The Crew: random photos from around another town

These, also, can only be seen if you click on the words, "read more," which remains sound advize, though, purportedly not in the army, where privates have been rumored to suffer potato peeling punishment for reading when they could have been sleeping, as were their copatriots.

The purpose of this brief getaway, was to read a book -- accomplished simply with the assistance of the special collections librarian, beneath the imposing Fenn tower, wherein Lewis Turco was the founding director of the Fenn College Poetry Center of Cleveland, hosting such luminaries as William Golding, W.D. Snodgrass, Russel Salaman, Russel Atkins, Langston Hughes and the notorious, d a levy.

The entrance to the Michael Schwartz library. The readings & meetings at the center were remarkable events by many accounts, though, became more tumultous after Turco was ushered out the door (to Hillman, of all places, though he escaped to Maine after a year).

Below, Jen is trying to play catch with one of the kids on the diag -- she's taunting him to throw the ball, questioning if he has the arm for it...

There he is, with his arms raised on the other end. He's saying, "I already threw it -- it's all the way down at the other end by the wall!" Jared walked away in embarrassment.

The little courtyard by the library in the center of the campus has a nice vew toward downtown Cleveland, the Key tower looming in the background, and Jared looming in the fore.

William, following his brothers example (not that he wouldn't on his own), shortly before a shrub reached out and tripped him as he hopped along a planter, cracking his shin. A very kind woman supplied a band-aid to cover his not-bleeding scrape and he was instantly better.

That encounter was typical of our experience in Cleveland: Nearly everyone we encountered was very friendly and very helpful.

Another face of the tower as we departed, after a brief snack at the student center, where past us, clad in CT sweats, a group walked by declaring their adoration for Jack White -- coincidence?

Walking down Euclid, we snapped a shot of these two familiar looking people.

By that time, famine was striking and we lit out for lovely Lakeland and a stop at Jammy Buggers, where the sweet potato and corn chowder is highly recommended, and in the back room, hung this intriguing artwork.

Done by Rachel Mande, though you wouldn't know by visiting her website -- you would think she would be proud to show off her brains!

After lunch, GladOS -- our gps -- attempted (again) to direct us into a lake, demanding that we continue driving 180 feet into Lake Erie. This is not the first time she has done this, so we ignored her and she angrily re-calculated, which is worrisome.

We left her to fume, while we headed to the Rock and Roll hall of fame, stopping briefly before as Will decided it was ice cream time -- never a bad decision.

Proof we were there:

Interesting, but very museum-like. We had anticipated a lot more noise and rowdy crowds. Instead we got quiet and milquetoast meanderers, though it was fun to see the inside of a tour bus:

And who knew the alarm were around in 1984! Doing their best to channel Robert Smith, no doubt, but included only for the blurb that accompanies their photo.

Rumour has it, there were a fair number of pretentious doofusses with bad haircuts that wandered the streets of Detroit, back in 1984. I think we generally preferred American Coney Island, however.

The hotel room was enormouse, with a large sitting area and l-shaped couch behind that screen on the left, plus two double beds. Nice -- and for the same price as the dilapidated dive up north and, with no floaters in the pool!

Dinner, however, reminded us how fortunate we are to live in an area with a plethora of marvelous, Middle Eastern restaurants.

Lastly, before departing -- after one more dip in the pool -- we visited their zoo: