Cleveland: My Big City Visit

I never got a chance to share my trip to Cleveland. It was a whirlwind weekend trip that had me spending time at places I enjoyed and seeing people I love. Here's a break down and if anyone makes it out there I highly recommend hitting all these places:

Friday

• Drop off gear at Shaker Height accommodations
• Eat at east side Melt
• Go to Coventry to spend the rest of the evening
• Get a caffeine fix at Phoenix Coffee
• Wine (no dine, stuffed from Melt) at La Cave (it has a great rating on Beer Advocate)
• B-SIDE! My favorite dance place of all time. It's the best place for a nerd like myself to get their boogie on

Saturday

• Head to Case campus - my dream is to get an honorary degree from there one day
• Check out the Cleveland Art museum that is so close to being completed!
• Checked out student exhibit at CIA
• Eat at Tommy's - great tempeh!
• Head to Eton
• Go to Menchie's - haven for preteen girls but decent place to get yogurt
• Check out Anthropologie
• Eat sushi at Pacific East with my girl Nidhi

Sunday

• Go to Sweetie Fry at Cedar Lee - it doesn't get better than a place where you can get ice-cream and fries! The stout(er) chocolate is the way to go. I haven't met a beer ice-cream I haven't liked.
• Head to Gordon Square. When I lived in Cleveland, I hadn't hung out much on the west side Other than working in Ohio City and visiting Tremont once or twice, I spent most my time on the east side.
• Eat at Happy Dog - hot dog with whatever you want on it!
• See my good buddy Nick and ride on his motorcycle...still not sure if I'm a fan but I'll be damned if I don't try to enjoy it every time I get the chance
• Play a board game...I win as usual

Wait! There's More!

Monday

• Eat at my old office building that houses Saffron Patch
• Say farewell, exchange well wishes and say goodbye to Cleveland
• Tally-ho to SoOh...ten pounds heavier and immeasurably happy

It goes to show that you can never appreciate a place as much until you leave it and visit. We basically took about 3 weeks worth of weekends when were living there and jam packed them into this one weekend visit. I was in a very different place emotionally and mentally when I lived in Cleveland. There were tons of fun times but I think I was often looking toward our eventual move and not living in the now when I lived in Cleveland. But a much as I miss it, I don't ever want to try and live there again. I want my Cleveland self that I left behind to stay right there; goofing off, dancing, feeling unsure, eager to leave, wondering what I'm doing and hoping to get it together someday.

Cleveland was a great big city to feel a bit lost in. Kyle would tell me that he thought Cleveland has an east coast city feel to it. Of course that conjures thoughts of living in New York City for me. I never had any desire to live in a city like that, I'm a bit too midwest and laid back (for the hustle and bustle of a city of that size, but in a small way I think I made a go of it in Cleveland. It sounds a bit silly (especially for those who lived in NYC) but for this small town girl, Cleveland was that big city experience for me. And now that I have left, I shall never return because I want to feel exactly how I do about it now; a bit wistful and proud I lived there. Southern Ohio has made me feel more proud of having lived there too. When I tell people I lived there for 3 years they seem impressed that I stuck it out there. Cleveland is by no means a horrible place, it just has that big city grit to it that makes my small town self feel kind of cool for having lived there.

Cleveland is that, Cleveland is the; Cleveland is the reason I'm cool

- Kid Cudi