My wife and I are taking a trip to Ohio for our 5th wedding ann. We are staying with some friends in Colombus for a few days before going to Cleveland July 24-26. Any suggestions on restraunts/ sight seeing/ etc. I think the rock and roll hall of fame is already on the list. Also the Indians are out of town that weekend so no baseball....

Here is an informative video sponsored by the Cleveland Tourism Board that may help you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY

Is there any particular reason it has to be Cleveland?

There are a lot of great places to go to celebrate the occasion that aren't Cleveland!

I was in Columbus a couple of weeks ago for work and stayed over for the weekend and made a trip up to Cleveland. At that point, everything I knew about Ohio came from watching WKRP, Major League, and COPS, so I was curious what the place was like.

In Cleveland I went to the R&R HOF. Was somewhat disappointed, but then I'm not a huge rock buff. Next door is another big museum, science I think. There's also a submarine you can tour next door, and right behind the HOF is a boat tour you can take of the lake. I wish I'd done the boat tour just to see what it was like.

I also stopped off in Canton for the Pro Football HOF. Outside of the hall with all the busts, I was disappointed in the place. Granted they were doing some construction, but it won't be finished by the time of your visit.

In Columbus I'd recommend a minor league baseball game. The stadium there has received from great reviews and does look like a pretty cool place. I went to the C'bus zoo and was pretty impressed (got to see some giant tortoises getting it on, which is something you don't see every day!).

I'm sure there's a lot more to the area than I got to experience, but thought I'd share what little insight I had.

Check out the Tremont Street area, also the house where they filmed 'The Christmas Story' is nearby Tremont Street as well. Little Italy is pretty neat, there is the large amusement park Cedar Point I think that is supposed to be really cool but I never went.
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Some of downtown is pretty cool as well, there are a couple of brewerys and you can tell that they are really trying to make an effort to clean it up. The party district is down on the river but I never went there. At first you may think Cleveland sucks, but then it will start to grow on you.

Another option would be daytripping it to Niagara Falls or to Cooperstown.

If you're going to be in Columbus, go to Cincinnati instead for a couple of days.... it's nicer than Cleveland and closer to Columbus........

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I can not change my destination to cinc. as I have already paid for the hotel room in clevland. We are staying at the arcade (upscale mall). I am super excited about the christmas story house as that is one of my favorite holiday movies so we will be there for sure. Any local eating places that aren't expensive but just nasty good?

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again Little Italy fits the bill, there was a chophouse/brewery downtown that was really good and not that bad price-wise if memory serves me right. Also the Winking Lizard was a fun bar/restraunt that was a Cleveland chain.

http://www.chophouse.com/

the menu is online but I can't get the pdf file to open at work.

[This message has been edited by texican08 (edited 7/15/2009 2:53p).]

The Chophouse is pretty good. Go down towards The Flats and stop by The Flat Iron. VERY good selection of beer and some pretty good food (perch sandwich is awesome).

There are also some good places around Akron, but the town itself is dead.

Canton may be a bit busy as the Hall of Fame inductions will be close to that time, but it is worht it IMHO.

As already said, first impression will be crappy...but it does tend grow on you.

About an hour away in Sandusky is Cedar Point amusement park. We were in Ohio a few years back and took the kids there. The park was a lot of fun and well worth the money. It's not in Cleveland, but since you're close, you may want to consider the park.

Also I remember some co-workers going to this island off the lake that took about an hour ferry ride to get to.

It sounded pretty much like a drunken spring break orgy and I heard its like that every weekend, I don't know if you and your wife are into that but just throwing it out there.

Put In Bay. A little ways down the road from Cleveland. And yes it is a "Good Time" Lots of bars and places to eat and fun activities to do. A bit of history:

"Located in the shallow western end of Lake Erie is a group of 20 or more islands. One of these, Put-in-Bay or South Bass, served as a base of operations for Oliver Hazard Perry. It was from the harbor called Put-in-Bay that Perry sailed to defeat the British fleet under Robert H. Barclay during the war of 1812. The American victory in the battle of Lake Erie gave the country and the United States Navy a memorable slogan of positive accomplishments, "We have met the enemy and they are ours..." Today there stands at Put-in-Bay a beautiful Greek Doric column, the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. This 352-foot granite shaft commemorates not only a naval battle but a peace which has lasted for more than 150 years. The 3,987-mile boundary between the United States and Canada is the longest unguarded international frontier in the world."


[This message has been edited by Old Army (edited 7/17/2009 9:16a).]