Cleveland. Yes. Cleveland.

We took a quick trip up to Cleveland last weekend and for some reason telling people that you're planning to go to Cleveland on purpose always elicits a response along the lines of "why?" Inevitably these naysayers have never been to Cleveland because let me assure you - Cleveland is a great city! 

Before we got to Cleveland however, we made a quick stop in Kirtland, Ohio as my man knew there was a quilt fair at the Lake Metroparks Farmpark this month and that I am coo-coo for quilts!  There were some beautiful quilts and also some moving stories that many of the artists had posted with their quilts to explain their inspiration.

There were rooms and rooms filled with beautiful quilts!  This was one of my favorites:

The woman who made it said that it took over four years to applique each individual leaf on to the quilt.  Impressive.

This next quilt was so interesting and moving.  The woman who made it appliqued fabric photos of locations of the underground railroad in Ohio into an overall pattern paying homage to the underground railroad:

This is one of the things I love about quilts - how people can express their feelings and honor important events in their lives or history in such a beautiful medium!

Although the main reason we were at the farmpark was the quilt show, we took a look around as the park has lots of animals and it was lambing season so: cute baby animals!!!!

This park seems a very cool place to take kids.  They had events all day that let kids get involved in feeding the horses and other animals, milking cows, making cheese and learning about all that goes on on a farm.  It was lots of fun for adults as well!

After the quilts and the baby lambs we were back on the road to Cleveland!

Cleveland is a great city.  It's located on Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga river runs through the city so it's a town with a lot of bridges (which makes for some great photos!) and also a town that was built on manufacturing due to it's connection to lots of canals and railroads.  It's still a hardworking town and has that industrial edge which I think gives it a strong beauty.

One of my favorite features of Cleveland architecture is the Hope Memorial Bridge and the statues on either end of the bridge:

The bridge crosses the Cuyahoga River and was constructed in 1932.  The statutes are called the "Guardians of Traffic" and were designed by Henry Hering and Frank Walker.  There are four statues on each end of the bridge.  One of each holds a cart, a Conestoga wagon, a locomotive, or a truck.  They are really impressive:

The view from the bridge:

In addition to great architecture, Cleveland has great museums.  After hitting some very nice art museums in L.A., New York, Madrid, London and Berlin, I can honestly say that that the Cleveland Museum of Art is right up with the nicest museums we've seen.  They have a great impressionist collection of art and a collection of medieval weaponry that the hubby enjoyed which has been part of the museum's permanent collection since it opened in 1916.  They are undergoing a big renovation that is scheduled to be finished in the summer of 2009 and I think the finished product will be phenomenal!  It's located in University Circle with several other museums and the Cleveland botanical garden which we also hit.  The garden has an extensive indoor exhibit called the glass house which has beautiful flowers and hundreds of exotic butterflies that swirl around you!  It was great!

University circle is located next to the campus of Case Western Reserve University where you can also see another great architectural sight - the Peter B. Lewis building designed by Frank Gehry:

Cleveland is also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame of course which is also in a VERY cool building right on the shore of Lake Erie - but the hubby and I had hit that museum a few years ago and didn't make a return trip this time.  

In addition to the sight seeing, we ate a ton of great polish food and if anyone is planning a trip to Cleveland you have to have at least one meal at Solokowski's University Inn .  It is great Polish comfort food in a cool area of Cleveland.

So, Cleveland is cool right?  We think so and I look forward to going back!

Comments

[katie]

hi! i'm a native clevelander, who just stumbled upon your lovely blog! thank you for visiting my beloved city! i'm so glad you enjoyed your visit, please let me know when you come back, there's more to see, and I would be happy to suggest other fantastic places to visit! katie8800ATgmailDOTcom
p.s. i love the bridge too, so much so that i have one of the guardians tattooed on my arm

[The Stitch Up]

Hey Katie! Thanks so much for checking out my blog. My husbands from
a town outside of Cleveland and usually when were in Ohio we just
spend the time there with family. But, i love it when we get into
Cleveland - it is such a great town! Nice to meet another Cleveland
lover. (your tattoo sounds very cool!)

[dorothy c salem]

I am Dorothy Salem, educational outreach volunteer for Woodland Cemetery. We are doing a tour of Cleveland's Underground Railroad starting in August. Do you have any contact information on the Station Hope quilt? My email is [email protected]