My wife and I are coming up on our 6th wedding anniversary this weekend.  Normally we would go to put-in-bay for labor day weekend, but that's not quite as easy now with a child.  I want to take her somewhere either Saturday or Sunday night (I have baby sitting options).  The fallback plan is to go to Cedar Point.

 

I imagine Cleveland is full of great day trip spots and that someone here could recommend one.  Maybe a great place to rent a boat on the lake?  I'm open to any and all suggestions.  It's always nice to try something new.

For our anniversary this year I took the wife to a nice restaurant and a show at playhouse square.

While we went to Accent (highly recommended) this year for our anniversary, the wife and I had (for about three or four years running) been enjoying our night in Little Italy.  We would go to one restaraunt for appetizers and drinks (La Dolce Vita is good for that), another for dinner (we like Michael Angelo's or Etna), and then spend some time on the street patios eating dessert at one of the bakeries.  There is live music often this time of year.  Little Italy just has that romantic and easygoing vibe to it which fits an anniversary date nicely.  If you want to get the day started earlier, I would also highly recommend a trip over the Art Museam prior to dinner.  If you haven't been there since the renovations were completed, it will blow you away. 

I gave my wife a gift certificate for 30 minutes of AJ93 love, but she hasn't used it and now it's expired....so ::shrug::

Alternatively, you can drive out to Vermillion and go to Chez Francois, if you're up for a fancy dinner. They have outdoor seating on the river which is very nice. Full disclosure, I actually had a sh!tty meal there when I went, but 100% of everyone else I've spoken to rave about the place, and it's a great location on the water. Very anniversary-approved.

I gave my wife a gift certificate for 30 minutes of AJ93 love, but she hasn't used it and now it's expired....so ::shrug::

 

It was probably more like a 30 second "experience."

I gave my wife a gift certificate for 30 minutes of AJ93 love, but she hasn't used it and now it's expired....so ::shrug::

 

It was probably more like a 30 second "experience."

 

Lake Arrington is a tiger for 20 seconds!!

Maybe a great place to rent a boat on the lake?

 

Is there a place to do this? I found one place in the Flats but their website says only til Labor Day.

While we went to Accent (highly recommended) this year for our anniversary, the wife and I had (for about three or four years running) been enjoying our night in Little Italy.  We would go to one restaraunt for appetizers and drinks (La Dolce Vita is good for that), another for dinner (we like Michael Angelo's or Etna), and then spend some time on the street patios eating dessert at one of the bakeries.  There is live music often this time of year.  Little Italy just has that romantic and easygoing vibe to it which fits an anniversary date nicely.  If you want to get the day started earlier, I would also highly recommend a trip over the Art Museam prior to dinner.  If you haven't been there since the renovations were completed, it will blow you away. 

 

Seconded.  My wife and I have done the CMA/Little Italy trip several times.

How about the tree houses you can rent at Mohican State Park.  They look pretty bad@$$

How about the tree houses you can rent at Mohican State Park.  They look pretty bad@$$

I don't know about the tree houses, but the rest of Mohican feels like a trailer park to me.

Oh, I think the little Italy suggestion sounds really nice.  Thanks for that, I think that is the new plan.  Its hard for me to remember these options exist sometimes.  The art museum was under construction last time we went, but that was also a great suggestion.

 

I like the treehouse suggestion too.  I grew up going camping, but it's not something my wife really enjoys.  I got her to go to hocking hills this year and we had an unexpected nature encounter at rock house.

I looked up Etna and have a couple of questions.  On a Sunday evening, is a reservation needed?  Looking at the menu I see two columns, one called "first plate" and one called "second plate".  Does that translate to "appetizers and Entrees" or is it a a meal served in courses?

If you want to visit NEO's wondrous and oft underrated countryside I recommend Hudson and the Rosewood Grill.  Parts of the building were an old mill and date to the MID 1800's!

Pretty good food and priced well.

 

If you want the urban feel...my favorite is Little Italy...just about any place there.

I looked up Etna and have a couple of questions.  On a Sunday evening, is a reservation needed?  Looking at the menu I see two columns, one called "first plate" and one called "second plate".  Does that translate to "appetizers and Entrees" or is it a a meal served in courses?

 

In traditional Italian dining, people order alot of food and share it.  If you have a table of two, i would get one of each plate and share.  Or you can each just get whatever you want for yourselves.  First plates are usually sala, soups, second plates usually pasta or risotto dishes, third plates are your proteins, etc.

I looked up Etna and have a couple of questions.  On a Sunday evening, is a reservation needed?  Looking at the menu I see two columns, one called "first plate" and one called "second plate".  Does that translate to "appetizers and Entrees" or is it a a meal served in courses?

 

I doubt you'll need a reservation on a Sunday, but it is a rather small space and it can't hurt to make one.  We've only made reservations when going in a larger group.

 

If I could make another suggestion..... if you can do it, go on Friday or Saturday.  The ambience of LI is not in full throttle on Sunday.  It won't be empty, but it won't feel quite so alive.  LI never gets rowdy, so it will be laid back no matter how much foot traffic there is.  But if you go on one of the other days, you might, for instance, get the added perks of street performers (possibly)

I looked up Etna and have a couple of questions.  On a Sunday evening, is a reservation needed?  Looking at the menu I see two columns, one called "first plate" and one called "second plate".  Does that translate to "appetizers and Entrees" or is it a a meal served in courses?

 

I doubt you'll need a reservation on a Sunday, but it is a rather small space and it can't hurt to make one.  We've only made reservations when going in a larger group.

 

If I could make another suggestion..... if you can do it, go on Friday or Saturday.  The ambience of LI is not in full throttle on Sunday.  It won't be empty, but it won't feel quite so alive.  LI never gets rowdy, so it will be laid back no matter how much foot traffic there is.  But if you go on one of the other days, you might, for instance, get the added perks of street performers (possibly)

 

Great suggestions Hts121! I agree about Friday or Saturday nights. Its amazing how good the foot traffic is, and you are more likely to hear music on the street, which adds to the scene.

 

Id would recommend walking Mayfield from the Park(which surprisingly is crowded even late at night) to Fairview and then cross and walk back. It really is a nice walk and you pass by all the other restaurants and patios and hear different music. If you have to go sunday, it will still be nice. Little Italy has to be the most active part of the city on Sunday, although not as active as it is Friday or Saturday night but still nice.

 

Id recommend that you start with a nice walk and then choose a restaurant. After dinner you could then get some dessert from Prestis, possibly sit outside or in the front window spot. After that if you are still feeling it, Id recommend walking over to that new winebar. It is really nice in there and when I was there, two guys were there, one playing the piano/singing, and the other one playing some horn instrument(cant remember what). It was very nice.

I tried to work saturday out, unfortunately that didnt happen.  We are still on for tomorrow.

I tried to work saturday out, unfortunately that didnt happen.  We are still on for tomorrow.

 

Sunday will still be nice. Congratulations on 6 years! I hope you two have a good time.

I wanted to thank you all again.  We had a really nice time last Sunday.  You were right about the museum, it definitely blew us both away.  We stayed for nearly 2 hours, but we still want to go back and see what we didn't get to.  There was pretty decent amount of activity in Little Italy, unfortunately the wine bars were closed.  We worked our way to Etna and asked to be seated outside.  It was fun to watch the valet employees run up Mayfield.  That doesn't look like an easy job.  It really poured down rain for a little while, but it was nice from our spot underneath the awning.  The service at Etna was really good.  They must have sensed that it was a special occasion and brought out a complimentary dessert.

 

Thanks all, it was a GREAT time!

 

After little Italy we stopped by the Casino in an attempt to keep the night going.  We walked through the first and second floors and then left without gambling anything.  We've had fun at casinos before, maybe it's just not for us anymore?