The Cleveland Botanical Gardens

Before I start this one, I'd be stupid not to point out that I've lived in Cleveland now for 365 days...you know, like the title of this blog. The past year has been wonderful and has really blown past everything I expected out of this little adventure. I'd like to thank everyone who's read any of my posts, Gina, and anyone who's came to visit us. I've rented my house in Lakewood again so we'll be doing another round of 365 days in Cleveland! This upcoming year has some real promise. I have a feeling we'll tie up all our loose ends before the season finale...and maybe we won't...stay tuned! Now on to the show:

4-26-15 - Well after talking about it for what seemed like forever, good old Gina got us a online coupon for half off admission to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens! Now we haven't spent much time in University Circle so far but that is changing this year. There's just too much to do over there to ignore it any longer...plus now it has a Happy Dog location in the old Euclid Tavern! A good hot dog place can entice me anywhere.

Once we parked we took a stroll around Wade Lagoon and everything was in bloom. It really is a beautiful park and when combined with Rockefeller Park and the cultural Gardens it kind of reminds me of Central Park in New York...except most of the north end is surrounded by dangerous gang controlled areas. Not by Case though! The Case area is pretty awesome with the 3 major hospitals, all but 1 of Cleveland's Museums, Case Western Reserve, Severance Hall...just so much good stuff packed into that area! I'd like to see some thick old looking stone high rises go up on either side of the park to give it kind of a Central Park West look and feel. There's a lot that needs to happen before that can however...

Next we headed over to the Botanical Gardens. This is truly a wonderful experience for everyone and if you have kids, this is a must do! From what we found they have 2 indoor greenhouse garden areas. One has a desert motif and the other a rain forest. They have a nice kids area, a cafe, lounge, and gift shop. I'm sure there's more but that's all we saw without looking on a map or asking for directions. There are birds, insects, lizards, along with plants and trees of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Most things are right out in the open so you are able to interact (to an extent...you can't ride the turtles) with your surrounding. There's very little glass separating you from everything there so you can take great pictures (like I did) and immerse yourself into it all. I think our favorite part were the butterflies in the rain forest area. They everywhere and there are so many different ones. They're like little fluttering bits of colorful magic...ya I said it, shut up. Once we were done with the indoor areas we made a quick stop at the gift shop and headed out...

Now when I say we headed out, I mean we headed out because we thought we saw everything. Then we walked around Wade Oval a bit and witnessed the biggest "uh duh" moment of our lives. There were gardens outside! No kidding right?!? I almost hesitated to tell you that. Then I thought I'd blame it on Gina but the truth is we had no idea what to expect until we saw it. Just rows and rows of spring flowers and green grass behind a beautifully decorative locked gate and fence. Needless to say we ran back in to find the way to get into this blooming Garden of Eden...and eventually we did.

There is way more to the outside gardens than you'd originally expect at first glance. They go on and on and wrap around and go over a bridge...It's a great little slice of nature here in the city. There's a large kid's section (not a section for large kids but the section is large) with a jungle gym and project stations and multiple landscaped gardens with different themes. My favorite was the Asian themed garden.

I really really liked this little adventure. The Botanical Gardens are very nice, clean, and well kept. There are tons of things to see and do here and with the 50% coupon, the price was right...not that it wouldn't have been right without the coupon but I'm cheap so it's like a second cherry on the sundae. I'd highly recommend it to anyone especially if you have kids and am proud to live in a city that has such a great place. Oh and don't forget to bring your camera!

After we were done with the gardens, I walked over to the Peter B. Lewis building on Case's campus to take some shots of this amazing piece of architecture. The bending metal front, the curving brick walls, the shadows from a distance that trick your mind... it really is Cleveland's weirdest and boldest building. Thank God for liberal colleges that take chances like this.

Once I was done taking some snapshots we headed to Happy Dog at the Euclid Tavern. They have 2 locations now people and I really can't find a valid excuse for you not to go! The place has got a great stage in the front of the building and the same pick-your-toppings menu. It couldn't be in a better strip of building being at the end of Uptown and there's a metered lot across the street just for there. We ate delicious dog and tots and watched the Cavs sweep the Celtics! New location but no change in quality. I love this place and love the food. 

As if this all wasn't enough -- we went home, took a nap, woke up, and went to see Langhorne Slim and the Law at the Beechland. I think I may have made Gina a believer in the awesomeness of Langhorne. He played an amazing set! He was fun and charismatic even though there were a few drunk a$$holes in the crowd that he had to shut down a couple of times. It's just embarrassing sometimes when people can't shut up and enjoy some damn fine music. Anyways, as always, Langhorne killed it and if you've never heard him, go check him out on any of your favorite music places to hear music in places.

...God what else...Oh I'm meeting with people and businesses and city councilmen and making speeches and campaigning for this Tremont West Board of Trustees seat! It's really moving along and next week will be filled with block club meetings to speak at. So far I haven't really seen any of the other candidates but 2. I'm told there are a lot and I'm sure I'll see them over the next couple of weeks but I seemed to have got a head start. Still more to come on this one...

Sometimes Urban Pioneers you have to be a tourist in your own city in order to truly see it as it was meant to be seen! Until next time my friends.

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Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art and University Circle

Last Saturday Gina (my beautiful girlfriend) and I went to the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art in University Circle. For as much as I've read about the museum and geeked out over pictures, I have yet to go. So when Gina wanted to know what plans were for a rare Cleveland couple's weekend, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. 

I made Gina take a slight detour through Playhouse Square to see the new arches and signage that they are putting up. I was amazed! It's almost Vegas-like in its glitz and glamour. OK maybe old downtown Vegas but still place-making at its finest! Here's a pic of one of the arches. Just awesome!

We then traveled down the HealthLine to University Circle. Midtown is starting to fill in which is great! I can remember years ago taking a wrong turn after a Browns game and being at the intersection of E 55th and Euclid. The whole car full of us just prayed that the light would change fast so we could get the hell out. It seems like a completely different place now.

When we got into University Circle I bored poor Gina with stories I had read on Urban Ohio. If you want to know what projects are happening in Cleveland, I highly recommend you check it out. I do daily... not at work though. UC is a beautiful neighborhood dominated by the Cleveland Clinic (technically in Fairfax), University Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, and the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center not to mention all of the museums, parks, and the Uptown project. Once we parked I couldn't help but snap pictures like a tourist even though it was raining. Here's where we spent the afternoon:

This is the the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art. Pretty sweet looking huh? And it's not even the craziest looking building in the neighborhood (Peter B Lewis building) believe it or not! The views of UC alone were worth the price of admission. Up and down Euclid you can see what happens when the right mixture of jobs, money, population, art, and drive all come together and make urban progress. UC isn't downtown and they don't have to be either. 3-5 story buildings are just fine and in a lot of cases allow you to be creative and daring when it comes to design and use. This could have easily been a strip mall with a Walmart, a Target, and a Subway and it would have been hailed by onlookers as a triumph!... but it wasn't. It was daring and traditional at the same time. It's what urban living is all about. Beautiful, functional, and dense. Below is a picture of Uptown just on the east side of the museum. I love the look of the buildings, the density of the project on a main road, and the residential over retail design. Mixed use! Imagine looking out your weird sideways window every morning and seeing the glistening black shape of the museum across the street. Your minutes away from museums, 2 of the top healthcare facilities in the country, a great university, the city's best Italian food, and the country's best BRT (bus rapid transit) line. And there is so much more!!! Being just within this city block was quite an experience and I will definitely go back. 

Now back to the museum. The theme of one of the museum installations was death. It wasn't as morbid as what may be conjured up in your head at the moment. It was contemporary art... it took the topic from a whole different angle and ranged from painting with autopsy fluids to collages of life in memorial. My 2 favorite exhibits were both in this installation:

1. There was a list of sentences that chronicled a woman's life from birth to death. It was like someone took important passages from a diary and summarized them into individual sentences. You didn't know the woman's name or anything about her but after reading it you were able to say that you knew her. Very powerful.
2. You were to think about your life while laying on your back. When you were done you were to write your epitaph as you would have it appear on your grave stone. From there you took small individual letter stencils made of metal and pounded them with a hammer into (2) 3X5 cards. One you hung up on the wall representing a cemetery. One you kept. My read "He discovered is passion too late in life." It made me sad.

Oh and don't forget to go to the gift shop! There are tons of awesome souvenirs and they all stay close to the contemporary art thing. Gina and I are coming back for Christmas presents so get ready for weird gifts.

Then it snowed like crazy! Like really crazy. We went to Fuel Coffee Bar in the Little Italy neighborhood. We hoped that the snow would stop but it didn't. Great coffee though and great conversations with the baristas/coffee bartenders. It kept us warm and that's what we were looking for.

We spent the rest of the day in the Coventry neighborhood of Cleveland Heights. We met Gina's cousin Kerry and ate at BD's Mongolian Grill. I liked the food there but Kerry and Gina described it as the Walmart of Mongolian restaurants. A great idea that I like about that neighborhood is the parking garage. Every neighborhood should have one. Maybe not right on the main drag for everyone to see but boy is it great not having to park on the street and all of the headaches that come with that.

Check out some other events I've attended or places I've been by clicking on the links below:

• MOCA and University Circle
• NYE 2014
• The Cleveland Flea
• Dyngus Day
• Dazzle the District