Tuesday, August 2nd

Tuesday morning was yet another sleep-in day, but we made up time by having the leftovers from breakfast on Sunday as our breakfast today. After breakfast, we wandered next door to the Vancouver Library, which Ionut had recommended seeing, and it really was next door – the next building east of our hotel.

The library is very cool architecturally – it is in a circle, with an outer circle of columns to mirror the building. It is multiple stories high (maybe 10? I did not count them), and made of a brown stone. The street next to the library was shut down and full of moving vans, but we were able to get into the library on foot. The main entrance of the library itself was mobbed, and as the doors opened at 10:00, people literally ran into the library and up to the second floor. We supposed they wanted the best books to themselves.

We went out another entrance, and came across what may have been public art – the sidewalk had been built up to the level of the tables and chairs in the courtyard, so that the tables stuck up just a few inches above the walking surface. There seemed to be a number of people with walkie-talkies about, and Mer noticed a van labeled “Police Bomb Squad – Boston.” We had heard that a lot of filming went on in Vancouver, especially at the library, and here it was. It now seemed at least possible that the sidewalk build-up was for the filming, but it was not obvious how. We asked a nice man with a walkie-talkie what was being filmed, and he told us it was the TV show Fringe. We have never seen Fringe, but know it is popular with some of our friends and students. We told him that our being there would score big points with them, and then he quietly told us if we waited, we would see one of the new stars of the show. I’m so clueless that he had to point her out to me, and I only managed a blurry shot and a distant back shot of her as she hurried into the library. It seemed fitting that I should be clueless in taking the photos of a show that I was clueless about.

We then continued on our way down to Waterfront Station again, and headed west along the streets and then the seawall. We passed by the huge convention center, Canada Place, where the cruise ships were supposed to leave from, but there was not one there at the time. I was excited as we passed Canada Place and got to the seawall because I had a good view of the seaplanes landing and taking off on the bay. There is regular seaplane service to the large island of Vancouver and some of the other smaller islands. Seeing seaplanes is fun, and not something you get to observe too much in Ohio.

We continued along the seawall along Coal Harbor and soaked in the sights. The seawall wound around with the bay, so it was quite a bit of walking to go what would have been a not-very-far distance in a straight line. We came around to the other end of Stanley Park, the northern side that we had not yet been on. The park was once again a great place to stroll. We saw some antique cars touring the park, and we made our way to the small but well-regarded aquarium in the park. Sadly, there was a huge line, and we decided it was too nice a day and not a good use of time to wait 30 or more minutes in line, especially since we had just seen the Chicago aquarium a month before. So, we went back to the seawall, and kept walking.

After a few minutes, we took a very short detour to go look at a collection of six or seven totem poles. We read about the meaning of totems – they tell stories or act as a coat of arms, which I had not known. They were very well done, and it was a good detour.

We made our way back again to the seawall, and went around a small lighthouse. We then found a nice bench to sit on and have crackers as a lunch/snack while we watched the ocean. A little further on we came across a sculpture of a girl in a wetsuit, which was cool enough in itself. But the really cool thing was that the sculpture was installed on a rock out in the bay. That must have been an interesting installation. In the same spot in the park, they had the masthead to an old Japanese ship that was colorfully decorated as a dragon.

We finally came back around to Lion’s Gate Bridge, so we turned to go back inland along the interior paths. We decided to take the walking paths instead of the road, and we soon got turned around. At that point, we remembered that out backpack had a very cheap compass attached to it as a zipper pull. We had always laughed at how silly that attachment was, but it did work, and now it came in handy. At any intersection, we were able to use the compass to find south, and so we could efficiently, but still surrounded by pretty park lands, make our way back toward the city.

Along the way, we stopped at Beaver Pond, which is covered in water lilies that are very scenic, but which the informational signs say were imported and now are accelerating the silting up of the pond. We continued around the pond, and crossed over a pedestrian bridge that went over the Lion’s Gate Bridge road, and then we were immediately back in the forest. It was amazing to see all the huge tree stumps from old trees, and the lush ferns, and the tall but newer growth. Near the edge of the forest, the trees thinned and there were small clearings that the signs said were good for birdwatching.

As we left the forest part of the park, we still stuck near water, and so we followed along a lagoon in the park. There were ducks and turtles and even a few heron to watch, and we took advantage of a bench to rest. Once we got past the lagoon, we were back in the city, and so we walked along less-used city streets and made our way back to the seawall so we could head back to Waterfront Station. Along the way, I stopped in at a small store that sold Italian food and ordered a hot chocolate. It was excellent, and I felt much better for the rest and the sugar.

We got back to a section of the seawall that was under repair, and somehow we missed the path we had taken earlier and we stared climbing up some stairs. By the time we figured out what had happened, we decided to see where the steps led. At the top, we turned around a corner and there was a large plaza. In the middle of the square was the Olympic torch! That was a very happy find. Near the torch was a sculpture of a pixelated whale, so that it looked like a huge whale made out of Legos. The square was great.

We then headed back around Canada Place, and there was a cruiseship in berth there. We decided to take a look, and were impressed by how large the ship was. We used it as an excuse to wander all around Canada Place, at least as far as you could go, which was to a point out at the very end of the pier. It had a great view of the bay and the mountains.

We finally made it back to Waterfront Station, and we got our all-day passes again and hopped on the seabus. It is a nice means of transportation – easy to use, relaxing, and with great views. Over on the North Vancouver side, we stopped by The Coffee Bun again to buy a bun to have the excuse to use the restroom, and we were politely told to use the public restrooms at the nearby market. While I did that, Mer called Beata again, and made sure she was home.

We got directions and walked up the hill about eight blocks or so to the apartment building where Beata and Ionut live. We did take one wrong direction, but it was easy to correct, and so we got there fairly efficiently. Beata greeted us. Romanians are extremely hospitable people, and Beata brought out some potato wedges and cheese slices that were quite welcome after the long day of walking. Ionut was still at work, and Andrei was taking a nap, so we had a great time talking. Andrei got up around 5:30 and Ionut got home around 6:00. Ionut grabbed a quick bite to eat (we were well fortified on cheese and potatoes), and then the five of us got in the car and headed west to Lighthouse Park.

The park was very uncrowded, and I am glad Ionut and Beata knew where it was, because the entrance was down a small street. The walk through the woods on the way to the lighthouse overlook was fantastic. It was beautiful – rock faces, huge trees, lots of undergrowth. We walked down the path until we came to a huge rock that we climbed up, and from there we had great views of the lighthouse and the ocean beyond. We soaked in the splendor for awhile, and then took a different path back to the car, including a small detour to another ocean vista, this time with a partial view of Vancouver. The trail back to the car had even larger trees, and the walk was great.

Ionut then drove us over to Cleveland Dam, which is one of the reservoirs for Vancouver. It sits at the base of Grouse Mountain, which is a tourist magnet because it has cable cars that run up the mountain. The lake was gorgeous – it was large, surrounded by trees, and had mountains all around it. It was spectacular (as much of Vancouver was turning out to be). We wandered around enjoying the views walked out on the dam and back (it was too high for me to be comfortable), and Ionut wrestled with Andrei on the grass. Ionut is a great father – a man who loves to be with his son, and does not treat his son like glass. Andrei loved it.

Finally, since night was falling, Ionut drove us up to Cypress Mountain, where there is an overlook of downtown Vancouver. Use the usual adjectives – amazing, breathtaking, georgeous, and such – it is such beautiful country. The overlook was great, but even the drive up the mountain was pretty (which we could see in the last of the daylight).

We stayed up on the overlook for about ten minutes, but it was getting late. Ionut insisted that he drive us to the hotel once again, so we made good time back home. Mer and I swung by the nearby Canadian donut chain called Tim Hortons, and we picked up a couple of small sandwiches to munch on back in the hotel. Another great night in a great city.

Monday, August 2nd

Monday we let ourselves sleep in again to get some rest. Once we were up and ready, we headed out and walked the several blocks to the Elbow Room, a breakfast and lunch diner that specializes in attitude. The owners are super blunt and use raw language if they feel they need to, and the place has quite a reputation for being a fun place to eat. We did enjoy the food, and I was told to “move your tush” when they needed me to switch tables and then told to move the same body part in more explicit language once we were done with breakfast. The food was good and unusual – I got the cinnamon roll French toast. The meals were about standard size for home meals, which felt small for a restaurant, especially when the bill came to almost $40 with tip. It was a good experience, but I would not need to do it again for that cost.

We headed back to the hotel to get outfitted for the day, including snack crackers to keep me happy. We swung by a 7-11 store to pick up an all-day transit card. They cost $9 each and let you ride any public transportation you want all day long. We walked down to a bus stop on Granville Street and waited for a bus. And waited. And waited. It turns out that Monday was “BC Day,” a regional holiday, and some of the bus lines only ran every 20 or 30 minutes. We had some odd entertainment in commenting on the mannequins in a store called Dare to Wear. You can use your imagination and probably will not be too far from the truth. Anyway, a  bus came along and we caught it to Granville Island.

Granville Island, as mentioned in the last post, is a shopping and street-performer district. We had gone to see if we could find James Hawkins from the night before. We found him after only one false start (looking for a book store we never did find), and he was delighted to see us. I’m glad we got there on the early side – around noon –  because he was almost sold out of his books. He gave us a book, and Mer bought another, and he was kind enough to sign them both. He recommended some more things to see, and even went so far as to give us his phone number if we had any questions. Again, what an extraordinary person.

We came out of the book store to see a large crowd gathered around a man who was addressing them through a PA system, and he was telling two men to stretch out a chain. He seemed funny, and it looked interesting, so we stopped. He was a street performer and magician, and he already had his hands handcuffed behind him. He had the two men, at whom he poked good-natured fun, test a long chain to prove it was real. Then, he had a girl from the audience search him for keys, with some wink-wink humor along the way, and she tested his handcuffs. Once the girl had verified that he was not carrying any keys, the two men from the audience wrapped him up in the chain. He then stepped into a bag held by the girl, and she tied it gently around his neck. She then counted down sixty seconds, and as time ran out, he stepped out of the bag, free from the chains and handcuffs and wearing a pink tutu. Why not? It was very entertaining. We gave him $10 and considered it well spent. We wandered around the island for a few more minutes, but it was crowded and the maps were not very good, so we kept not finding the stores I wanted to see (like a silk weaver place). So, we left and went back to the bus stop.

I don’t remember where exactly we got off, but it must have been Granville Street somewhere. We made our way north along Granville Street, which has four blocks of it blocked off as a pedestrian zone, which is nice. We headed down to Waterfront Station, which is a bus/train/ferry station, and used our all-day passes to jump on board the Sea Bus. The Sea Bus is a passenger ferry that takes 15-20 minutes to cross the northern bay to get to North Vancouver. Once we got to North Vancouver, I wanted to get some hot chocolate for the sugar, liquid, and calories, and eat my crackers. We swung into a place called The Coffee Bun, which sells sweet buns coated with a dusting of coffee. I ordered my hot chocolate (and got an odd stare for getting one when it was 75 degrees out), and then I decided to try a chocolate coffee bun as well. I split it with Mer. As an aside, the store was run by Asian immigrants, and on the counter was a notepad with the header “Is Anything Okay?” (presumably instead of “is everything okay?”). Mer and I loved that, and have been trying to work it into our lexicon.

The chocolate coffee bun was quite good (the coffee was very light), and my crackers hit the spot. While I ate, Mer called her friend Beata.

Meredith taught English in Romania for a year back in 1995-1996. Mer and her roommate, Laura, became good friends with a family there who had a 16-year-old daughter, Beata. Beata had come over to the U.S. once in 1999 or so, but that was the last time Mer and Beata had seen each other. In the meantime, Beata married the older brother of a classmate; her husband’s name is Ionut (pronounced “Yo-NEWTS”), which is Romanian for “Johnny.” Ionut and Beata emigrated to Vancouver about four years ago, and had a son, Andrei, over two years ago. Since they were in Vancouver, Mer and I wanted to catch up with Beata and Ionut, and meet Andrei.

Mer got in touch with Beata, and she told us they would pick us up where we were, Lonsdale Quay. We sat next to a fountain where we were all to meet, and we people-watched (including watching a man with a huge snake – ugh), and listened to the free music from a band nearby. It was most pleasant. Beata and Ionut and Andrei showed up after about 15 minutes or so, and we all walked back to the car. Beata looked much the same as I remembered her. I had met Ionut once in Romania back in 1997, but I had forgotten. Andrei was very cute and was very well behaved. Beata and Ionut had made the decision to raise Andrei speaking Romanian and Hungarian in the home, and figured he would pick up English and so be trilingual. That is very cool, but meant I could not communicate with a two-year-old. That takes you down a few pegs!

Beata and Ionut wanted to show us North Vancouver, so we piled into their car and Ionut drove us to Lynn Canyon Park. Lynn Canyon boasts a canyon, a very pretty river, lots of trails, and a suspension bridge that is about 150 feet above the canyon floor. Mer had been hoping to see the bridge and cross it as a test case for the more famous and much longer and higher Capilano suspension bridge, which is the longest and highest in the world. Because of the regional holiday, the park was packed, including the bridge. On the plus side, the extra people made the bridge sway less because of the extra weight, but on the bad side, crossing the bridge was very slow. I was scared crossing over, but did manage to get over without too much trouble by putting my head down and watching my feet. On the far side, Ionut wanted to show us the small river in the canyon, so we hiked down a very pretty hiking path for about a half mile to a place where we could see and climb into the river. It was very very clean, and very cold, and quite shallow where we were. I climbed into the river and jumped from rock to rock, but was not anywhere near as agile as Ionut. At one point Ionut even grabbed Andrei and jumped from rock to rock out into the middle of the stream, and did so without the least hesitation. We all splashed about for awhile and enjoyed the sun and water and trees, and then we headed back. Crossing back over the bridge was not much fun at all. People kept stopping to look around and to take pictures, and I was stuck on the bridge. I was so scared I thought at one point I might start crying. Finally, the log-jam of people moved on and I was able to get to land. I was covered in a damp, cold sweat. That pretty much ruled out the Capilano bridge. There was no way I was going to pay to be that terrified.

After Lynn Canyon, we all headed over to Whytecliff Park, which is a seaside park with lots of trees and exposed rock by the ocean. It was breathtaking. While Ionut and Andrei played in the park playground, Beata, Meredith and I wandered around the paths. Beata took us right up to the edge of the ocean, and she was nimbly jumping from rock to rock. I’m pretty confident in my footing most of the time, but I was a little nervous that one slip could be very painful or fatal. I was also worried about Mer, who does not always have the best footing. We were all fine, and the views were worth it. We wandered down to the small beach, and we poked around on the rock on one side of the beach. It was low tide, so we could have walked out to a huge mound of granite and climbed it (there were quite a few people on it already), but I was content with the scrabbling that I had already done. We caught back up with Ionut and Andrei, and we all got back in the car and headed over to Horseshoe Bay, where the major passenger and car ferries go out of. We wandered the small beach for a few minutes, and then went to Ya-Ya’s restaurant, where Ionut proclaimed they had the best fish and chips around. Mer got the fish and chips and seemed very pleased, but I got a wood-fired chicken sandwich that really was good.

After supper, we walked down on a pier and looked at the massive ferries for Victoria Island, and then got back in the car and headed east to Deep Cove. Deep Cove is a quiet little bay town, northeast of Vancouver but still reachable by bus. It was very pretty and very quiet. We wandered out onto the pier with Ionut while Beata and Andrei played at Deep Cove’s playground. We spent about fifteen minutes by the water, and then wandered back toward the small town. Ionut asked if we wanted ice cream, to which I immediately agreed. Canada has lots of Italian ice cream places that serve real gelato. We got some ice cream from the local store, and brought some back for Beata. It was a great treat, especially surrounded by water and mountains.

By this time, it was well after 9:00, and Ionut insisted on driving us back to our hotel. We got to drive across the Lion’s Gate Bridge, so we got to see and cross it without walking it. The drive through Stanley Park was also very nice. We said goodbye and made plans to see each other again the next day. Mer and I went right to bed, having had another busy walking day.

Sunday, August 1st

So, after Ellen left on Saturday, we packed and headed to the Cleveland airport. As a 12th anniversary gift to Mer (and to me), I had booked us tickets to and a 4-star hotel room in Vancouver, Canada. Mer had sighed her way through much of the winter Olympics, and everyone I had ever talked to who had been there had raved about how wonderful Vancouver is. We had a short propeller plane ride to Toronto, and then a four-hour flight to Vancouver. To save some money on the flight, I booked us on the cheapest flight, which got in at 12:30 am on Sunday. The flights went fine, and then we took a taxi for the thirty-minute ride to our hotel in downtown Vancouver; we took a taxi because it was late and because the train to the city stopped running at 12:00 or something like that. We were both very tired, and did not mind not having to think to get to our bed.

We were staying in the four-star hotel the Westin Grand. I got the rooms for just $145/night on Priceline, which was a great deal for a downtown hotel (and one that normally starts at $330/night). The staff at the hotel was very nice and polite and always helpful all week, and our suite was very comfortable. We had a good-sized bathroom with a two-headed shower (boy, did that feel nice), a small living room where we stored out stuff, and an adequate-sized bedroom with a very comfortable queen-sized bed. And, it was on the 21st floor, so had some good views of the downtown (no views of the mountains or ocean, but that was okay).

We got to bed around 2:00 and slept in until we woke up without an alarm, sometime around 10:00. We walked several blocks to a small diner that our guidebook recommended, Templeton. The place only had about eight booths and about sixteen stools at the bar, and there was about a twenty-minute wait, but we got a booth and had a good breakfast. We then discovered what we were to confirm several times – eating out in Vancouver is expensive. With tip, the breakfast was about $30.

We walked back to the hotel to get our supplies (camera, backpack with jackets, and such). We love walking in cities because you can see so much. We were not yet familiar with the public transportation system, so we did not have a lot of choice, but we still liked the walk. The downtown section of Vancouver is very walkable. It is also super bike-friendly – most roads have a bus-and-bike lane, and one of the bridges across False Creek bay has one whole normal sized lane dedicated just to bike traffic. Shannon would approve.

Anyway, after we got our stuff, we headed south to False Creek, a small bay south of downtown. Mer wanted to use that as the start of a long walk to have a mellow introduction to the city. Our mellow walk was slightly interrupted though. Sunday was the Gay Pride Parade, a huge parade that finishes off Pride Week. While we were quite able to continue our walk, the beach area was quite mobbed. Most people were behaving themselves, but as you would expect in a crowd that large, some people took advantage of the atmosphere to push limits by wearing as little clothing as possible (or no clothing for some of the women who went shirtless). There were also bands playing who were not using polite language. So we wandered west along the beach and got to and passed through English Bay Beach, where we dipped our toes in the ocean. We started to leave the crowds behind as we got to the western edge of English Bay Beach and the main drag (ha!) veered away from the beach. Having fewer people around was most welcome.

We then entered a gem of Vancouver – Stanley Park. Stanly Park is a 400-acre park west of the downtown. It has fine ocean and mountain views, and the entire peninsula is encircled by a public-access seawall that has a walking and biking trail (with separate lanes for walkers and bikers for most of the path). We entered on the southern side of the park, in English Bay Beach. There is a huge public swimming pool right on the edge of the park (I think it said the capacity was 3000 people!), and there are two very nice beaches along the seawall. We rested on a bench for awhile near one of the beaches, Third Beach. As the seawall turned northward, the path became bordered on the side by a huge cliff of rock, which was very very cool. We walked on past Siwash Rock, a huge free-standing column of rock about twenty feet out in the ocean. We then turned a corner and saw the magnificent and Matt-terrifying Lion’s Gate Bridge. Lion’s Gate Bridge is a green-colored Golden Gate Bridge in miniature, but not too miniature! We took some pictures of the bridge, and continued along the seawall, but as the path turned south-southeast, Mer felt we were running out of time, so we cut through the park itself to get out as quickly as we could. That still was not very fast, as the park is huge. Once we did get out, we walked back through the downtown back to Sunset Beach.

We were trying to get across False Creek to get to some tents on the other side of the small bay. Since we were short on time, we skipped the bridge across the bay and hopped on a water taxi. We got over to the north shore of Vanier Park. We walked over to the tents and picked up our tickets for “Bard on the Beach” – Vancouver’s Shakespeare festival. We were there to see Antony and Cleopatra, which I had never seen and Mer had not seen in years. The festival uses open seating, so we got in line, and when the doors opened we were still lucky enough to get front row seats, albeit slightly to the right of center stage. As we sat down, we noticed the seats next to us were labeled; the festival lets people “tag” their seats so they can wander to the concession stand.The seats next to us were labeled as one for Antony and one for Cleopatra. We smiled, and when an older but very vigorous couple sat next to us, we commented on being lucky to sit next to the main players of the play. We got to talking, and kept talking at intermission. They were fascinating people. They lived on an island outside of Vancouver near Vancouver Island. They traveled a lot, and had just gotten back from a trip to Egypt. The man, James Hawkins, is a best-selling author of mystery books, although he writes some histories as well. His wife, Sheila, had just gotten back from a weekend trip to China for an award she won. They were utterly remarkable people, and went out of their way to be kind to us. James told us to swing by a well-known Vancouver destination, the shopping district of Granville Island. He was going to be there on Monday for a book signing, and he offered to give us a book. He was quite taken with Meredith since he found out she was an English teacher. They gave us advice on what to see and made us feel very welcome. They were great people.

Back to the play – the set was very simple, but what a view! The set was a series of platforms with columns along the back of the set. The middle back of the set was open as an entrance for the actors, and it faced the mountains, if you were facing center stage (we could not see the mountains from where we were sitting).

The acting was excellent, as you would expect from a major metropolitan acting festival. Antony and Cleopatra were especially strong, with huge personalities and very good chemistry. Augustus Caesar was very good as the man everyone loved to hate, and the story was riveting. The major battles were portrayed as a few men carrying banners that would advance and retreat as needed, and it worked very well. I don’t really remember anything that we were critical of – it was a great production.

After the play, we walked over the Burrard Bridge, which was long and high enough to make me nervous, but small enough that I could still walk over it. We headed up to Davie Street to go to a restaurant called Hamburger Mary’s. It turns out that Davie Street is the heart of gay Vancouver, so the street was quite wild on the evening of the Pride Parade. What a zoo – tons of people, most of them waiting to get into clubs jammed with too many people already. We did get to the restaurant, and I finally got to eat around 11:00. We learned for the rest of the week to take some crackers and cheese along for a mid-day snack, since we never did eat lunch in the city.

After the late supper, we headed up one street so we could walk down a quite residential street for much of the way back to the hotel. It was lovely. We got back to and wandered down Robson Street, which our hotel was on. This is a main street and was still hopping, even at midnight on a Sunday. We got back to the room and happily went to bed, having walked at least ten miles that day and having seen an excellent play. It was a good introduction to Vancouver.

Happy anniversary, Meredith! Twelve years of being married to my best friend. I love you!

Friday, July 30th and Saturday, July 31st

Ellen did feel better on Friday morning. We all took it easy and and did not rush too much. Once everyone was awake and ready to go, we headed down to Akron to go to Wally Waffle for breakfast. We all got some form of waffle (I got chocolate chip), and Ellen gave the waffle batter a thumbs-up.

We then headed over to the Valley to go to the Nature Realm Metro Park. The Nature Realm does not have the rock outcroppings that the Gorge trail does, but it is still pretty and interesting. It has a wildflower meadow, a lake, a steep creek bed that has a suspension bridge over it, several impressive vistas, and an ivy garden. We tromped all over the park, doing all of the trails and having a good time. We were in no rush, so we took advantage of benches that overlooked the creek, and we spent some time admiring the climbing ivy garden that was growing over wire gazebo-like structures that made Ellen want to learn to weld so she can build one. I expect to see an arc welder in her garage next time we visit her house. There were lots of bees and butterflies around to watch, and it was a not-too-hot day, so we had a good time.

To add to the good time, we stopped by Handel’s ice cream on the way home. Sadly, Ellen is still not in the Riordan dessert-class yet, and so was unable to finish her sundae. If she keeps hanging out with us, there is every reason to believe she can work her way up to our standards. After ice cream, we went home to rest, which included about an hour-long nap for me.

For supper, we headed over to the Northeast Ohio restaurant chain Aladdin’s. Aladdin’s restaurant serves Middle Eastern fare, and Ellen was delighted. She pretty much liked everything that was on the menu. I was the only one to take advantage of Aladdin’s excellent cake selection – I guess Mer and Ellen were still digesting ice cream.

After supper, we went back to Akron to go to Aeros Stadium, home of the Akron Aeros Minor League baseball team. None of the three of us is a huge baseball fan, but Mer and I love going to an Aeros game once or twice a year. The park is beautiful, and there are lots of wacky things that go on between innings. On this day, between innings, the crew threw t-shirts into the crowd, had three kids have an air guitar competition, had two guys spin around a bat until they were dizzy and then had them run a race, and had a three-way race between people dressed up as cream sticks. The chocolate cream stick won, and that meant our section over third base all won coupons to a local grocery store for cream sticks. Yum. It is just a fun and relaxing way to spend an evening, and it was a glorious evening.

As far as the baseball went, the Aeros won, which is always a nice thing when we go to see a game. I bought Ellen a giant Aeros foam claw for the humor value of seeing her wear it, which she did for most of the game. And then, after the game, there was a fireworks show over left field. These Aeros fireworks shows are very impressive. They only last about fifteen minutes, but they are great – lots of fireworks going off all at once, and you are only a few hundred yards from where they are launching the fireworks. They are by far the best fireworks shows I have ever seen. Ellen seemed to have a good time, as indicated by enthusiastic foam-clad hand-waving when good things happened on the field. It was a really great way to end the last full day of Lavisher Ohio.

Saturday was a short day – Ellen was planning on leaving in the early afternoon, and Mer and I had a plane to catch in Cleveland for a week-long trip to Vancouver that we were taking to celebrate our anniversary. We still wanted to have a Lavisher Ohio kind of day, though. Ellen had been mentioning she was tight in the neck and shoulders from her drive and from some painting she had been doing in her house. I had remembered a local massage place had advertised a $35 hour-long massage, so I called them up and got an appointment for Ellen for 10:00. Ellen was pretty excited by a $35 massage.

We dropped Ellen off at the salon, and then Mer and I went and wandered the pedestrian street in downtown Cuyahoga Falls. It was an early Saturday, so not much was going on, but we just wanted the walk anyway. We got to the end of the street, and sat down on the open-air stage to enjoy the sunshine. While we were there, four people came into the seating area for the stage. It was two photographers and a young couple who were having engagement pictures taken. It turned out that the young couple were both former CVCA students. Small world in Northeast Ohio. We got to see the pictures being taken and then got to see the young woman’s ring. They continued on their way, and we headed back to the car and picked up a more-relaxed Ellen.

To conclude Lavisher Ohio, we headed over to the Sheraton hotel in Cuyahoga Falls, and went to the restaurant there. They have a brunch every Saturday and Sunday, and the views of the river and some of the falls are quite pretty. We ate a very leisurely brunch, and then wandered out on to the viewing/walking decks over the river and watched the water for a few minutes. Then we headed home and Ellen got packed up and Mer and I started packing ourselves. We all had packed quite a bit into a little over three days.

Our friend Ellen came out to visit us last Wednesday and stayed through Saturday. Ellen had come out during her spring break, and I had touted it as “Lavish Ohio.” Since we had sold the house and Ellen had just wrapped up her PhD program, it seemed fitting to go all-out and bill this visit as “Lavisher Ohio.”

I took Wednesday (and the rest of the week) off since Ellen was scheduled to get here around noon. I went for a long run with Jason in the early morning, and I had a terrible run. It was hot and humid and I did not drink enough. I got home and showered and then napped, and I got up just a few minutes before Ellen arrived.

Ellen is a big fan of Chick-fil-A restaurants, so we started off Lavisher Ohio with a trip there. None of us had eaten lunch, so the timing was good, and we once again got very good service, something that Chick-fil-A does very well. We even got to chat with the manager for a bit, and that was interesting; he is a very outgoing man and a part-time pastor, and it was much fun to get to talk to him.

After we were fortified by lunch, we headed over to the Stan Hywet estate. Stan Hywet is a public mansion and grounds that was built around 1915 by the Seiberling family, who were the founders of the Goodyear tire company. The house and grounds are very beautiful, and Mer and I wanted Ellen to see it. We ourselves had not been in the actual house in years, so we were looking forward to it as well. We paid to have a guided tour of the first two levels of the house (the top two floors were servants’ quarters and that is a different tour). It was a warm day, and that made the house warm, but it was still a worthwhile tour. Ellen is quite good at decorating her house, and she was making lots of mental notes about some of the decorative touches in the house, like the sculpted plaster ceilings. I would not be surprised to see Ellen’s house have decorative plaster the next time we visit her in Michigan.

The house is very lavish, with a music room/ballroom, a dining room that can seat 40 people, great bedrooms and balconies, a game room, and indoor pool, and more. The house is decorated extensively as a Tudor-style mansion, with lots of woodwork and leaded windows. The tour lasted about 90 minutes and Ellen seemed to enjoy herself.

We then spent quite awhile wandering the grounds. Stan Hywet sits on something like 60 acres, and much of that land is well tended. There is a lagoon in an old rock quarry (where Stan Hywet gets its name – it means “rock quarry” in Old English) with a very fine stone overlook. There is a Japanese-style garden, a large fountain behind the house, a tree-lined walk, a huge arbor, and extensive gardens. It was a very pleasant place to stroll around.

We stopped by the cafe on the way out so Mer and I could get something to drink since it had been so hot (Ellen passed on the drink). We then piled in to the very warm car, cranked the air conditioning and headed north to the Gorge Metro Park.

The Gorge Metro Park in Cuyahoga Falls may be my favorite metro park in the area. It is a very interesting path that winds around and through lots of rock outcroppings, wanders along next to the Cuyahoga River, and has excellent views of a dam. I find all of these things interesting. We tromped the entire trail, which took over an hour, and Mer and Ellen both humored me by agreeing to take the more difficult path that goes through and over more rock. We were quite hot by the end of the walk, but I was grateful that it had not rained since we had heard one peal of thunder while we were out on the trail and still about 20 minutes from the car.

We finished the walk with just enough time to scoot over to Rockne’s restaurant, which is a local restaurant chain. We were meeting out pastor Ken and his wife Janet for supper. Ellen had met Ken and Janet when she was out here in the spring, and they had hit it off, so I wanted to get everyone together for supper. Ken and Janet were waiting for us when we got there (we were about five minutes late), but had not been waiting long. We ordered food, and chatted about Ken and Janet’s daughter’s recent wedding, including looking at some pictures Janet had brought along. Ellen told amusing stories about her PhD dissertation defense, which included obscure and not-exactly-on-topic questions like “What would Aristotle and Boethius say about the question ‘Is history real?'” It was a jovial evening.

Thursday we headed out fairly efficiently. We were off and headed toward Cleveland before 9:00. We took a few wrong turns along the way, but we eventually found our destination, which was the Lake View Cemetery.  I am well aware that it is weird to take an out-of-town guest to see a cemetery, but I had heard lots of good things about it, although Mer and I had never been. It actually turned out to be really interesting, and the two hours we spent there went by very quickly.

Lake View Cemetery is a very pretty spot, and there are over 100,000 people buried there. President Garfield is buried there, as are lots of wealthy people like Rockefeller. There are also lots of ordinary people buried there as well, and the cemetery is still active (and they claim they have land to continue for another one hundred years). So, in addition to being a very pretty place to walk, there are lots of interesting monuments, including a Tiffany-designed chapel with a huge stained glass window. The chapel was spectacular and worth the trip just by itself, but the Garfield monument was also interesting, huge, and had great views from the balcony. Lake View is a very good trip, and Mer and I will be going back soon.

After touring the cemetery for a couple of hours, we headed back to downtown Cleveland for lunch. I had found an interesting-looking lunch place on 4th street called Pickwick and Frolic. The restaurant had fine food, and the inside of the restaurant was decorated in a 1930s theme that was beautiful. However, the real find was 4th street itself – we sat outside on the sidewalk and enjoyed the fine day. It tuns out that 4th street has been turned into a pedestrian zone, and it is lined with restaurants. The place was humming with people and activity, and it was a great place to relax and have lunch.

After lunch, we walked the six blocks back to Playhouse Square. We went in to the 2500-seat Allen Theater, which is about to be renovated and turned into three smaller theaters, so I was glad to get to see the entire theater one more time. We were there to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. It had been a long  time since I had seen it, and Ellen had expressed a desire to see it. We had excellent seats in the fifth or sixth row since it was a Thursday matinee (Ellen joked that I might as well have tried to get seats on the stage).

There are two versions of Phantom – Webber’s well-known one, and a lesser-known one by Yeston and Kopit. I often get them mixed up. Yeston and Kopit’s version has a very tight story-line and one that explores the Phantom and his story more. So, I was very surprised when the Webber Phantom picked up right in the middle of the action, where it becomes plain that the Phantom has been teaching the chorus girl Christine to sing, and that this has been going on for some time. Once I got over the surprise and remembered that Webber’s version is about the huge spectacle more than the story, I had a good time. I did get a little irritated once in awhile that most of the play is sung, even most of the speaking parts. But, the play lived up to the promise of being a huge production, with a cast of a least forty actors, many many elaborate sets (some which were used for only one three-minute song and then changed out), and a fairly large orchestra of probably twenty musicians. It was an  entertaining time, and the singers were all jaw-droppingly good.

After Phantom, we headed down to Canton to go to a very cool restaurant and vineyard called Gervasi’s. Gervasi’s has a large and pretty grounds, and the restaurant itself is an old converted barn. Sadly, after we ordered, Ellen became mildly ill with a headache and went out to the car to lie down. Mer and I ate our food efficiently, and got Ellen home so she could get some sleep. I was sad that Ellen did not feel well, but a good night’s sleep cured the headache, so Lavisher Ohio could continue on Friday.

On Saturday, I took Mer to Canton to the $1.50 theater to see a movie that neither of us had heard of – Letters to Juliet. I knew from a on-line summary that it was a romantic film, involving a woman who answers a letter to Juliet (from Romeo and Juliet). That was good enough for me, especially for $3.00 total.

It was a gem of a film. It was sweet and clean and well written. The characters were sympathetic, and there were several twists that I had not seen coming. It was all filmed on location, mostly in Tuscany in Italy, and the scenery alone is worth seeing the film. We were both charmed, and I highly recommend it.

In the evening, our friends Eric and Shanna came over, and we headed out to the far west side of Cleveland, to Lorain County Community College. The college was hosting (for one weekend) free plays by The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. We were going to see the very rarely performed Titus Andronicus, but first we wanted to eat. I had found an intriguing-looking bar that was praised for its huge sandwiches, called Fat Boys. It turned out to be a pretty decent find. None of us tried a full-fledged Fat Boy, but Mer and Shanna got half-sized ones. The food was tasty, and we were early enough that we were the only people there, other than a few at the bar, so it was pretty quiet and easy to talk.

We got over to the college a little before 7:00, and found out that the performance, which is usually held outside, had been moved inside because of weather concerns (it was very hot and looked as if it were going to rain). That was nice – we got out of the heat and, since we sat in the front row, we were sometimes less that three feet from the actors.

Titus is largely condemned by scholars as being a “bad” play of Shakespeare’s. It is argued that it was his first, and it is very very violent, with multiple limbs being cut off, several decapitations, and a huge body count by the end of the play. It is basically an out-of-control revenge play. Everyone is trying to get revenge on pretty much everyone. Still, I liked it. It is not a particularly deep play – there is no symbolism to speak of, and no subtlety at all, but the language is still Shakespeare and there is certainly lots of action. You do end up feeling for several of the characters, and you can see where many of the characters are coming from in their motivations. There is even a character who is evil and scheming just because he loves being evil. I am very glad to have gotten to see it.

Since The Cleveland Shakespeare Festival performs every weekend all summer long at different locations, they rarely have any kind of scenery or set. It still works. They generally use storage boxes to create different levels for actors to stand on or hide behind, and the audience simply fills in the rest. The acting is quite good, and the company gives younger actors a chance to get some experience playing in a Shakespeare play.

Sunday, Mer and I headed back to Canton to have lunch with Aunt Mary after church. We went to a small cafe that Aunt Mary had found called Caffe Gelato, and it was an Italian-style cafe with real gelato ice cream. They served lunch, and it was very good, and I was able to get an excellent hot chocolate that I had for my dessert. They were playing Roman Holiday on the TV screen in the corner, so I was sometimes distracted from conversation with Mer and Aunt Mary, but it was certainly a pleasant distraction (I like both Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn).

We then went back to Aunt Mary’s place, where I took a nap while Aunt Mary and Mer played Trivial Pursuit. For the first time ever in playing with Aunt Mary, Mer won, although Aunt Mary was only one space away from getting a chance to win herself. She is a very formidable Trivial Pursuit player.

That evening, Mer and I went back to Lorain County Community College to see the second play of the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, The Merry Wives of Windsor. This time, it was outside, and we were probably seventy-five feet from the actors, but they had the stage pretty well miked, so we could see and hear just fine.

Wives is the story of how the very popular Shakespearean character, Falstaff, is tricked by two women he is trying to have an affair with (so that he can have access to their money). The women get the upper hand in every instance, and Falstaff is duped and humiliated. It is a very funny play, and we enjoyed it quite a bit. This was the third production of the play we have seen together, and although it was funny, we both agreed the other two productions were better. Mer pinned it down when she said she thought Falstaff should have been much more over-the-top. Falstaff is a fat and old character, and it is ridiculous for him to think he could seduce any woman, let alone two married women. There is a lot of potential humor to be played up if Falstaff is played as being completely full of himself. Still, it was a very solid play, and we were very happy to have seen it.

Meredith got back home from Romania last Tuesday around 8:00 pm after almost 24 hours of traveling. I met her at the airport in Cleveland, and it was a very happy reunion. Mer got off the plane as efficiently as she could so that she could see me, and then as an added bonus, her luggage came out as the third bag on the conveyor, so we were out of the airport pretty quickly. Since Mer was pretty tired, I did not take her out anywhere, but we went home and went to bed right away, where Mer slept for about twelve hours.

Mer was all recovered by Wednesday evening, so I took her out for supper at Aladdin’s, where one of Mer’s favorite former students is a waitress. They had a good time catching up. We sat inside because I had thought it too hot out, and I was glad for that as it started to rain pretty heavily by the end of our meal. Happily, there were enough inside tables to accommodate the outside diners. After supper, we headed down to Clarice’s place, where we met up with Matt and Clarice and Josh and Kristen for a game night. We played a word game where you had to be the last to say a word inspired by a card (like “cars”). I came in last. We then played Celebrity Taboo (celebrity in this case simply meant famous people as opposed to just Hollywood people). Mer and I won, and we are finally at the age where we have an advantage over people in their twenties. We knew a lot of people from the 70s and 80s that our friends were vague on. I broke up the party a little after nine because I had to work Thursday.

Thursday we had a date – we went to Akron’s best mansion, Stan Hywet, to see the Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s production of Taming of the Shrew. The plays happen outside, in an old quarry that has long since been converted into a pond and garden. It is really quite beautiful. The sets for the plays are always simple – this year was a stage in front of a two-story house that was decorated to look Italian and of an older and fancier style. The festival always starts the evening with “the green show” – a 20-minute review of dancing and music and swordplay and the like. It is fun to see, and it gives the actors who have minor roles in the play a chance to show off their skills. This year we had a special treat – one of Mer’s former students was an actress in the production, and had some very good stage time in swordplay during the green show. It was very cool to see someone we knew on stage at a professional production.

Shrew itself was excellent. The actors threw in a lot of body language and large gestures to add to the comedy of the night. This production also added the rarely performed prologue to the play, where a nobleman finds a drunkard and decides to take him home and convince him that he (the drunkard) is a lord who has been mad for years. As part of the cure for madness, some actors then put on a play, which is Taming of the Shrew. Most productions skip all of that, and just do the play of Shrew, but it was fun to see the additional material.

The actors were quite strong, but the best were the leads. Katherine (the shrew) was very good as a fiery not-to-be-tamed spirit. She had lots of anger in her speeches. The man playing Petrucchio (the man who sets out to “tame” Kate) really shone. He spoke the speech trippingly, which is to say he spoke all the lines very naturally, and his physical humor was excellent.

At intermission, it began to rain lightly. This was the first production (of at least five or six that we have been to) where we were caught in the rain. The show continued on, and most people stayed. It did begin to rain harder, and finally lightning rolled in, so they had to stop the play with about 20 minutes left to go. It was a shame, because the production really was entertaining. The director offered to give free tickets to another performance of Shrew or the upcoming production of King Lear to anyone who was still there, which was very kind of him since refunds usually are not given if the play gets to intermission. Despite the rain, we were very happy we were able to see (most of) the production.

Friday, we had the last of the CVCA graduation parties, for one of Mer’s students. We were there for about an hour total, and got to talk with some students of whom we are very fond. Most people spent most of the time inside because it was very hot outside, so we did not get in any cornhole this time (although they had a set outside ready to go).

We went to video store to rent Valentine’s Day. Mer had seen all but the last twenty minutes or so on the plane trip home, and she wanted to finish it. It was a mellow activity, so I was game. It was an okay movie – I did not relate to most of the characters, but it did have some twists at the end of the movie that I had not seen coming. And I got to watch the movie with my own Valentine, so that was well indeed.

With Mer gone in Romania for the last nine days, I have been bachin’ it. I miss Mer terribly, and I am anxious to see her tomorrow, but I actually did do a few things while she was gone.

On Tuesday, I plotted a fun get-away for me and Mer for our twelfth anniversary in August. I’ll blog more about that when it happens, but it did take me about three or four hours to get everything taken care of.

On Wednesday, I had the piano tuned. That is not ultra-exciting, but the piano had not been tuned since we moved three years ago. It was certainly time.

Craig invited me over to his place on Thursday. It was a good time. Craig, Karin, and three of the four kids were there (Ian was off with the grandparents, I think). We talked and played Wii video games, and Owen showed me his Pokemon card and toys. I felt like a mini-celebrity – Owen and Emma went wherever I went and seemed to want me to see everything they did. It was really hectic, but very cute.

Saturday was a usual early-morning run, except I was happy that Jim Gaul was able to join me and Jason this week. Jim has been recovering from a hamstring tendon injury, and we have not run together since last October or so. After the run, I headed to Canton to have lunch with Aunt Mary at Quaker Steak and Lube, and we had a good visit of about three hours altogether. Then, I went by myself to see Iron Man 2, which was playing at the $1.50 theater in Canton. I had a good time and quite enjoyed the movie. I finished the evening by going up to Hudson and eating a light dinner at Aladdin’s restaurant, and I even allowed myself a piece of cake since the waitress was a graduated CVCA student. I got dessert, and she got a bigger tip!

Sunday, I went to church, and then made bread in the early afternoon. I then went by myself to a graduation party of a student whom I knew fairly well through Ceili Club. It was a great party. I got to talk with the mom of another former CVCA student, and the mom told me the girl wants to be me and Meredith in about ten years (I think the mom was being polite – I assume the girl wants to be Meredith since Mer was her teacher). I then hung out with some recent CVCA grads that I am very fond of, and I ate some really good food. I stayed for about an hour and a half, and I had a really good time.

Mer comes home tomorrow, and that will be the best day of all!

Last Saturday was our last day in Chicago, and it was only a partial one since Mer was catching a flight to Romania that evening. So, we decided to have a mellow, but still touristy day. We slept in, and then wandered over to Tre Kronor, a small Swedish restaurant that we were fond of when we lived in the area. They serve a good French toast, and an amazing raspberry Danish. Can a Swedish restaurant serve a Danish? Anyway, it was a good and welcome brunch.

We then wandered across the street to walk around North Park University. Mer used to work there, and it is where we got married (in the small on-campus chapel) and had our reception. The campus looks great – they have bought up several of the streets that used to protrude into campus, torn down the old library, and opened up a lot of green space that makes the campus feel more rural than it really is. As we were wandering slowly toward the chapel where we were married, a woman came out of a building and asked if we needed directions. I started to tell her we were okay, but Mer was laughing – this was a woman who had been teaching in Hungary when Mer was in Romania, and had started at North Park about the same time Mer did. The woman was not normally there on a Saturday, but she was giving tours to families of new students, and she happened to glance out the window and see Meredith. That was happy! We stood and chatted for about 15 minutes, and then Mer’s friend had to get back to work. We proceeded to the chapel, and were able to get in. I had forgotten how small it was – our wedding had about 100 people in attendance. It really is a pretty chapel, although it has been redecorated for the better since we were married.

We took our time crossing campus as we went back to Shannon and Jolene’s place. We packed everything up so that it would be ready to go, and we decided that we had time to get in one last thing that Mer wanted to do – go get cupcakes at Molly’s. Molly’s is a Chicago bakery where they specialize in cupcakes. They have dozens of varieties, most of which are “filled cupcakes” – cupcakes with a center of frosting. Brilliant idea! Anyway, we jumped on the El, headed toward downtown, and then walked the six blocks or so to Molly’s. There was no real wait, and we both got two cupcakes (I figured it might be months or years before we get back). They certainly hit the spot. My only regret was discovering that Molly’s had forks available after I had already messily eaten my cupcakes (although Mer still had one left to eat with a fork). I’ll try to remember that for next time.

We swung by Border’s on the way home so Mer could get a book she needed for school, and then got back on the El. We got home and packed up the car, and we left around 5:30 for the airport. It only took about 30 minutes to get to O’Hare, and we parked the car and went in to Terminal 5, the international terminal. I wanted to stay with Mer as long as possible, so I went with her. Mer was flying Lufthansa, but we could not find the desk for the airline. After going up and down the entire terminal, I finally asked. It turns out that Lufthansa, the German airline, flying to Romania, is not in Terminal 5, the international terminal, but in Terminal 1, a domestic terminal. As we found and looked at a map, it appeared to be the only international carrier not in Terminal 5. Live and learn! We were both happy that we had left some time for security lines, and so we jumped on the inter-terminal rail line (after just missing a train – an ongoing joke with us all through Chicago – we always seemed to just be missing the pulling-out train) and took the train to Terminal 1. Mer checked in with a minimum of trouble, and just before security, I reminded her to empty her water bottle so she would not have any fluids going through security. She dumped her water in a nearby fountain, and then we walked back to security.

I could not go any further, so we hugged, and Mer got a little misty. I did not say much, since I was trying not to cry. Mer was going to be gone ten days, which is the longest we will have ever been apart since we were married. After a long hug, Mer proceeded to the security line. She looked back a few times, and I kept waving, finally crying a little bit now that she could not see me. I’m afraid I lost her in the security line, so the last time she waved, by the time I saw and realized it was she, I did not have time to wave back.

I walked back to the train to get back to Terminal 5 and the car. I was sniffling the whole time, and rather morose, but still managed to smile as the train pulled out just as I got there. I caught the next train,and got back to the car. I found out later that Mer was snuffly through security, and then went to a bathroom for a good cry. She then ate dinner, and even had some chocolate, which she said helped some, but did not make up for me. That’s love for you!

I was going as far as Mom and Marc’s place that night, so I caught the 290 ring-road around Chicago. It was very fast, but a little stressful in that it had four toll stops in thirty minutes, all for 85 cents or less, and only two lanes on the far right of the road took cash. I crossed into Michigan, and hit some lake-related thunderstorms, but only for about twenty minutes of real hard rain.

Once I got to Bridgman where Mom and Marc live, I stopped at Subway to get a sub and some cookies. I was not feeling hungry, but I figured I should eat. I got it to go, and went to the house. When I got there, I was surprised to find Mom, Marc, Aunt Linda, Uncle Kenny, and two other people up and talking over glasses of wine. I’m afraid I was not in a conversational mood. I hope I did not come across as rude, but I pretty much ate my food, which I was now grateful for as I got very hungry while eating it, then I went downstairs to check on Mer’s flight. She had arrived in Munich, so that was good. I e-mailed her, and while I was doing this, everyone went to bed. When I went back upstairs to try to be sociable, everyone was asleep and the lights were out. So, I followed suit. I went to bed. Because of the time difference with Romania, I knew that I would not hear from Meredith until Sunday around noon, so I would have to wait until I got home before I heard from her.

All in all, the Chicago trip was a great success. We saw a lot, and had a good time.