Day 6: Cleveland Rocks!

 Day 6: Monday, June 16, 2025

Went to Cleveland, Ohio today and took in the sights.  We had one main goal and accepted a couple of side quests today.  We walked down to the water and admired Lake Erie.  Water always soothes and rejuvinates the soul. These pictures were taken at the end of the street on the "River Walk" in town.  

Danny's is from the back because he's dyslexic (his words, not mine.)

Next stop, the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame!

Cool story.  Carys is an avid Phineas and Ferb fan.  When we arrived here this morning, the theme song from the show by Bowling for Soup was playing.  How fitting that her "one hundred and four days of summer vacation" started out this way!  

The newest exhibit there is 50 Years of SNL.  The exhibit featured clothes worn both by musical guests as well as cast members.  Really neat to see some of the costuming and wardrobes used on the show. 

A piece worn by Gilda Radner.  

Devo jumpsuit (minus the flower pot hats). I remember watching this episode.  Pretty sure the plays "Whip It".

Will Ferrell bringing in the cow bell!

Adam Sandler as Opera Man.  Loved these sketches. 

"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we have a full tank of gas, half a packet of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses... HIT IT!"  

Of course, Jake and Elwood. 

There is also an exhibit where you can learn to play guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums.  Here she is giving three of the four a try.  She did pretty good, too!

She looks so natural here.  

She's learning to play a little guitar, but learned a few power chords today. 

Loving that she tried soemthing new and out of her comfort zone. 

There's so much to see here, but I will leave a few of her favorite bans and their stuff.

Green Day...

The Ramones

Bon Jovi..

When we got into the car leaving the museum. Bon Jovi was playing on the radio. As it would happen, their exhibit is the last one you see ... on the 6th floor.  Too cool. 

From here, we went to a pier and Wendy Park.  So nice to be near the water again.

One last side quest to round out the day.  "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." This is the exterior of the home used in filming A Christmas Story. We didn't tour the place because only the exterior was used during filming.  

Yes, the leg lamp is glowing in the window.

Tomorrow, we have one more museum to catch before saying "Good Bye" to Cleveland, Ohio!  It's on my list of places to come back to.  

Day 5: Driving Day

 Sunday, June 15, 2025

We spent 6 hours in the car today.  I only have one picuture...

We drove from Wilkes-Barre, PA to Cleveland, OH.  About 6 hours on the road.  One stop for lunch (out of the chuck box) and one pee/gas stop.  We are tired.  Mommy needs a "sippy cup" and Dad bought just what the doctor ordered back in Jersey. 

Carys and I spent about an hour in the hotel pool and that has made all the difference.  

Tomorrow we get to rock out and the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame!  Can't wait! 

Day 4: Rhode Island and road wary

 Day 4: Saturday, June 14, 2025

A rainy day did not dampen our spirits this morning as we headed on our way to see Rhode Island.  Oh my goodness!  This place was a little slice of heaven!  Carys wanted to go to the beach, but the weather had other plans, so we went to Newport, Rhode Island to check it out.  It's the playground of the rich and it is amazing!  I desribed it as if someone smashed-up Colonial Williamsburg, downtown Richmond from the 1960's, and Virginia Beach all into one town.  The homes are a mix of colonial style common row houses and Guilded Age 1890's mansions!  There are public and private areas as well as upscale and lower-end souvenir shops.  Here are a few pictures of our day.

Our beautiful girl in the pavillion at King Park in Newport, RI.

Mona Lisa never looked so good...

...but she looks better with a beard!  

 

Fort Adams is also in Newport, RI.  The fort has been turned into a state park.  In that state park, there is a public boat ramp for sailing and motorized vessels.  There's also this really cool ship called the Oliver Hazzard Perry.  It's a fully equipped tall ship that can also run on diesel power.  It's and educating ship and all who sail on her are part of the crew.  It can hold 49 passengers.  

We had lunch in an Irish pub called The Fastnet.  Of course, Danny had to get a Guiness stout.   

All of the merchants we spoke with were so friendly and talkative.  It was so nice to just walk around a town (even in the rain) and feel welcomed.  We were certainly want to return here one day and explore more.

We sadly had to leave this pleasant place and head west.  I was never so glad to hear the naviational system in the car say, "Say on 84 West for over 100 miles,"  We are all settled now in Wilkes-Barre, PA and have a 6 hour drive ahead of us tomorrow.  Next stop, Cleveland, Ohio!

Day 3: It's about what we DIDN'T see

 Friday, June 13, 2025

This moring we made our way to Boston, Massachusetts to see (or not see) some more artworks by famouse artists.  Look up the Isabella Steward Gardener Museum in Boston, Massachusetts and you will see that on March 18, 1990 a heist occurred there.  Netflix re-ran a specail on this a few years ago and it piqued my interest.  The short story is that 13 items were stolen for this magnificet home and no one knows where those items wound up nor are there any suspects left.  Anyone suspected has mysteriously died and no one knows anything about them.  Among the items were two Rembrandts as shown below.  

This empty space was probably "A Lady and Gentleman in Black" by Rembrandt

Here is where Rembrandt's "The Storm of the Sea of Galilee" once hung.

There were also several drawings stolen during this heist.  Some done by Degas (ya know, the guy who did that ballerina sculpture from yesterday's Blog entry.)  Here a picture of some of those stolen drawings.

There was SO much to see in this home.  Everywhere we turned, there was something else just as cool and amazing as the items before.  Each room is a different color and dedicated to a different genre of art or artifacts. There were so many paitings that the walls of each room were just covered.  Tapestries and archetectual pieces from castles.  Sacristy robes for ministers, kneelers, pulpits, and bibles.  

 The day pretty much ended after leaving the museum  I wanted to have lunch at Cheers, but the line was down the sidewalk and parking was at a premium.  We did enjoy a drive through historic Boston and admired the buildings.  Some of which reminded us from Paris.  

Dinner was a carry out restaurtant that specialzes in pizza and Italian dishes. Fairly good meal to round out the day.

Oh, one last thing.  Here's our buffalo.  Found on a Nissan from New Hampsire parked directly behind us in the parking deck in Boston this morning.  

One more painting for good measure.  "El Jaleo" by John Singer Sargent.  Beautiful painting of flamenco dancer and musicians.  

Day 2: A Buffalo Stampede

 Thursday, June 12, 2025

We started off the day in New Jersey and ended it in Stockton, Massachusetts.  What a DAY!  We were all bright-eyed and ready to go this morning, but road weary and wired by the time we checked into the hotel.

We drove straight to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  We paid a hefty sum to park in the museum's parking deck, but that was money well spent for sure!  First stop, of course, was to see the eggs.  Carys had map in hand and began her hunt!  She's relentless.  

I love her dedication to the quest!

 There are four oval doors on this egg which open up to reveal miniature portraits!  It was given as and Easter gift in 1893.  This side shows the little door with the 8 on it.  

The minatire portraits above and below are from that cute pink egg in the background.  Each miniatrue portrait depicts a different Danish palace.  I can't get over these tiny paintings!

This beautiful green egg is known as the Napoleonic Egg.  There are portraits that go with this one as well that show the six regiments of which the empress Maria Feodorovna was an honorary colonel.

And now for the buffalo stameped!  Everywhere we turned today, we saw something we did not expect. We drove along the Hundson River by the docks and saw the aircraft  carrier Intrepid.  We would ALL love to go back and tour that.  We drove down Madison Avenue, through Central Park and 5th Avenue.

Some of the things we saw in tbe Met were buffalos for both Carys and me,  Van Gogh, Monet, and Degas!

  

Pixels before they were a thing! Hard to believe this is little hand painted dots of color! This is the fourth ballerina by Degas that Carys has seen!  This one is in excellent shape!  There is one in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, One in the National Gallery in DC, and one in Musee D'Orsy in Paris!  This one at the Metroplitan Musem of Art in New York makes number 4!  She is one of my favorites! Another buffalo for today, the Frank Lloyd Wright room at the Met!  What a treat to see some of this fabulous living art created by one of MY favorites!  I dream of having a home like this one day.

I love the simplicity of this style!  The wood and leaded glass make it even more inviting to me.  

The final buffalo came at a shopping mall of all places.  We pulled off in Danbury Connecticut to get something to eat a this really unusual mall.  There is this glass structure at the entrace that sort of resembles the top of a big top circus tent.  We didn't really think much of it, just weird mall architecture.  We walked through this completely filled mall (all store fronts were filled and people were actually there shopping like it was 1990!) to the food court.  While Carys was in line ordering her Chic-fil-a, we heard a bell ringing and the caliope music coming from somewhere.  We looked up from line and saw the source of the music.  We were both so surprised to see a double-decker carosel!  Beautiful horses going round and round!  Of course we had to ride it!

This carosel is a replica of one that used to be part of the Danbury Fair on the same property where the mall stands today!  It was in operation from 1869 to 1981. This actual carosel is a repica built in 1982.  Look at that smile!

Tomorrow won't be such a long day.  We get to sleep in a bit bcause our next stop is only 30 minutes away and we get to spend an second night in the same place.  Can't wait to see what adventures await us tomorrow!

Day 1: Four States and High, Low, Buffalo

 Wednesday, June 11, 2025

A couple of years ago, Danny introduced a social game to our family called "high, low, buffalo".  Each person in turn talks about his or her day using the the topics of "high" (the best part or best experience of the day), "low" (what was the worst part of the day), and "buffalo" (what surprised you today).  It's a great way to decompress and recap the day at the dinner table.  We did that at dinner tonight, but I'll share the outcome a bit later.

We were off to a little bit of a late start this morning, but all worked out in the end.  We made it through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey today.  Traffic was horrible for most of the trip, but we made it this far without any issues.  Regarding that, the "low" today was running over a "road gator" between Vriginia and Maryland this moring.  All was fine, but it scared all of us.  

Today's "high" of course was seeing two magnificent eggs at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.  The Gatchina Palace Egg is SO detailed on the inside and quite simplistic on the outside.  The Rose Trellis Egg is also very ornate on the outside; not sure what it looks like inside.  

Two Fabrage Eggs at the Walter Museum in Baltimore, MD.

Carys couldn't get any closer to these eggs if she tried. 

Here's a better look at the Gatchina Palace egg. I can't get over the detail in the tiny castle in this egg!

Eggs aren't the only things the Fabrage designers made.  Here is another jewel-encrusted item from the studios.  I swear I have seen the two birds in Richmond when I was a little kid.  There was an extensive exhibit that included several Fabrage items in it and I think these birds may have been one of those items.

The day was FILLED with "buffalos".  The first one was a small glimpse of Cathredral Street in Baltimore.  It was a little slice of Paris right here on our back yard!  Carys was thrilled to sse this.  

This looked so much like the streets and cathredrals in Paris.  

This lion statue was in a courtyard that reminded us of the park we ate lunch in near the Louvre.  

The second "buffalo" of the day was that the Walter Museum is actually beyond the back yard of the Garrett Jacobs Mansion.  The back of the museum is the actual Mansion.  Beautiful house with lots of art. 

The view from the foyer of the Garrett Jacobs mansion.  

A section of the wall in the staircase.  The whole entry way is covered in this style.

Sky light in the mansion made by Tiffany and Company.

The last "buffalo" of the day was a result of an unscheduled side quest.  Something that Carys has wanted to do for a while now is see Edgar Allan Poe's final resting place.  A quick Google Maps search revealed that his tombstone was only a seven minute drive from the Walter museum, so off we went.  The "buffalo" wasn't the actual headstone or memorial stone. It was the cemetary itself!  The Westminster Hall is a beautiful old brick building in the middle of a city block.  The chruch is built over and around the cemetary plots. People are buried all over the place: under the church, beside the church, in the walkway, even under the porch.  Everywhere you turned in that small space was a tomb or burial plot!  These pictures don't do it justice.  

There is a drainage trench and walkway that share the same space BETWEEN two above ground vaults!

Edgar Allan Poe's original burial site. 

 A picture of the church.

Tomorrow is an early day as we make our way to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York!