My Mother-in-law Suzanne also took some photos while we were up in Cleveland and I wanted to put them out on the blog. In this slideshow their are some pictures of the kids out on Lake Erie skipping stones, some pictures of them at Garfield’s house and some pictures of Stella opening her birthday presents. All these photos are here.
From June 11th through the 15th we went to Cleveland so I could attend Founder’s Day and so we could all visit with Justin, Glenn and Suzanne. I rode the BMW up while Melissa followed/lead in the minivan. It rained off-and-on during the first half of the trip up and then it really began to pour just north of Lexington, OH. I had left the vents open in my jacket because it was hot when we set out and I forgot to close them by the the time we hit the heavy stuff. I was so cold and soaking wet when we hit the 271 spur that I had decided I was going to either exit or pull under the next bridge that I saw. I was wearing a helmet, gloves, boots, Rallye jacket and pants. I had the seat heater and the grips heater on. I had the windshield all the way up. SO right around the time I am about to wimp-out two guys on Harleys pass me. They are wearing sunglasses (one did have riding goggles), blue jeans (soaked), boots and sleeveless T-shirts. No jacket. No gloves. No helmet. I thought, “if those guys can ride in this miserable shit then so can I” and I set about following them. With them acting as the rabbit, I made it all the way to the 271/I90 exit, by which time the rain was down to a slight drizzle and I was warming-up fast. Some of my friends make fun of Harley guys as posers – but I have run into some hardcore, ironbutt, ride-in-any-weather types on the prettiest HD cruisers.
The first day we were there, Glenn and I played golf at Stonewater Golf Club. I had not played at the course since we had moved to Kentucky and they have since built a beautiful club house and put up hundreds of new homes all around the area. While Glenn and I were playing golf Melissa, Suzanne and the kids took a tour of President James Garfield’s estate. It’s funny because I have driven by Lawnfield easily one thousand times but I have never stopped to take a tour of it. Melissa said that it was neat and definitely worth the time.
Melissa, Suzanne and the kids met Glenn and I for dinner at Stonewater (we pigged-out) and then Glenn, James, Sharon and I went straight from there to see the Indians play the Cardinals in an interleague game. In the leftmost photo below you can see Albert Pujols in mid-swing as he hits a homerun over the left field wall. I had told the kids that Pujols was the best hitter in the game when he approached the batter’s box and they urged me to take some pictures of him during the at-bat. Lo and behold I got one of him hitting it out of the park.
The following day Justin, Glenn and I went down to Akron to attend the Founder’s Day festivities. We caught a neat workshop on the history of the Big Book, toured the Akron Intergroup archives and caught two speaker meetings – including the main event speaker meeting at the JAR. It was a cool-with-occasional-showers day in Akron and we talked and visited with several nice people there. We ate dinner at a sweet little joint called Luigi’s (Man, I miss the Italian restaurants in the Cleveland area, especially Zappitelli’s).
On Sunday, Glenn, Justin and I played golf at Little Mountain Country Club. The layout was not as fierce as Stonewater but the surroundings were even more beautiful and we all had a great time playing the short, tight front nine before the “grip it and rip it” back nine unfolded before us.
I guess the last thing I can say about the trip is just how nice it was to be back in the Cleveland area. The temperatures were steady in the 70′s the whole time we were there. Melissa and I took a motorcycle ride on the last night we were there. We rode all along Lake Erie from Madison to Ashtabula, just shy of the Pennsylvania border. It was cool and clear and beautiful. This area was where I met Melissa and we had our first two children. I found a true vocation there. And I miss the food, the golf courses and the Indians games.
Father’s Day also fell in June. I was supposed to spend the weekend on the track at Bluegrass Motorsports Park but the track is not ready yet. I played golf that morning and came home to a great steak dinner and some very nice gifts from the family. The girls made some spectacular cards while they were at Glenn and Suzanne’s and Melissa bought me a funnel and some motorcycle cleaning products that I had been wanting.