Historical Tour

We had a sunny weekend! Hooray! Cleveland offers free historical tours. They are offered almost every day of the week, each one in a different part of town. I’ve wanted to go for a while but I didn’t dare take Lennon alone because I thought he might be too wild, he loves going for walks but he gets antsy whenever we stop. So, Sunday turned out to be great weather and Kyle was home so we went! I’ll tell you all the neat facts I learned but just a warning, there will be holes in my story. Kyle and I had to take turns listening. Every time we would stop Lennon wanted to get out and run around, swing from the weeping willow, blow bubbles with another little boy on the tour, things like that… He wasn’t at all interested in listening to the guide.

The tour started at Settler’s Landing which, as you might guess, is where the settlers landed! It’s right on the Cuyahoga River (and it’s also where we spent the 4th of July). When the settlers first got there they had an agreement with the Indians, white settlers could have the east side of the river and they wouldn’t be bothered, but the Indians got to keep the west side of the river. A woman dressed in pioneer clothes came and talked to us pretending to be the wife of the first mayor of Cleveland and told us all about settling the town and the struggles they had.  We walked around and learned about the Erie Canal and how it was dug by hand mostly by German and Irish immigrants who ended up settling in the area and had a big impact on the way of life in Cleveland. The canal was used to transport freight and people. All of the boats were large and flat bottom, the canal was 14 feet wide but only 4 feet deep. The freight boats were pulled along the canal by mules and the passenger boats were pulled by horse. They walked along the tow path, part of which became a rail line later on. Now the majority of the tow path is a bike/running path, which we walked along at the Cuyahoga National Park. The guide showed us some historic buildings around the area and gave the history. One of the buildings was an old Irish Pub called the Flat Iron, it opened in 1910 and still serves many of the original menu items. When the tour ended they gave us a coupon so of course we had to go. I got a Lake Erie Perch sandwich and it was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. This area is also famous for Pierogies, something I had never even heard of until we moved here. We got an order of those and they were AMAZING. Little bread things filled with mashed potatoes and topped with cheese and onions… So good. It was really the best day we’ve had in a while, we are starting to really like Cleveland, the more we learn about it. 

Flat Iron (opened in 1910)

Old B&O train bridge. Stuck open, now called the jack knife

Murals of the Erie Canal being dug

Memorial for the people who lost their lives to the Irish famine

Lennon loved the weeping willow

This wasn't part of our tour, just a place near our house. 

A little bit of sunshine

The last couple weeks have been pretty boring for old Lennon. His buddy, Brixton and his mom went back home to Utah. So now I'm his only friend. I think I'm a pretty fun friend but he's getting bored with me. Kyle is working in Columbus still and comes home every 2 or 3 nights. It's hard but we FaceTime a lot and Lennon thinks that's pretty neat. Every time the phone rings he smiles and says "hi dadda!" I've been trying to keep him busy with story time at the library and trips to the park. It still rains a ton so whenever there's a sunny day we run down to the pool and take advantage of the warmth. Sunday morning we actually had a couple hours of sun so we drove up to Lakewood park, it over looks Lake Erie and has a great view of the city. That park is actually the spot where the Underground Railroad ended. People would wait on the shore there for boats to take them into Canada. After that we drove a couple miles up the road to Rocky River. It's a cute little town with shops and access to the beach. We played in the sand and water as long as we could before the rain started coming down. Lennon had so much fun carrying buckets of water back and forth to a sand castle we were building, it was really cute. 

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center

Today we drove to Bay Village and went to the Nature and Science center. They had turtles, fish, birds, rabbits, bees, and all kinds of other animals to see. Lennon loved running between the exhibits looking at everything but the bees were his favorite. They had them in a glass case so you could watch them swarm around. He also liked the rabbits and laughed watching them eat their lettuce. 

After the Nature center we had a picnic at the park, or attempted to have a picnic I should say. Lennon does not stay in one place. By the time I had our blanket and food set out he had already discovered a group of singing daycare kids and was on his way to hang out with them. It was all I could do to get him to sit and eat his lunch without wandering off. I need to get him a leash... We're so happy to finally be having some nice weather and be able to do things outside again!