This weekend we took a little road trip up to Cleveland (specifically Mentor – a sweet little suburb of Cleveland about 10 miles down from Lake Erie), where we have family. Mike, Mary Ellen, Michaela, Marcus, and Martin were kind enough to let us crash with them for the weekend, and we got to see even more family – Mike, Carol, and Uncle Dick stopped in for several hours as well. We were super bummed that we were unable to make the trip up to Chicago for Tammy’s memorial service and to see my side of the family two weekends ago because of our work schedules, but we’re thankful that we had the opportunity to see them all last month and to get away this weekend.
Michaela is a senior in high school this year and several weeks ago she invited us to come up to see her school’s musical production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, which she did lighting for. It’s only a 4 hour drive straight north, and in a rare change of events, we both ended up having the entire weekend off due to both UC and Cincinnati Public Schools being on Spring Break, and of course we were eager to see Michaela’s show. So we threw a few things in the car, drove up early Saturday morning, stopped in Columbus along the way, and enjoyed one of the most thoroughly relaxing weekends we have had in a long time.
In Columbus we hit up the lovely Arena District, home to the North Market (similar to Pike’s Market in Seattle), the baseball stadium, and the only Ted’s Montana Grill in Ohio. There we strolled the picturesque streets and indulged in delicious eats – bison ribs for Ted (bison + ribs = Ted Heaven) and a gourmet bison, guacamole, jalapeno, and chipotle ranch burger for me. It was divine, as always!
The rest of our drive up to Cleveland was nice. We had cool, breezy weather, no traffic, and pretty green scenery the whole way there. We spent the evening hanging out with family, enjoying good wine, good conversation, lots of laughter, a big family dinner complete with lots of people, open windows, home cooking, loud kids, and a big dog. It was absolutely perfect. Neither of us have felt so relaxed or carefree in quite some time.
Michaela’s show was wonderful! We especially loved seeing the lighting, but all the students involved in the production did a really nice job! It was so relaxing to sit and enjoy a show just for fun that neither of us had any part of. Plus I’m a schmuck and love classic musicals.
The next morning we went to mass, out for breakfast, and then we said our goodbyes, promised to do this again soon, and Ted and I hit the road for a quick jaunt up to Lake Erie to cover our shoes in sand, dip our fingers in the Great Lake, see a lighthouse, and skip some rocks. It was cold and overcast, but we had a really fun time hanging out on the beach and skipping rocks.
On our way back home we stopped in Columbus again, this time at North Market to try some of this famous Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams we keep hearing about. As someone who adores ice cream, offbeat flavors, and trying new things, Jeni’s was right up my alley! They offer flavors like brambleberry crisp, goat cheese with cognac fig, Icelandic happy marriage cake, pistachio and honey, chocolate cayenne pepper, salty caramel, Savannah buttermint, whiskey and pecans, wildberry citrus lavender, and riesling poached pear. For a complete list of flavors and stores that stock this goodness (including stores in San Antonio, Austin, Chicago, Mentor, and Cincinnati), check out the website. Jeni also makes a cookbook of her flavors, which I promptly added to my wish list along with an ice cream maker, immediately upon my arrival home. Hello Weight Watchers!
I sampled the salty caramel, lavender, and whiskey and pecan. They were super tasty and I’m very disappointed in myself for not sampling all the other unique flavors when I had the chance! But Ted and I really enjoyed the short time we had in Columbus, so we’ll likely be taking another day trip up there to explore and play some more sometime in the near-ish future, so I can sample my little heart out then.
Though we were only in Mentor for a day, the trip was so relaxing, so easy, so go with the flow, so family focused, and so us focused that it felt just like a mini vacation. It was perfect!
Though we’re back to life in the real world now and Ted’s in full swing with both Arcadia show prep and BAMM, I’m on “spring break” from teaching this week, so I have the opportunity to relax just a bit and get caught up all my other jobs and making props, costumes and a set for my kids’ show at Academy of World Languages. Oh, and to make hummus and a fresh, fruity homemade white wine sangria to enjoy porch-side!
How was your weekend?
