FirstEnergy Stadium

Just down the block from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is FirstEnergy Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns. At first I thought I would be cool to tour it but they weren’t giving tours this summer because of renovations. We still were able to walk around the outside and take a few pictures. It’s probably the closest I will ever get to the stadium.

USS Cod

After leaving the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we walked down the block to the USS Cod, a World War II submarine. I discovered the sub when I was playing around on Google maps one day looking for parking at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It cost us $10 a person for a self-guided tour of the sub. It was pretty cool but I think it was a little pricey. $8 or $9 would have been worth it, especially for the hubby who never actually went inside the sub. To preserve the integrity of the submarine, they did not make any changes to the sub. To enter or exit the sub, you use the same ladders that the submariners used during the war. You have to climb over hatches between rooms of the sub. The hubby couldn’t handle the ladders. I had difficulties with going down especially since there is a gap between the first and second ladder and you have to maneuver just in order to reach the second ladder on the way down. Going up is easier.

 While I was exploring the innards of the sub, the hubby wandered about topside. Below deck, I crawled into a bunk, saw the itty bitty dining room, saw the engine and torpedo rooms, and just tried to imagine life in this metal capsule.  There were buttons to push to hear more about the sub. It would have been nice to have a guided tour and someone explaining everything.

Once I emerged into the fresh air, I met back up with the hubby and we disembarked off the sub. Nearby the sub was a periscope that the hubby had to check out. It was quite a periscope.

It was a nice little diversion to our afternoon in Cleveland. It’s not every day you can get on a WWII submarine. It turned out the submarine wasn’t the only boat we ended up touring that afternoon.  We also went on an old Ore Freighter. I love having the flexibility to see new and different things that I won’t normally have a chance to see and aren’t even on the bucket list.

Steamship William J. Mather

When walking to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the hubby saw a big ship in the harbor. I thought it was just there after unloading cargo, which seems odd now that I think of it. It turns out it was the Steamship William G. Mather – an freighter that was used on the Great Lakes. It is part of the Great Lakes Science Center but you can tour the freighter without going to the museum.

Since the hubby likes touring old ships like this and we had time, we headed over to the William G. Mather. It was $9 a person for a self guided tour of the freighter. It was well worth the price of admission.  There is a lot to see and explore with a hands-on section in the cargo hold.  Up in the navigation room and I believe in the engine room, there is a guide that will answer any questions you have. For the most part it is self guided with a lot of signs to read. It is hard to get lost as there is an orange line on the floor to follow. There are stairs to climb up and down as you navigate through the various parts of the ship.

 

 

Back in the day when the William J Mather was in service the crew had open each of the cargo hold doors by manually cracking these vises. Each door probably had at least 2 dozen clamps.

As we were exploring the steam, we ran into two couples from Wisconsin. You never know where Packer fans are going to be. We chatted for a few minutes and took the required “couple” photos of each other.

For an unplanned stop, The Steamship William G. Mather was a great choice. It was fun, informative, and relatively inexpensive. Not everything we do on a vacation gets planned or is even on the bucket list and there is usually some wiggle-room for things that happen to look interesting. I am glad we are both flexible enough to enjoy spur of the moment activities like touring an old freighter. 

#943 Go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Besides The Lucy and Desi Museum, the other thing I really wanted to do on this trip was go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Jamestown is only about 2 hours from Cleveland and on our way home. However, I was concerned because the hubby isn’t fond of Cleveland but he readily agreed.

I am not a big Rock and Roll fan. I barely know any current bands let alone bands from the past unless they are VERY FAMOUS. Despite my lack of knowledge of music in general, this just one of those places I had to see at least once.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is downtown Cleveland, right on Lake Erie and is very easy to go to. Parking is a bit of a problem. The website said to park in the Science Museum parking garage but the signs weren’t very clear on getting to the garage. We never got lost but it was just annoying not having clear directions. Parking was $9 for the entire day as long as you got your pass validated at the hall of fame, otherwise it is $11.

Admission to the Hall of Fame was $22/person plus tax. It came out to about $50 for the two of us. If we wanted to also visit the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, it was another $36 for both of us, which was about $6 savings if we bought the tickets separately. Since we’ve been to the Football Hall of Fame on our last trip, we decided to skip it this time.

Was the Hall of Fame worth $22? I think so. There are a lot of cool artifacts from various bands and artists spanning different decades and regions of the country. Of course Elvis, the Beatles, and a few others had their own displays. The coolest thing, for at least the hubby, was not in the Hall of Fame but outside. Johnny Cash’s tour bus was on display. He got to touch the bus. He said I wasn’t worthy.

Instead of busts or plaques, the inductees in the Hall of Fame get their signatures engraved into the wall. It is very cool. At least they are in alphabetical order so it makes finding your favorite Artist or band easy to find. I was amazed to see who was all inducted, especially Hank Williams.

We did grab lunch before getting to the Hall of Fame because I was worried about not having a restaurant or it being outrageously expensive. There is a small restaurant that had reasonable prices for a museum. The menu wasn’t very big but it would have been doable if we had to. The restaurant over looks Lake Erie and you can eat outside if you want.

Even if you are not rock fans or if you have spent your childhood under a rock, like I did, this is one of those places you have to see. If nothing else just to see the glass pyramid from the outside. The building itself is just that cool.