Rough Draft

Cleveland Trip

Last Thursday I drove up to Cleveland to visit Lynn for a few days. Even though it had only been a couple weeks since I last saw her, I was really excited to see her again and we had lots of fun while I was visiting. Phil went home for the weekend to help his dad with some stuff and Dana and Chris went to Dana's house for the weekend, so I was glad to be able to keep Lynn company for a few days. Most free time at the apartment was spent playing the most addicting game ever, Dr. Mario, and watching episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. A more detailed list of what we did follows.

Thursday
I got to Case around 4:30 and picked Lynn up in front of Veale. Unfortunately, her 2:30 meeting never happened so she had been waiting for me quite a while. We stopped by Russo's on the way back to the apartment so she could pick up a few things. Normally she just stops by on her way back from Case, but since she walks there's a limit to how much she can buy. After getting back to the apartment we made some dinner, played Pinochle with Dana and Chris when they got back and watched Back to the Future on TV (Lynn's favorite movie).

Friday
Friday we got up and went down to Case. Lynn did some stuff in the lab while I continued reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Nord. Lynn needed to get 1100 copies of a flyer for Case in Point so it could be in the packet sent to incoming freshmen. So we decided to stop by Ghetto Pho for lunch and then get copies made at Kinkos. Ghetto Pho is a Vietnamese Pho noodle place that Lynn went to with her senior project group at the end of the school year. We split a large bowl of Pho noodles with all the available kinds of beef and we also had a peach bubble tea. We also stopped by the bakery that is in the same little plaza and bought 4 of the awesome coconut rolls.

After getting back to the apartment since Dana and Chris were back we decided to figure out our plans for that night. We decided to go to Hoggy's! and then play miniature golf at a place right across the street. Hoggys! is a fun restaurant that looks like a barn, has a 1939 tractor hanging from the ceiling, and has a slogan "nothing could be swiner." The food was good and decently priced. I had the 3 Little Pigs which consisted of three sandwiches (pulled pork, pulled chicken, and beef brisket).

After the miniature golf we stopped by Angie and Tim's apartment to pick up a table and chairs to take back to Lynn's apartment. It took quite a while to get everything loaded into Phil's Blazer and it was pretty chilly outside. Actually all of the first few days in Cleveland were much cooler than you would expect given it was nearly June.

Saturday
We had planned to play tennis on Saturday, since Lynn had to stop by the lab to stop a polymerization. However, when we passed the tennis courts on the way to the lab, there were a bunch of people there and it looked like they might be there for an organized tournament or something. So we decided to check the courts on Northside, but when we got there all the nets were gone! We walked back to Southside, checked the courts which were still busy and decided to go back to the apartment.

After lunch we decided to go see Shrek 2. We also stopped at Isle of Beads so Lynn could get a couple beads for her hemp necklace. I had told her back on Valentine's Day that I would get her some beads. We had been by it once, but it was closed and since neither of us have cars we hadn't been able to make it back since. After that we stopped by Wal*Mart so Lynn could get a new watch since the glass on the face of the watch had fallen out and so it kept losing time since the hands would get bumped. We got to the theater right at 5 and there was a 5 o'clock showing, so we skillfully avoided having to watch any of "The Twenty," twenty minutes of commercials they are now showing before movies. Afterwards we stopped by Baker's Square for soup, salad, and pie. I had fresh strawberry which was delicious and Lynn got carmel apple a la mode except she got gypped on the nuts.

Sunday
Sunday we went to the Cleveland Zoo since we both like zoos and I had never been there. We eventually met up with Jacob, Setsuna, and Matt there. Unfortunately my cell phone didn't get service in most of the zoo so it took a while before we actually got a hold of each other. The first exciting thing we saw were the elephants. One elephant had a branch laying on its head for some reason. But we saw it take it off with its trunk and then it broke pieces off and we couldn't tell if it was eating it, or using it to clean its mouth, or what but we were both incredibly amazed by the dexterity of its trunk. The highlight of the trip were the siamangs who were doing all kinds of exciting acrobatics on the ropes. There were three of them in the cage and two of them seemed to be taking turns swinging around on the ropes. We also saw an ostrich shock itself on the electric fence, an excited Canada Goose (in the Africa section) run at full speed into the water to go for a swim, the same goose flying a little which incited the heron to try its hardest to fly even though its wings were clipped, and an anteater chasing a roseate spoonbill around a tree.

After the zoo we went to eat at Weia Teia in the Great Northern Mall. The food was good, if rather expensive (especially Setsuna's $7 ginger ice cream).

Monday
Monday morning we played DDR for a little over an hour. I did all my songs on trick and passed most of them. I think I got one or two B's also. I'm definitely starting to get better at DDR. Lynn did at least half of her songs on Maniac and was able to pass most of those also which I was pretty impressed with. She had just started trying maniacs the last time she played.

After that we got lunch at Chipotle and then went over to Russo's to pick up ingredients to make raw apple cake. The cake tasted really good but the consistency didn't turn out right. Phil said maybe because it was cooked using gas rather than electric which Lynn has made it with at home.

Tuesday
Tuesday morning Lynn made scrambled eggs for breakfast before we went down to Case. I finished reading Prisoner of Azkaban by the time we were ready to head back for lunch. We got milkshakes at Tommy's (peach and cherry) and made macaroni and cheese for lunch and played a last few games of Dr. Mario. Then right before we were ready to leave, Lynn received some tragic news. She found out Vassu had been killed in car accident on Monday. Vassu sang in Case in Point with Lynn and quite a few songs for them. I had known who he was before, but just actually met him this past year when he drove Lynn, Anders, and I to the Addler banquet. I didn't know him well, but I could tell he was a really nice, fun loving person and he will be greatly missed.

It was really hard for me to leave after that, but eventually we drove down to the library so Lynn could drop off the Case in Point flyers and then I dropped her off in front of Veale so she could work in a lab some more.

It was a really fun trip that unfortunately ended with such tragic news. And now I'm just looking forward to going back in a couple weeks to pick Lynn up to bring her to my house for my graduation / going away party.