Roots

One hundred thirty eight miles east of Holland, Ohio, last nights stop, is metro Cleveland, a city of 390,000 established in 1796. It's a big city!  We're staying in a KOA in Streetsboro, about thirty five miles south and east of Cleveland.  Our trip east this morning was interesting to say the least.  Having heard horror stories about the Ohio Turnpike, I once again choose a secondary road route that was actually less distance than if we had used the Turnpike, but turned out to require an additional two hours to complete. At an average speed of 31 mph, we spent five hours taking the "scenic" route. Highway 20 out of Toledo took us through the villages of Ridge, Lemoyne and Woodville;  Clyde, Bellevue and Monroeville soon followed; in Wakeman we turned onto SR 303 and followed it through Hudson to Streetsboro.  We passed through some of Ohio's beautiful farm land, and drove down the main streets of some quaint, quiet, and lovely little towns.

A mid-afternoon arrival left us with several hours of daylight, so we decided to see what downtown Cleveland was like. We set Edgewater Park as our goal, since it is on the shore of Lake Erie, and is convenient to downtown and the Civic Center. The park is beautiful, with hundreds of people enjoying the warm afternoon on a large grass area.  Many people were fishing or running the pathways around the perimeter.

A walk around the park gave us a view of downtown and a casual view of Lake Erie.

Then off to downtown to fulfill a bucket list item!

My father was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents that had moved to the West Coast to start a new life. My paternal grandparents were born in the 1880's in Cleveland, Ohio, to parents that had come over from "the old country". Their parents, Matthew and Annie Hubbard, both born in Czechoslovakia, were among several family members that arrived before the turn of the 20th century, most of whom settled in the Cleveland area. I know very little about the family, but I do know that my great-uncle Charles married Josephine Vapenik on September 20, 1905.  Happy 109th anniversary, Uncle Charles! So, having said all that, my wish was to visit the city where an important part of my family came from, and where many still live and work. Since the Cleveland City Hall was built in 1911, I though that several of my relatives may have passed through the iron doors or climbed the granite steps; perhaps they needed a marriage license or bought a bit of land.

 We've found a marriage certificate for my great-aunt Emma, who married LeRoy Vernon in South Pasadena, California, on March 23, 1923, so it's entirely possible that one of the family passed through these doors before they left for California. City Hall, Cleveland, has become an Historical Landmark, for the doors, if nothing else!

Across the street at the Federal Building we watched a crew install new windows. At first we thought they were just washing them, but oh no! The windows on the right have already been installed and the windows on the left and across the front of the building have yet to be worked on.

Each panel is lifted to the platform where workmen slide it into place between the hanging scaffolding and the building!

As we left we were able to walk the top perimeter of the parking garage where we were able to get a view of the Great Lakes Science Museum and the First Energy Stadium, the home of the Cleveland Browns football team.

Heading for home, we passed through the "tower district", where a number of casinos are located, as well as the arena for the Cleveland Cavalier basketball team and the stadium for the Cleveland Indians baseball team.

Just as we left metropolitan Cleveland, we spotted this older building.  Enlarge the photo to see the name on the building!