storming Cleveland

Haven't been the best at keeping up lately, things have been crazy busy. My family: Mom, sister A1, her husband Mike and niece S (age 7.5 yrs) and nephew A (5.5 yrs) came up for a visit at the end of April to meet my new niece Sav. It was lots of family time and lots of pictures and lots of the baby being held, etc. It was a good visit, low stress which is good since my sister can make both my brother A3 and I a little nuts.

After all the goodbyes were said and Mom was safely delivered to my Uncle Jim, bound for a month in Michigan with family, I had just enough time to clean my apartment and get ready for my visit with my friends, Magdalena and Yannick. Magdalena and Yannick are German volunteers currently working at the Farm I used to work at; I'd promised to show them some of the Midwest if they visited.

Magdalena was only able to come for a long weekend (Yannick for a week), so we crammed in as much as possible. We started with Cleveland:

We went to the West Side Market (Ohio City), where we feasted on delicious crepes from Delux Crepes and coffee from City Roast Coffee and wandered around, admiring all the vendors. We drove around Cleveland and I pointed out the sights: the stadiums, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Main Branch of the Cleveland Public Library, Playhouse Square, Public Square, etc. We got lost and found our way to Shaker Square (one of my fav areas to drive through), where we wandered and loved this bookstore.

Magdalena and Yannick wanted to see Lake Erie so the ladies I work with recommended we check out Edgewater Park in West Cleveland. The park offers a lovely vista of Cleveland and a clean beach where we stretched out and read (or napped in my case). It was lovely to soak up some sun and tan up a bit--nice to not be quite so winter pasty anymore!

The view of Cleveland from Edgewater Park,
West Cleveland

Our adventures in Cleveland were great, but I think we were all eager to get to Chicago!