Cleveland Calling

So, a lot has happened since the last post. Sorry it has taken so long to post on the blog, but we've been trying to find our bearings since landing back in the Mid-West.
It all started almost two weeks ago when Matt called during his lunch break and said his client had to go to the hospital that night in CLEVELAND, Ohio. He came home and packed during lunch while Teri tried not to panic about what she was going to do about cleaning up, packing up and moving everything to Ohio by herself that weekend. It seems that Teri whined sufficiently because Matt took the pains to fly back after work on Saturday, helped her pack up the apt sublet in New York, rented a car and drove back together across the oh-so-lovely I-80 on Sunday to be back at work in Cleveland on Monday morning. The plan worked but we were a little tired and very sad to leave New York again so abruptly. We really loved being back in New York, and our friends helped us ease back in- it was very easy, because it is so great compared to living in other cities. We love that a car is not needed, and the world is at your doorstep. It was wonderful to pick up our old routine of running around the reservoir in central park and enjoying long June evenings just walking around the town. Although it can be tiring slogging around the city (and hiking up 5 flights because our sublet's elevator was undergoing repairs) it was really nice to have so many fun people around and fun things to do. It would be great to live there, but we havent figured out how to make it work financially...any advice?
We feel oddly connected to Cleveland now that we have been here a total of about five weeks (three weeks in May and two weeks in June/July). Teri is taking Pilates at a local studio here and she and Matt have been exploring more of this curious little city.
On the 4th of July we tried to get out to see the fireworks downtown, but found that we were locked in the hospital parking garage (it seems everyone wanted to get downtown). By the time the hospital police got there to let us out it was a race against time to see the fireworks. We caught them bursting above the buildings as we were driving. It was still fun to feel like we were part of something, celebrating America's independence with new appreciation after experiencing how tough it can be in other parts of the world. We arrived downtown just as the finale fizzled out, and we were caught driving upstream against a flood of leaving Clevelanders. Teri had a hankering for fish n chips with a cold pint of beer. It was a bad time to be lost and hungry. Especially for Matt. We finally found the right bridge to take us to Cleveland's "west side", where we found ourselves beneath several bridges and old lakefront industrial relics. It had a faint flavor of New Yorks "DUMBO" area in Brooklyn and the brew pub we had sighted from the east side of the river was now in range. We could almost taste the malt vinegar soaked chips.... Teri's "hangry-ness" was almost placated, but bled into a full melt down once the waitress informed us that the kitchen had closed 6 minutes ago! Other fish and chip options were supposedly nearby, but we only found "SILK, a gentelmen's club". We settled for an order of fries at another spacious yet empty lounge apparently catering largely to African Americans. The band played a jazzy cover of Norwegian Wood. Hangry-ness satiated.
As we stick around Cleveland longer, we have found some things that we like. We found 3 beaches good for swimming, we're going to see "Jersey Boys" tonight. On Wednesday we're going to "WOW" which stands for Wade Oval Wednesdays, an outdoor theatre with a local music performance within walking distance. On Saturday, we have tickets for a Cleveland Indians game (vs the Tampa Devil Rays.oooh scary) The Museum of Art is now open, hopefully we will visit there as well. Next we need to find out how to commandeer a boat. We also found a delicious fish-n- chips place for our next fried food craving.