Last weekend Alan, Em and I threw our bags in the car and headed to Cleveland, with a side trip to Ypsilanti to pick up Dylan. From our house it’s about a 6 hour trip.

The Black Veil Brides were playing a show in Cleveland and Em really wanted to go. It’s not something we normally do, pack up and drive 6 hours for a concert, but I like to keep the kids guessing if I will say yes or no to their requests

I used Trip Advisor to find a hotel in downtown Cleveland. I wanted something within very close walking distance to the House of Blue where the concert was being held.

We ended up staying at the Hampton Inn on 9th St., just 2 short blocks away. The Hampton Inn was very nice. We had a room on the 17th floor, unfortunately it came with a view of the building directly behind it and an alley It was a nice room though. That night the hotel offered complimentary cookies, White Macadamine Nut–my favorite!!! In the morning there was a hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, waffles, bagels and toast and a cold selection of cereals, fruits, muffins and yogurt.

The area around the hotel, however, is completely dead on a Friday night after 6 p.m. EVERYTHING is closed!

While the kids were at the concert we had dinner at Flannery’s Pub on Prospect Ave & 4th St (lots of open restaurants in this area) and then walked around downtown.

Mac & Cheese at Flannery’s Pub

I love old buildings, but I hate hauling my heavy camera with me so I just have these iPhone photos to share. We walked from 4th St towards the lakefront, about 5 blocks, without passing anyone.

So many tulips are in bloom:

From our perch at Willard Park, we watched the sun set over Lake Erie with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the foreground. It was very pretty.

I turned around to watch the sunset reflecting off of downtown.

This church was directly across from the hotel. So pretty, I loved listening to the church bells.

There are so many options of things to do in the downtown Cleveland area. However, we were not staying long enough to enjoy any of them. If I ever go back these will be the MUST SEE attractions:

Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Botanical Gardens
Cleveland Zoo (not technically downtown, but I still wanted to go)

On Saturday we drove over to Crocker Park which is a very nice shopping/movie center. Our main purpose was the IMAX showing of Thor (btw, $17 a person for IMAX, I about fell over–crazy expensive). A bit of shopping and a must visit to Trader Joe’s and we were on the road back home.

Visiting Cleveland was enjoyable. I wish we would have had more time, but isn’t that always the case.

I’ll be in Cincinnati the first weekend of June and hoping to have time to visit the zoo/botanical gardens there.

What is your favorite road trip? Have you been to Cleveland?