From 2/25 - 2/28/11, I went to Cleveland. They have the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. I have a major passion for rock music learning as much as I can about the songs, artists I love. I have a subscription to Rolling Stone. I decided to use part of my tax refund for going to Cleveland. The trip ended up being very affordable.
Friday, the day the trip began didn't start too well. That morning, I got a ticket for speeding. I was the only car on the road, and I seemed to be driving safe, but was speeding. We got a late start. I wanted to start late morning but we didn't start until 1 pm. The night before the trip was very ominous b/c there was a snowstorm predicted which actually occurred in Cleveland before we got there. I was very worried that we would be hitting very slow traffic jams. But, the trip took 5 hrs. to get to the Cleveland area, and I was very happy with the fact that we could travel as fast as we wanted on the Interstate and there were NO traffic jams.
We stayed at the Red Roof Inn. The hotel had a very convenient location, just off the interstate. The hotel itself did not have too many amenities. But I was very conscious of price, and when you are conscious of price, you aren't going to get all the amenities.
As I said, the main reason I traveled to Cleveland was to see the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Here were the highlights:
-saw a 3D movie on U2
-listened to a song by Jimi Hendrix, "Bold as Love". I had never heard the song before, and I absolutely loved it. It was amazing.
-They showed the actual clothes or outfits people in rock wore at certain famous, memorable times. They had quite a few from Prince, Elvis, Rolling Stones.
-They had the actual notebook or paper the artists used to write the lyrics. THey had this for Jim Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix and others.
-They had a movie that highlighted the career of Hall of Fame inductees. Not all of them. People like producers or a guitar maker like Leo Fender were listed but no footage on them. But it was fun seeing Rolling Stones, Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the note from the Sex Pistols telling the Hall of Fame to go to hell and rejecting their invitation to the Hall of FAme ceremony inducting them. It was a pretty long movie as they started placing people in the HOF in 1986.
-Saw a pretty extensive "Women in Rock" exhibit.
-Saw the ZZ Top vintage 1940s car that they used in their most famous videos like "Sharp Dressed Man".
-They had a Bruce Springsteen exhibit on the top 2 floors of the Hall of Fame. This was a temporary exhibit and I saw it on one of the last days it was up. They had a brief movie on Springsteen as he explained some of the songs on the album BORN TO RUN.
-It had a very large store for selling memorabalia and CDs. I bought Maribeth and the kids T-shirts.
My faith is very important so, prior to going to Cleveland, I was able to find a church near the hotel. It was a very good Mass, and the priest gave an excellent sermon. We also were able to go to a nice restaurant where I enjoyed steak and order the next afternoon with my favorite topics - Canadian bacon and pineapple.
The trip was eye-opening, perspective-expanding time, the kids and Maribeth liked the shirts that I got them. The trip was a wonderful experience ! ! !
See also http://rockhall.com/
