America's Number One Vacation Destination: Cleveland, Ohio

Actually, it doesn't matter where you go in America, if you get to go with your best friend (and no kids).

Allen had a business trip to Cleveland at the end of February, so he asked me if I would fly out to stay with him for the weekend and we'd make it our 18th anniversary trip.

Yessssssssssssssssssszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Who knew there were so many fun things to do in Cleveland?

• We got tickets to a Cavaliers game and saw Lebron James play live and in person.  They lost to the 76ers, but Lebron still scored over 30 points.  Being from Idaho, we didn't realize how severe the storm was that we walked through to get to the Quicken Loans Arena . . . it was a Nor'easter and we were literally being blown down the road.  It knocked over trees and streetlamps and blew off roofs and left 70,000 Cleveland residents without power for two days.  But we were blissfully unaware until after the fact.
• We went to Kirtland (about 20 miles from Cleveland) and toured all the church history sites there, including the awesome Newel K. Whitney store, where many of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were received.  We had so much fun teasing and getting to know the two cute sister missionaries there, Sister Denson from Alpine, Utah, and Sister Jensen from Tyler, Texas.
• Allen was beyond excited when we toured the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--it was pretty dang sweet.  The reason it's located in Cleveland is because a Cleveland disc jockey, Alan "Moondog" Freed, was the one who coined the phrase "Rock and Roll."  Now you know.
• Did you know that one of America's favorite Christmas movies, A Christmas Story, was filmed in Cleveland?  Neither did we, until we went there.  We toured the house that they used for Ralphie's family, and it was so hilarious.  I think it was my favorite part of the trip.  We bought Truman a leg-lamp nightlight and it think it might be his favorite souvenir we have ever brought home.
• We went to Cuyahoga Valley National Park and hiked down some super scary-icy stairs to Brandywine Falls.
• We ate and ate lots of yummy food: Italian, barbecue, sushi, baked goods, and more airport fare than I care to admit. 

It was  such a great time together!  Four days of just us!  We could never have done it without my mom, who stayed with our kids and took better care of them (and spoiled them infinitely more) than we do.  Our kids were anxious for us to leave and not ready for us to come home because she is a DREAM GRANDMA, I tell you!

Soda Springs got a good three feet of snow while we were gone, and we promptly got back into Winter-mode with our snow shovels when we returned.  *Sigh*  Vacation OVER.