Go Irish!

Friday night, July 30, 2010

We awoke to have breakfast with the extended family as all of us who are here for the wedding are staying at the same hotel. The guys had their final fitting for their tuxes, and they all had the rehearsal tonight, so Marc and the boys and I headed for the campus of Notre Dame.

I was so impressed by the school; they do not allow freshmen to declare a major, they do not allow sororities or fraternities, and more than 80% of all the students (including upperclassmen) stay in the dorms there on campus. They take so many precautions to make sure their students graduate - including the athletes - and the athletes stay in regular dorms with the rest of the student body. Such a good school! Yet, more than 13,000 students applied last year for only 2000 freshmen spots. Needless to say, it's tough to get in, and then, once a student is admitted, he or she has to figure out how to pay the $50,000 a year required to go there.

We visited Touchdown Jesus and 1st and 10 Moses and the Golden Dome. We saw inside the Golden Dome, too. The grotto, however, was under construction (I still took pictures). The Basilica was occupied by some couple getting married, so our tour guide thought it best not to interrupt their ceremony. Cha! How dare they interrupt my site-seeing with a wedding!??!?!? We might try again sometime this weekend to wander in and take a look around.

We also bought out the bookstore (which is the daddy of all book stores). Look for a "Play Like a Champion" sign in both my classroom and Marc's gym this year. Needless to say, the entire place is breathtaking and remarkable. I would love for either one of my boys to go to school there (like we could afford that). Tomorrow is the big wedding day and the reception at the vineyard on Lake Michigan. Excellent photo opps there!

Cleveland Rocks!

Wednesday afternoon, July 28, 2010

Yesterday was more than awesome. Cleveland is one of the coolest places I have ever been, and I never thought I would be saying that! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had way more than I could ever see in one day. I just made sure I scoured the Bruce Springsteen stuff in minute detail and then looked at all I could after that.

We parked in a garage right beside the stadium and then walked down to the Hall of Fame yesterday morning. We walked through 4th Street East, an alley way where several restaurants have set patio tables out and decorated the entire street with beautiful flowers and plants. I loved this area. We saw countless small restaurants, sandwich shops, pizzerias in the downtown area, too, but none of them were close to the Hall of Fame. We had to eat pre-packaged catering sandwiches there, but we were so hungry by the time we were able to eat that I just didn't care what it tasted like. Downtown Cleveland is really cool, though - the buildings are beautiful, the pier is unbelievable, and the stadiums/arenas are right beside each other. I totally loved it.

Back to the Hall of Fame.... It is the coolest place I have ever been. Floors 5 & 6 were dedicated to the greatest poet of the common man in our time - Bruce Springsteen. I thought I was going to cry when I headed up the staircase between the two floors when I saw the lyrics to "Thunder Road" written on the walls there. I had those exact same lyrics written on the back of my notebook in high school. The most amazing part of the displays, though, was the endless train of writer's notebooks. He allowed the Hall to show (under glass, of course) pages upon pages of his writer's notebooks!!!! I looked at the first drafts of countless masterpieces. It was like watching the genius at work. I kept saying that I wish my students could see this. I even saw spelling errors in his first drafts. I wish every one of my students could see all the times he crossed out words, passages, even entire stanzas. I saw where he changed words to make the line more succint or more vivid. For instance, in the first draft of "Born to Run" he changed "This town tries to rip the bones from your back" to "Baby, this town rips the bones from your back...." I could use that as a diction lesson in a heartbeat! And it wasn't just Bruce. I saw the same pattern in the rough drafts of Lennon/McCartney, too. If any of my students are reading this, you have to know that the greatest writers edit and edit and edit. I wish they could have seen it.

I don't have enough time to describe all we saw. I didn't even have enough time to see it all myself yesterday. Let me just say, we watched a really cool movie with clips from all the Hall of Fame inductees; I listened to several excerpts from the 500 songs that changed history (3 of Springsteen's, 1 from LL Cool J, 1 from Elvis Costello, etc.); I saw countless costumes. Oh yeah, Wanda G, if you read this, I have to tell you I saw a REAL Elvis jumpsuit. And Johnny Cash's bus. Too much to recount. I tried to educate Jordan and Joel as much as I could as we went along, but they were less interested than I had hoped. Maybe something stuck.

After we left the Hall around 5 pm, we headed to the stadium. Tuesday was Kids Fun Day, so the boys got a chance to play wiffle ball, throw with a radar, etc. They loved it. We had incredible seats - right down the third base line. Everyone at the stadium was so friendly, and I had a perfect view of Derek Jeter and A Rod. I learned one fact - the people in Cleveland LOVE them some Choo. He had an awesome game, though. A Rod didn't hit homerun #600, but I recorded each of his plate appearances just in case. I got some hot photos of DJ, too. And a couple of CC Sabathia for Jordan, but I was more interested in DJ.

When the game was over, and the Indians won, the place went wild. They played the theme from The Drew Carey Show, and we all shouted with everyone else, "Cleveland Rocks! Cleveland Rocks!"

And I now believe it.

In Cleveland!

Monday night, July 26, 2010

We are now in Cleveland and having a wonderful time. Last night, we toured Akron, OH after we enjoyed massive chocolate milkshakes at Steak -n- Shake. Jordan was dying to find St. Vincent St. Mary High School where LeBron James graduated. I was a bit nervous, thinking that it must be in a rough part of town since LeBron came up from such tough circumstances; but really, it was a relatively suburban area of downtown Akron. In fact, we rode by an area called Cascade Mills where new townhomes had been built and new parks lined the streets. The area definitely reminded me of a downtown renewal project like we would find around the upstate - like an old mill that is no longer in use, and the town turns it into a nice residential area, similar to Mayfair Mills in Spartanburg where my grandma used to work.

We also drove around downtown Akron this morning, collecting free tickets from Ritzman Pharmacies for the Akron Aeros baseball game that we didn't even attend tonight. My cousin Jason called me this morning, and we changed our plans altogether after talking to him. He knew of a restaurant in Cleveland called The B Spot, owned by Iron Chef Michael Symon, and that's where we went instead. Seeing Jason again and getting to talk to him was wonderful. It's been so long since I have seen him (probably the last time was at his dad's funeral), and we had a ball talking about the wedding and all the news in our lives.

The B Spot was excellent. Of course, gourmet burgers were a little pricey, but we had such a good time ordering specialty burgers like the Brueben and the Thin Lizzy and then embellishing them at the pickle bar. One mishap, though - I was almost witness to a lady falling in the floor right outside of the restroom. Her words to the waiter who helped her: "Your floor is just a little bit slippery." I smelled a lawsuit, so I ducked out of the restroom as quickly as possible.

After we left the restaurant, Jason drove us all around downtown Cleveland. We spent a while just sitting at the 9th Street Pier overlooking Lake Erie. The view was amazingly beautiful. I was so jealous of the peaceful sailboats drifting past. People just sat around enjoying the summer evening in an atmosphere dripping in beauty and peace. One couple was making out; an old man fished off the side of the pier and caught some small fish; another old man threw some kind of snack to some seagulls hanging out; other random people just sat and contemplated the universe. I picked out about a billion places to take photos tomorrow - so look for new pics tomorrow.

I also gazed in the windows of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I nearly danced with excitement at all the Bruce Springsteen stuff. I can't bring my camera in there, though, but I will be taking photos outside.

Progressive field is slap in the middle of downtown Cleveland. And so is the arena where the Cavaliers play. We could easily see the stadium where the Browns play, too, from the pier. All within a mile of each other. We are going to have such a good time tomorrow. Marc said CC Sabathia is pitching on top of everything else. Planning on a golden day tomorrow.

I am so excited to be here, and I am feeling so blessed to be able to show my children parts of America. They may not realize how precious this opportunity is just yet, but one day, they will appreciate all the experiences they have been afforded (I hope). Seeing America helps me to see that while parts of the country may look different, we, as Americans, aren't really that different at all. Jason talks so much like a Yankee now, but he says all his friends up here still give him a hard time for sounding southern. Yet, southern or not, he's still the Jason I love, the one I remember as my baby cousin with blonde curls. I see people here who remind me of people I know back home, and I constantly wonder about the people who live in the tall, turn-of-the-century houses or the high rise apartments or the new colorful townhomes I encounter as we ride.The more I see, the more I want to see (but I can't say that out loud - it makes Marc nervous when I tell him about all the places I want to go ;-)).

Sunday Evening, July 25, 2010

Hello Everyone!!!!

Another update from the Camps...

Last night, Marc found a fabulous Italian restaurant called Papa Bear's here in Canton. I think the owners are actual Italians (as far as we could tell based on our ignorant, southern stereotyped ideas of what a "real" Italian would look like); regardless, the pasta and salads were divine. Joel is so tempted to ask for sweet tea just to see what the puzzled looks on their faces would reveal, but he settled for Mountain Dew. Jordan was most impressed by the signed jersey from Pete Rose hanging in the lobby.

There was a HUGE wedding party in our hotel last night/this morning, so we were entertained by all the finely dressed women, men, and kids running back and forth last night in their wedding day mayhem, as well as by the tired conversations we heard at breakfast this morning. I was a little aggravated, however, when the groups at breakfast sat and talked leisurely while the Camps tried to find a seat while balancing waffles, eggs, and cereal in our search for a table.

Oh yeah, we barely made it back to the hotel last night before a massive storm hit the area. The wind blew so fiercely, we started to wonder if we should be looking out for funnel clouds. The TV shut off a couple of times in our hotel room during the storm, but other than that little bit of excitement, we fell early into bed from our exhaustion from the travel.

This morning, we headed out the the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We made our photo in front of the sign with our Gaffney Ledger, so watch for our day in the paper. The museum was great, even if it lacked some of the mystique and magic of Cooperstown. The theatre showing a film called "The Road to the Superbowl" startled us a little as it started to move. Our seats actually twirled around to face a huge screen to watch the highlights of the Saints and Colts from last winter. Not surprising, though, was the lack of Panthers memorabilia; I guess when we actually have a Hall of Famer, we will have more than a cursory mention in the place. I took a million photos of the boys in front of jerseys from Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Mean Joe Green, Joe Namath, etc. They also had an amazing hologram of last year's Super Bowl Ring - along with a case of jewels I loved, filled with a Super Bowl ring from the very first Super Bowl and all the rest.

We left the store with pennants, t-shirts, pins, and a souvenir photo taken with a Hall of Fame green screen. Most excellent photo, though. After an evening of swimming, we are making plans for tomorrow. Heading maybe to an Amish farm and an Akron minor league game. We'll see. Who knows? If something better crosses our paths, we are there!

We Are On Our Way!

Saturday Afternoon, July 24, 2010

We have made it to Canton, Ohio, and we are staying in a Hampton Inn here a couple of miles from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I tried to post something earlier today before we left Ripley, WV, but the shotty internet connection at the Holiday Inn Express there kept shutting off. When I tried to post my latest blog, it disappeared on me. What a crock.

I slept most of the way last night while Marc drove. He pulled into the hotel last night around 2am. Jordan and Joel began the trip playing their PSPs, and I read and listened to my MP3 player after we stopped in Concord, NC, for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Quaker Steak and Lube. But none of us lasted very long. While we slept, Marc listened to the Braves game on XM radio, and I think I heard him listening to the Dodgers/Mets game later on into the night as he drove. Thank God for the GPS system and XM Satellite Radio. They make the trips so much more bearable. I can't say the same for the stench emanating from Jordan's feet - they still stunk from RA Camp even after we made him take a bath yesterday afternoon. I hope the pool chlorine helps. LOL.

We left Ripley sometime around 11 am after a tasty breakfast there at the hotel. We made it to Canton sometime around 1:30 or so but of course, we had to go to the Pro Football Hall of Fame to see what it looked like first. We drove around there for a minute before we started looking for another Holiday Inn Express here. The closest one is in Alliance, OH, but they were booked solid for tonight. So we headed back to Canton, where there is an old Holiday Inn. We started to book there, but Sunday night's rate was crazy high for such an old hotel (and they only have an outdoor pool - it's cloudy/rainy today) so we headed to the Hampton Inn.

On the agenda tonight - swimming and something good for supper, I hope. Tomorrow, we head to the Football Hall of Fame to go inside and actually look around. We'll carry the Ledger and my camera. Expect some photos tomorrow.

Later Taters.

Beginnings

Hello, Everyone!

We are in the planning stages of our big Mid-West America trip scheduled for the end of July. I hope to be able to post each night about our adventures of the day, and I want to post the link on my Facebook page for easy access for my friends and family.