MayDay

The foodies at the cleveland.com Food & Wine forum (usually a decent source) have been raving about it.

Oh alright :-) Please note - NONE of these are under construction (thanks to the economy), but some were on their way before the bottom fell out and of them the most likely to happen would be the convention center hotel - I sized it at about 400 feet considering it would be built on a floating pad rather than caissons:

The CBD is largely intact, but healthy is a relative term - like most small towns, the industrial base that built them has been mostly eroded. As far as the twisted chimney house, they're restoring it, but it's been sporadic over a period of a few years.

Salem benefits from a state route (Route 62/173/14) being the main east-west thoroughfare through its downtown, as well as having a pretty centralized populace (Alliance and East Liverpool are both pretty sprawled considering their population). There aren't many convenient ways to get from the Alliance/Canton area to the southern Youngstown metro but that could change - a limited access bypass has been planned for decades. It would connect the limited-access Route 62 (that ends just north of Alliance) to full-on highway Route 11 (just north of Columbiana). The only component that's complete is a stretch north of Salem (which connects with the Route 45 bypass). With less vehicular traffic bringing in potential customers, downtown Salem could take a hit :-\

^I'm sorry to hear that, but it doesn't sound like something exclusive to Sandy Beach - plenty of tourists get targeted all over Oahu (not just in Hawaii, obviously) and it's just unfortunate that it happened to you and your friends at that specific place. It's another unfortunate example of why they always say that you (or whoever is with you) should always watch your stuff like a hawk even if you're in the immediate vicinity. Apparently while we were there, a mentally-ill person stabbed two people on the Koko Crater trail - horrible, but again - could have happened anywhere :-\ Yes, I'll be posting photos from a road trip up to Haleiwa. I didn't mind Waikiki but I should clarify that 1. we were staying at the eastern end near Kapiolani Park - it was still touristy but a little less "Vegas Strip/Times Square" than the section of Kalakaua between the Hyatt and the Royal Hawaiian; and 2. I knew what to expect - it's the most touristy area of a city with a population of about a million. That said, we found plenty of spots that had a more local flavor, especially along Kuhio; and honestly I loved having both the beach AND urban amenities in easy walking/transit distance. I'm not a fan of super-isolation, I prefer to have amenities and a functioning urban area in easy reach. Some friends recommended a few resorts but I would absolutely loathe being stuck somewhere (or forced to rent a car every day) with a golf course I'd never use, overpriced drinks, resort fees tacked on everything, etc. With the quieter section of beach close to our hotel, we were able to relax as much as we wanted, and with the city at our doorstep we were able to check out what Waikiki had to offer (for better or worse).

The library 99% of the time - again, this is where my partner uses a ouija board (like he does to get great travel deals). He'll order movies via the library site, and every week we end up with four or five DVDs. Occasionally we've had one or two that have a scuff and won't play, but at the same time he's also snagged brand new releases the SAME week the DVDs hit the market. We don't have a Blu-ray player but I'm sure at some point we'll upgrade.

The reason I mentioned the facade is that the building *did* have some turquouise vinyl/aluminum paneling on the side street facade. As far as the interior, although it was a bank, it wasn't very remarkable.

^For the longest time it was the Farmers National Bank building, now there's a fitness club and I believe the offices of the Salem High School alumni association. I could be wrong, but I don't think there's a more ornate facade underneath - that's limestone and I remember it looking that way in the early 70s. Nice photos ink - I've heard of the place ;-)

Bump!

The whole trip basically stemmed from a discussion this past fall of "let's travel during the winter". With the economy, I said "as long as it's somewhere warm but in no way, shape or form can it exceed _____ budget". I figured we'd end up in Florida or New Orleans which is fine, and then about a month later he asks "what do you think of Hawaii?" I said "I think it's beautiful - in pictures because there's not a chance in..." and then he showed me the prices and I knew it was meant to be. Yeah I learned early on in the relationship that MY forte is (once we have a destination) finding the nearest coffeespot, bar, must-see restaurants, transit stops, etc. and putting together an itinerary and studying maps until my eyes bleed (it worked, I ended up giving directions in Waikiki rather frequently). Honestly, I think he uses every site out there and is just patient enough to watch them all - btw, it was $430 each - so needless to say, I don't question it, I just go with it. :-)

We did drive to the North Shore/Haleiwa but due to time constraints we couldn't get to the more arid areas on the leeward/western side - oh well, always something for next time. I always thought Cleveland had a weird micro-climate, but Oahu was on a whole other scale.

I gather that the W was one of the worst in the chain - plus the building itself offered few (or poor) views which is criminal in Waikiki. I thought the Royal Hawaiian was alright - they were basically "soft opening" while we were there; certain drinks/food weren't available, some rooms were still being renovated, as were the grounds. Would I stay there? I dunno - 1. it's out of my price range and 2. that area of Waikiki Beach was really crowded whereas the eastern end by Queens Surf and Sans Souci was less so. I don't know that I'd turn down a free stay there :lol:

^Actually no, in all seriousness it was my partner's mojo/witchcraft with travel sites that locked in ridiculously low airfare ($400ish roundtrip each). :-)

When we last left off, the next stop on the itinerary was the Waikiki Aquarium... some amazing creatures were there: Sorry for the out-of-focus shot, but the cylinder-shaped tank made for some bad reflections. Anyway, this isn't seaweed, it's a sea dragon: And this exotic creature... oops, that's the janitor! ;-) **HEADS-UP, for those viewing this thread from work, there are some swimsuit-clad people in the photos ahead. Nothing you wouldn't see on the beach, but just letting you know** Anyway, enough with the aquatic life, time for lunch at Lulu's - which offers open-air balcony seating (and the most deeelish coconut shrimp with vanilla-mango sauce) which made for a nice people-watching perch: ALRIGHT... this is one thing that irked me. As most people know, Crocs are some of the most vile footwear on the planet; young Asian tourists are often the trendiest people on the planet. So can someone explain to me why the Crocs store on Kalakaua was filled with nothing but Asians buying everything in sight (I didn't set foot in, the place had a floor to ceiling glass facade)?!?!? It's madness I tell you! Alright, time to move on - off to a catamaran booze cruise, sponsored by one of the local gay bars. On the way, we pass the statue of Duke Kahanamoku, the father of the modern sport of surfing: Close to the departure point is a Trump condo/hotel building going up: And off we go - that's a cluster of hotels (like the W) and condos on the eastern end of Waikiki: And views of Diamondhead and the Waikiki wall of buildings along Kalakaua: Honolulu's business district: Waikiki and Diamondhead from further out: Had this nitwit NOT raised his left arm to point out the humpback whale, you all would have enjoyed a nice shot. Ah well, as big as they are, they move too fast to easily get a pic: Besides, there was plenty of other scenery (who were actually very personable and down to earth): The only gal on board, our second mate and equally important - the bartender!! :drunk: Suddenly, "Vogue" by Madonna started playing over the speakers and we all know what that means! :lol: Okay back on shore, we rest up a bit on the balcony: And what else? Sunset time! Off to the historic (and recently reopened) Royal Hawaiian (the "Pink Palace") for cocktails: Hermes, Cartier, and shooting range... alrighty then!!! :? Here we go - the only foo-foo tropical cocktail I had - after this I stuck with beer (Maui Brewing's Toasted Coconut Porter and Kona Brewing's Fire Rock Pale Ale were my favorites): Next up, the zoo, more beach scenes and a road trip around Oahu!

I'm still on a bit of a vacation high so now's probably a good time to post these, while the memories are fresh: So we have a ride arranged but the roads were craptacular and getting worse by the minute - our ride dropped us off at the West 25th Red Line station - 20 minutes later (and NO delays) we were at Cleveland Hopkins and ready to roll. Note the following - after a 10 minute delay for de-icing, we took off for Dallas in about 8 inches of snow: After an uneventful flight, we see the Dallas skyline (yes, I hummed the TV show theme - sue me). The Dallas-based flight crew sounded like they were giving a pageant speech ("DFW is larger than the island of Manhattan, it's the 3rd busiest, etc.). Sounded impressive I suppose: Except for the fact that this giant sh!tpit was shut down by a quarter inch of ice. Trucks were moving on the tarmac, planes were landing, but apparently the little "tugs" that guide the planes to the gates couldn't get traction :roll: So the captain says "they're probably gettting kitty litter" (instead of salt?!? And sure as sh!t, the trucks were dropping kitty litter on the tarmac), and after sitting on the plane for NINETY minutes, we missed our connector (fortunately the next flight was in two hours - right around lunchtime, so time for food and cocktails!). Oh, did I mention the part where the gate attendant said that they had ONE set of tire chains for the tugs. Not the terminal - the ENTIRE airport. Thank you, you boisterous Dallas jack@sses, I will take the dull and small CLE anyday over your bloated and ill-equipped DFW any day of the week: Anyway, onward and upward for 8 hours: First sighting of Oahu: Not a distinctive skyline, but you don't come here for the skyscraper architecture: And we land on a clean tarmac with a nice view of downtown Honolulu. We thought we had walked out of the terminal into a parking garage - nope, instead of enclosed corridors it's open-air walkways: Keeping the open-air approach, we walked from the bus to our hotel - I saw big panels of glass but no "door". Then I realized the big opening was the "door". Who'da thunk? The "hallways" to the room are also outside - and the view wasn't too shabby, though there's a mountain behind that "gray cloud of doom" - I kept thinking, am I here to throw a mythical ring into a volcano or just relax on the beach?!? Woke up early next morning, and checked out some of the scenery along Waikiki Beach: At this point, I realized I was in a good place - a rainbow, plus a landmark historic hotel nicknamed "The Pink Palace" (aka the Royal Hawaiian): We headed east, away from the hotel cluster and found a pier and decided to check it out. Yeah, their fish are a tad more pretty than our carp and perch: The aforementioned "Pink Palace": Hanging out on the pier: Pretty coloring for a dove (I think it was a dove) Heading further east into a quaint residential neighborhood east of Kapiolani Park - that's the landmark Diamondhead crater in the background (more on that later): I may have mentioned that my partner likes to garden, and I maaaay have suggested he could grow some kick-@rse stuff should we ever live here. :wink: Hikers at the top of the Diamondhead crater trail: Like this was a shocker, but just to clarify, the flower was taken off immediately after the photo: Back to Waikiki Beach, more rainbows: And nice scenery ;-) Speaking of, did I mention that we had thought our room *might* have an okay view of the sunset? Maybe off to the side or something? Turns out we ended up on our balcony every day from 5:30pm to 7pm instead of hitting a happy hour. Mind you we enjoyed cocktails (microbrews from Kona Brewing to be specific) but uh - when you have THIS to watch, why bother with a bar?!? Being well-rested, we decided to do the Diamondhead hike - not too bad, and the views... well, you be the judge: During WWII, Diamondhead was used by the US as a lookout spot - thus the remnants like gun batteries, lookout posts, tunnels, etc.: And we've made it to the top - worth the $1 admission, I think! :-) Not sure what this was, or what it's about, but it's in plain view from the top of Diamondhead: Someone's pricey digs under construction: Just a tree growing near the trailhead: Back to the hotel again - hey, even the buses have rainbows! :-D The Cloud of Doom which never quite made it to Waikiki (thank Pele): Houses hugging the hillside: BalconyBalconyBalconyBalconyBalcony... The ladybugs were grey with black spots... go figure. That sunset thing again: Next up, flora... And fauna (err... fisha?):

Yes, Thursday.

I'm beginning to think the "Burke is never used" discussion is next in line to the "golly gosh, if they'd only built the dual hub from downtown to University Circle" talk. Get over it, and get out of my thread if that's what you want to focus on - mahalo! :-D You can take the b!tch out of Cleveland, but you can never take the Cleveland outta the b!tch! :evil:

It was the strangest flight pattern I've ever seen coming into CLE - I'm pretty sure we passed over eastern Ohio (possibly Jefferson County), then banked left - the captain said "okay folks, you'll have a great view of Cleveland from the right side of the plane". Of course I'm looking left and right and seeing nothing - then 5 minutes later I see Crown Center in Independence, and after that some great angles of downtown. I'll be posting those over the weekend :-)

Those are Riverview Estates, located on West 25th Street in Ohio City, but they're on the ridge *above* the Flats (technically, the Irishtown Bend section of the Flats). And yes, they're the PJs - specifically subsidized senior housing.

On our trip in Hawaii, we ran into people from every corner of the globe, from every background, etc. After just a few moments of banter whatever bars, we instantly bonded with others from the Great Lakes region and the most common trait was a certain "cut the crap"/down-to-earth approach to life. That's something I've come across while traveling, but it was VERY apparent in Hawaii.

Just one photo for now, but as some of you know I spent the last week in Hawaii. There'll be PLENTY of photos later but for now I figured I'd share one shot from the flight back (and add more Cleveland shots to this thread later). Enjoy! Crown Center/Rockside Road in Independence: Blurry shot of University Circle: The next few shots made it easier to come back from a place as gorgeous as Oahu: Stockyards/Detroit-Shoreway neighborhoods: Former West Tech High School in the lower right: St. Ignatius of Antioch at West Boulevard: Lakewood and the Gold Coast: Downtown Lakewood in the center: West End of Lakewood - Castlewood Apartments and St. James Church in the background: I believe this is a Byzatine Church near West Park? Southwest General Hospital, I believe: Not quite sure where this is - guessing Fairview Park: Low-flying craft over I-480 - that's all folks! :-)

I just came back from Honolulu and have visited places like DC, Chicago, NYC on more than one occasion and all I have to say to anyone who complains about traffic (even on a bad day with a lane closure/weather conditions in Cleveland) is:

Folks, you're killing me. What's the topic again?

The clerk was behind bulletproof glass.

No thanks, there are already too many little dirtbag thugrats roaming about looking like technicolor Jawas.