If you haven't noticed, I have added a Travel section to That's a First! It's going to be a peculiar view on our travels, starting from our road trip moving from New Jersey to Denver last year. I usually work really hard planning our trips and putting together an absolutely detailed itinerary and would like to share here the itineraries as well as a few details on how everything happens.
My boyfriend is going to collaborate with me: he will be responsible for various guest posts detailing the trips and offering a masculine view about every place. We have started with Cleveland, OH --> our first stop on our 2,000 miles road trip to Denver.
Enjoy it!
"It’s 5am, women are crying, I’m trying not to and we’re in New Jersey…these are not happy times. A road trip usually doesn’t start so miserably, but this road trip went for 2,000 miles, in one direction, with no return, Our moms’ were crying, the lady was crying and I was trying not to, so I needed to put a stop to this before I started to weep and break my important non-crying streak.
We were moving to Denver, if you asked me on February 1st of 2010 if I was going to move to Denver with my girlfriend of one year I would have found that ridiculous, seriously Denver? Like a classic east coast snob I only thought only a coast was a suitable place to live, but it’s April 28th, a little less than 2 months later and everything has changed. Next stop on our four-day journey is Cleveland, a city that allegedly rocks.
Before arriving in Cleveland we have about 7 hours between us and seeing if Cleveland is rocking as it claims to be. We grab the first newspaper of our journey, the NY Times (we kept a paper from each place we stopped) and head west with our jumble of emotions still reeking havoc on our sanity.
Our drive though Jersey and Pennsylanvia was about as boring as you’d expect, no purple mountains majesty, not a fruited plain to be seen. Just a ride down Route 80 to Cleveland.
Next stop: lunch!
Every once in a while a restaurant surprises you, I’ve had French cuisine everywhere from New York to Paris so my hopes weren’t high for French food in Cleveland. Turns out I’m a snob. L’Albatross was simply delicious. I had the Root Vegetable Casoulet, with goat cheese and herb breadcrumbs. What more can a guy say, Veggies, cheese & breadcrums and the touch of a hero of a chef and voila….I’m full and happy.
Cleveland is a cute place when the weather is nice, standing along the lake it was wonderfully windy that day so we walked against the wind and in to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This was my second time being let down by that place (shame on me I suppose). The first time I went they had an amazing John Lennon exhibition with his hand scribbled notes for loads of solo and Beatles songs and then it really dropped off. Seeing Britney Speers’ dress from the “Baby, Baby’ video isn’t all that impressive when she’s not wearing it and I could have lived without seeing the Backstreet Boys matching dancing suits. This time it was the same, I was in an enormous Hard Rock Café. They had a Bruce Springsteen exhibition but despite being from Jersey I’ve never exactly liked the Boss unless I’m drunk and feeling nostalgic.
My lady has an unhealthy obsession with H&M, so much so that I can count on visiting several H&M’s in any city we travel to that has more than one. She decided to stop at every H&M we passed on our journey to Denver since our new home lacks one, until Fall of 2011. First we tried to find an H&M that I still say doesn’t exist and then we drove out of Cleveland into the burbs at rush hour. Not exactly my choice of a trip but love makes you do silly things. She shopped, I bought some mediocre, fattening mall snack and we headed to dinner.
We finished our day in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, someone described it to the girlfriend as having a vibe like Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’s not, if Williamsburg was a few blocks long and lacked having a hipster every .75 feet it would be Tremont. The lack of guys in flannel and geeky glasses was nice, but it wasn’t Williamsburg (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), for one I could park easily, I didn’t question why everything was so damn expensive and I didn’t hear one conversation about yuppies chasing all of the artists out because they have silly things like jobs and money. But alas I haven’t been to a bar in Brooklyn with a tree in the middle of it, this was our first stop.
The Tree House was adorable and had such a long list of beer it should have been on a scroll but it lacked food…but it did have a tree. We had a drink and shuffled over to the Tremont Tap House. This place was amazing and the first Gastropub in Tremont. I went with Perogies (I am part Polish after all) and some Mac & Cheese. Both tasted so wonderful they changed my mood. The traffic I sat in driving to H&M was now a distant memory. The lady went with Chorizo Pizza, which was so good she nearly cried the next morning when we had to throw out the leftovers. She also had a peach beer she first discovered in Brooklyn, she loves it so much we still buy it today in Denver. The Perogies were perfect, a little greasy but not too much, with the perfect portion of onions and a taste that any Pollack would love. The Mac & Cheese was straight-up gourmet, with Fontina, Parmesan & Cheddar. They didn’t remind you of drunken nights having EZ-Mac, they made you question why you would ever consider having anything but the Mac in Tremont. An amazing meal, with a beautiful lady that was only enhanced by having a ten minute conversation with a guy that was either a vagrant or a brilliant recluse. Time to stroll over to the non-descript chain outside of Cleveland that the gf’s company would actually pay for and rest up for our five hour drive to Chicago in the morning.
I’d like to spend a few more days in Cleveland, take-in a Indians game, hang out at some bars late and avoid the damn Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which except for the CBGB awning (I miss that place) hardly was worth visiting. Next stop…Chi-town!!"
The boyfriend
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