Hey y'all!

I recently celebrated  a BIG birthday....

one where I officially feel like a SENIOR...lol 

 And Craig and I celebrated by going to CLEVELAND...

Yes.

I know you want to celebrate your birthday there too!

 

There's more to the story than this - Craig and friends have been going fishing on Lake Erie for the last ten years or so and he's always talked about the sweet little towns along Lake Erie... how pretty it is, how nice the weather is... how beautiful the plants and flowers are... and the many different architectural differences as you drive along the lake....

 

And after this pandemic... truthfully - I was ready to get on a plane 

AND GO - 

And Cleveland, but more accurately OHIO, worked in our schedule...  

We had a very loosely planned weekend... 

but the first thing we did is head over to Little Italy for some wonderful Italian food... 

seriously worth the wait [which they warned us about due to low staffing -] 

Then we drove around to see the weird and fun things 

Cleveland offers in the way of outdoor art...

And I know I say it over and over, 

but I feel so blessed to have a best friend to adventure with...

... and Magic Myrtle {our navigator} to direct us to 

ALL THE THINGS.

[Yes. I love technology.]

[World's Largest Outdoor Chandelier, 

thanks to General Electric -]

 [College Trash Can - ha -] 

 The Cleveland Arcade - built in 1890!!

So gorgeous! 

 

And the bridges in Rockefeller Park 

were incredibly beautiful!

 

The Cultural gardens were cool - 

from the road... we didn't have time to stop and visit each area...

And MY PHOTOS were awful....

so kudos to technology for these from google images...

 

And of course.

We visited...

The Christmas Story House!  

As we got out of town and drove along the lake 

we happened upon some cool things ...
 

 Like a large metal recycling fish!

[Seriously LOVED all the parks and public access to the lake

in each little town we drove through!]

 

And the World's largest Easter Basket  

[Not sure this is fully documented - lol -]

 

And the Light House Keeper and His Dog ...

Love this -

 When we got to our hotel that evening 

[out in Avon Park]  

we ate at a little place that LOVES the blow molds 

as much as some of the Jinglers in July do! 

 And I had tiramisu [back in the room] from a 

bakery in Little Italy as my birthday cake.

YUM.  

 

The next day Craig found a little bow mold for us 

to take home as a souvenir from our trip!

And I skipped all the way to the car with it - lol!

{Travel Tip: our travel souvenirs are usually things

 we find along the way that we can actually 

use in our home /camper once we're home...}

So - I had three goals related to my age for this month:

Renew the Driver's License [with start ID] - took me 4.5 hours - but CHECK. 

Sign up for Social Security - CHECK

 

And lastly, 

 Get the National Park Senior Pass - CHECK 

[Seriously happy to be able to do this the day after my birthday 

and not have to drive out of town to get it... 

- It's the simple things - lol...] 

 

And we embraced our senior hood 

as we took the ferry over to Kelly's Island [- lol... ]

to see the glacial grooves...

 

I have lots more to share about this quick little trip together because, even without a schedule we sure packed A LOT into our three nights together before Craig's fishing trip...

But this was a just a bit to 

document my weird and wonderful life...

HA.