29 November, 2012

Ohio [5/50]

For Veteran's Day weekend Les and I decided to take a short trip, something within a day's drive. We had a few options but eventually narrowed it down to Toronto and Cleveland. Since I have this crazy plan to visit all 50 states and we've technically been to Ontario three times we decided on Cleveland.

The other part of my plan to visit all 50 states is to take photos that represent each state. When I think of Ohio I think of three things. And I got photos of all of them.
This photo is exactly the picture of Ohio I had in my head, down
to the lawn chairs and campaign signs. I would like to thank these people,
whoever they are for not cleaning the signs off their lawn
immediately after the election so I could take this photo. 
The first is suburbia. Tree lined streets with modest two story homes with 2.5 kids and yards. Having only been through Ohio (with one exception for a wedding when I was 15) I was surprised how eerily Ohio lived up to that picture in my head, maybe I've picked it up from TV over the years.

The second is elections. Everybody knows that Ohio picks the president. There's no real reason for it but it's true. And it shows. We were lucky enough to be there only a week after a presidential election, one that was won when Ohio was called.

The photo I chose for Ohio is so perfectly Ohio that the other one is completely unnecessary, but I'm adding it anyway because it is also an Ohio landmark.

No photography is allowed in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame at all,
so after we left I took this of the outside, it's a really cool building.
The third thing is rock and roll. Specifically the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since we had a single day for this mini-vacation we decided to pick one Cleveland thing to do and it was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a little bit pricey but I'm glad we did it. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, there were way more clothes on display that I thought there would be, but I'm glad we went. There were some really cool displays, I found the history exhibit fascinating and the building itself is fantastic. 

We ate locally the entire time and the food was fantastic. We're getting better at finding local food and not going for chains at all, it makes a huge difference in the overall experience of a trip.

Ohio is the 5th state I've marked off my visit and take a representative photo list, there are actually more but I only have film photos from those states, I was scanning them a few months ago and I somehow lost them. But 10 percent in a year isn't too bad I don't think.
The Cleveland skyline at night. It was veterans day so the Terminal Tower was lit up red white and blue. It reminded me of a bomb-pop and that's what I referred to it as all night as we used it as a landmark to find our way around.