amish community in the U.S. I bought a couple of framed pictures as mementos of our trip.  When we left this area to head south to I70 we found you couldn’t get there from here. Two of the three roads we tried were closed!

Cleveland 31Finally after three failed attempts we managed to find our way south and will jump on I 70 tomorrow morning for  the trip home. It was a good vacation; we certainly enjoyed the cultural aspects of it and the visit with my high school friends. We learned quite a bit about Cleveland that we didn’t know before. When we visited the historical society building yesterday we came to understand that it is critical to say you are from east Cleveland or west Cleveland, not just Cleveland. We learned that there is much ethnic diversity in Cleveland than we thought. We learned that you can’t get there from here when traveling south out of northeast Ohio.

It was an interesting vacation. We will likely be back sometime soon for another visit to our re-found friends. But the next time we will find an easier way to get from there back home 🙂 Tomorrow I will be getting back to my usual posting about life in general…It was nice to be away but it will also be nice to get back; even for that mountain of Spring chores waiting for me…