My Birthday Trip to Cleveland

This year for my birthday Sarah surprised me by taking me into Cleveland explore some local history. As everyone is probably well aware, I kind of nerd out over local history so this was a pleasant surprise. We started at the Western Reserve Historical Society in University Circle to view some rare antique cars and aircraft.

The Crawford Auto and Aviation Collection

The Goodyear Blimp.

P-51 Mustang from WWII.

A "Cleveland" Motorcycle.

Probably one of the first RV's.

Next to a Ford Model T.

They also have the restored carousel from Euclid Beach Park.

This carousel was built in 1910 for Euclid Beach Park. The park closed in 1969.

After 45 years of collecting the pieces of the original carousel, it was reopened here at the museum in 2010 (100 years after being built) for a new generation to enjoy....

...including some big kids.

After the museum we headed over to another undisclosed location in the city. This time closer to the water...much closer.

William G. Mather Steamship

Located directly behind the Great Lakes Science center is a large freight ship. It has been there for sometime (About 36 years now) and you may not have known that you could go inside. This was our second stop and probably my favorite part of the day.

The William G. Mather was built in 1925 and was the flagship of the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company. It was named after the owner of the company and shipped iron ore out of Cleveland from the date of its inception until after the 1980 shipping season. It is now a museum dedicated to all of the Great Lakes Lakers.

Ores from an Edmund Fitzgerald Lifeboat.

A few of these ships on this list were built in Lorain by the American Ship Building Company.

Crew quarters.

This is the guest area of the ship.

Heading to the top deck.

Cleveland from the front of the ship.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Quite the difference from the crew quarters.

The Captain's Wheel.

Deck view of the hold. This is where the ore was loaded.

The "Windlass" was used to drop the anchors.

The guest dining room at the aft of the ship.

 The crew dining room.

The Galley (kitchen).

This is how they kept the plates from falling off the shelf.

The ship started off running on coal, then in the 1950's switched to oil. This is one of the boilers.

After exploring the freighter it was finally time for dinner. One of my favorite beer brands is a local brewery called the Great Lakes Brewing Company. I had never been to the actual brewery, but I heard it was good. So Sarah decided that it was time to check it out.

The Great Lakes Brewing Company

As you can see it was pretty crowded.

We started off with some drinks and the fresh made pretzels with cheese soup. Sarah then got the Mac and Cheese with Chicken and I got the Old World Burger with Fries. It was delicious.

You can probably guess who got what.

After we stuffed our faces with food Sarah then took us to our final stop, desert. For desert she took us to an old school ice cream parlor and soda fountain. 

Sweet Moses

Named after the founder of Cleveland, Moses Cleaveland (that's right, it had and "a" in it).

This is called the "Terminal Tower" and it costs $34...no it isn't ours.

These were ours. Mine was on the left and had coffee ice cream with toffee. Sarah's had banana foster ice cream with brownies. Both were delicious.

This birthday was probably one of the best ones that I can remember. Sarah did a really good job and I think that we both had a lot of fun. I look forward to when she has to top it next year :)

As always thanks for reading!