Cleveland Rocks!

This past weekend Neal and I went to Cleveland, OH to visit Neal’s sister Jill and her husband Rob.

We set off on our adventure after work on Friday, hitting the road at 5:17PM.

The drive up to Cleveland wasn’t bad at all, but the Pennsylvania Turnpike at night is a little scary.  Neal and I split the driving in half, getting us into Cleveland at 11:59PM. Neal was a champ, driving the last leg of the trip while I napped.  I really appreciated him helping me drive.

Rob and Jill have the most adorable house in Cleveland.  I just loved the layout and how they had decorated it.  It definitely made Neal and I excited about our own house hunting, when the time comes.

After a cup of coffee and some catching up, we headed out to the West Side Market.  It reminded me of Eastern Market here in DC and the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia.  Still, it was unique and had some wonderful vendors.

Neal and his adorable sister Jill

The market sells lots of produce, meats, cheeses, and breads.  One of Jill’s favorite venders sells cannolis, which are out of this world!  I’ve never seen so many cannoli flavors.

We ordered the apple pie, pumpkin pie, oreo, double chocolate, original, pistachio, hazelnut, and peanut butter chocolate.  My favorite was the peanut butter chocolate, but the pumpkin pie was also very tasty.

Neal and I also bought some handmade garlic parsley gnocchi from a vender and can not wait to try them this weekend!

After an amazing time at the market, we headed over to the Souper Market for lunch.

Neal and I split a bowl of caramelized onion, Parmesan and potato soup and Jill ordered an Indian Lentil soup (Mulligatawny).  Both were rockin’!!  I loved how light yet flavorful both soups were.  After lunch we headed over to Coventry in Cleveland Heights.  Coventry is a street in Cleveland Heights with cute little shops and various restaurants.  After a relaxing drive over to Coventry, I knew a cup of coffee was in order.

We stopped into Pheonix Coffee, where I ordered an Almond Mate Latte.  A mate latte is more or less a hot tea (mate) steeped with hot (skim) milk.  It was awesome!  I would definitely order it again.

After shopping along Coventry, we headed back home to meet up with Rob.  Neal and I were exhausted, so we took a quick 2 hour nap.  After that nap I knew that something was up with my body.  There was no reason for being that tired.  I had a funny feeling I was starting to get sick.

Once Rob got home we went for a lovely walk in the Cleveland Metroparks.

Jill and Rob are an absolutely adorable couple.  They got married last October and are expecting their first child in the next couple of weeks.

It was so great being able to see them before the baby arrives.  It was also really fun seeing where they hang out and get their walks in!  Jill was a runner in college and Rob was a pole vaulter, so health and fitness are extremely important to them.  It was neat seeing the parks they had found and how they incorporated daily walks into their lives (I’m sure they’ll be runs after the baby arrives).

After our walk we put in an order to Melt and headed off to Lakewood to see the Cleveland skyline.

Now Melt is this amazing grilled cheese restaurant but with an hour – 2 hour wait on a Saturday night, ordering out was the ticket!

Rob and Jill ordered the Gyro Melt (slow roasted beef & lamb, tzatziki cucumber yogurt sauce, fresh tomato & sweet onions, feta, muenster), Neal ordered the Buffalo Chicken (Super crispy breaded chicken breast, spicy authentic buffalo wing sauce, celery and blue cheese slaw, melty blue cheese, cool ranch dressing for dipping), and I ordered the Porky Cheese (honey ham, crisp bacon, smoked gouda).  These sandwiches were AWESOME– though far from healthy.

Saturday night after dinner we all settled in and watched a little football.  I, of course, fell asleep on the couch before moving into the bedroom around 11:30PM.

Sunday morning we all got ready for church and then headed over to The Root Cafe in Lakewood.  Now this cafe was AWESOME!! Organic, Vegan, Gluten Free; you name it, they have it!

I ordered a raspberry and white chocolate scone with a soy chai, Jill also ordered the raspberry and white chocolate scone, Neal ordered a frittata, and Rob ordered the vegan french toast.

After church we quickly packed the car, ate some leftovers, and said our good byes.  I could tell from the moment I got up that my body was fighting something, so I wanted to make sure we left around 1PM so that we were home by 8PM.  I wanted to be able to organize myself before the week ahead and to take some meds if needed.

We hit the road at 1:39PM and made it home at 7:39PM on the dot… kinda crazy that it was 6 hours exactly.

I was snuggled up on the couch by 9PM and probably asleep by 9:30PM.  I slept sound until 7:00AM and woke up rather sick today, sadness.  Still, the weekend was wonderful and I’m so glad we had the chance to visit Jill and Rob before the baby arrives.

If you haven’t been to Cleveland before, you really ought to go!  It wasn’t what I expected.  I figured it would be extremely industrial, but it really was a cute city with lots to offer!

CLEVELAND ROCKS!