Radio Free Akron: A Growing List

When we were driving around in Cleveland last night with Kory and Amy, I mentioned several things that I wanted to do in Northeastern Ohio before we move.

A couple of scary thoughts rolled out of this process while I chattered along about future conquests of sorts. For one thing, we've almost lived in Akron now for two years.

That's NUTTY. It's gone by quickly.

For another thing, an obviously related compliment to the fact that we've been in Akron for two years is the fact that we've got a little more than a year left here, IF everything goes according to plan (which is something I'm hoping for...). That means that we've only got around 16 months left to experience the rest of Northeast Ohio before, as at least a loose possibility, we (could potentially) never set foot in this part of the world again.

Okay, that's a little far stretched... but you never know, right?

Another thing I've during our Cleveland adventure is this: we've been really fucking poor during most of our adventure here. And that's fine and all, but as was rolling through my mind as we rolled through a densely fogged University Circle in Cleveland, there's all kinds of top notch cultural shit up in Cleveland that we haven't seen or visited. They definitely make the list.

Oh, "what's the list?" you ask? Funny you should.

I'm working on a list of things I want to do in Northeastern Ohio before we pull up the tent stakes and move the circus known as our constantly growing household of critters to a new city. I mean, unless like University of Akron or College of Wooster or Cleveland State (all of which are unlikely) feels like giving me a gig, our time here is limited.

So, here's a start of this list. It may grow from this post, so I will let you know... you being the exceptionally limited number of readers who made the jump from the myspace blog.

Was moving a mistake?

Meh. That's another post.

The following represents nothing but the order in which I think of these things.

Things to Visit:
1) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Okay, I have problems with the concept of a rock and roll hall of fame, I have problems with the fact that it's in Cleveland, and I have a problem with the fact that it's $20-fucking-dollars a head to visit. But, I live within 45 minutes of it, and I think it's something I should see since I greatly enjoy rock music. If nothing else, I can mock how they represent it.

2) Cleveland Museum of Art. Punk Rock Jeff, a Cleveland native, says it's world class and free. It's been under radical remodeling construction since we moved here. Hope it gets finished someday soon...

3) Museum of Contemporary Art (Cleveland). Kory says its decent. I don't understand art, and usually anything labelled specifically as "contemporary" makes me giggle.

4) Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Okay, so I like "boring" things, but I always liked the Field Museum in Chicago.

5) Akron Art Museum. It's never, ever been open since we've lived here since it's being remodeled. Sucks.

6) The National Inventors Hall of Fame. It sounds really lame, but it's in downtown Akron.

7) Jacobs' Field. Home of the Indians (baseball) in Cleveland. I live within 45 minutes of a major league ballpark and I've not been! The eight-(and nine-, 10-... well, all the way through 23-)year-old version of myself would want to kick my ass right now.

8) Pro Football Hall of Fame. Before I worked at the Stark Campus and before we found a Red Robin location there, we didn't know that anything else existed in Canton.

Pictures I want to Take:

1) Amy and I overlooking the city from the park on north hill (the view roughly shown at the top of this blog). Preferably with a blimp in the air.

2) Us with the odd "FREE" stamp public art in Cleveland. And maybe Public Square.

3) The "AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON AKRON" bridge on I-77. You know how most cities have some sort of public pride bridge they decorate? Akron's just says "AKRON" ten times.

4) The <-> sign that's been coverted to a Batman symbol on Merriman.

5) The neon church signs on Arlington (at I-277 I think) and at I-76 and Market.

6) A picture, somewhere, in the Goodyear World of Rubber, an amazingly corny museum where cameras are not allowed.

7) A picture of Ernest Angley's televangelist complex (complete with the unfinished rotating restaurant) and, if possible, from somewhere inside of it.

8) Us with the lifesized X-Fighter model at Mike's Place in Kent.

9) Oh, and every random "Akron" historic pride sign that peppers downtown. Apparently Sojourner Truth led a rally at a site that is now an ugly building, and there were worker rallies on the site of the tiny little convention center.

Experiences:

1) Ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad

2) "Ride" a blanket on "Blanket Hill" in Kent (pending Amy's approval).

3) Eat at the Tangier, a creepy but interesting looking place in west Akron.

4) Eat at one of the really good looking places over on West Market in Highland Square.

5) Canoe the Cuyahoga. Not the whole thing, duh.

6) Bike (most of?) the Towpath.

7) Watch Bob Saget when he brings his comedy to Kent State on the 12th of April!

8) Visit the Columbus Zoo, a Blue Jackets (hockey) and Crew (soccer) game. Columbus, so far as I can tell, is only good for the zoo and having franchises of two relatively obscure (hockey being the "fourth" major by a mile, and soccer not even on the map of US sports) professional sports. Otherwise, it's a really boring version of Indianapolis that has an Ohio State obsession.

9) Attend a Kent State-Akron rivalry game in either football or basketball (preferably at the Rubber Bowl or whatever the Akron arena is since I've been to Kent's stadium and arena). My plans for these events the past two years have been vetoed.

10) Attend a Cavaliers game to see Lebron James play in person. NBA games are annoying, generally, but I did see Michael Jordan in person and he was larger than life. Then, he beat up Reggie Miller (my hero [and every other young boy's in Indiana] at that time) and Reggie got thrown out. Bullshit.

11) Eat on a boat in the Cuyahoga River. They've got fancy-schmancy little dinner cruises.

12) Attend a concert at the House of Blues in Cleveland.

13) Hit a couple more vegetarian joints in Cleveland.

14) Attend a bar during an Ohio State football game and openly and loudly root for the other team.

15) Attend a women's professional softball game. Yes, Akron has a team.

16) Hike a bunch of the trails in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

17) Do the Fall Hiking Spree in Akron again and add another seal to our sticks.

Places I Want to Travel To Since NE Ohio is a Convenient Base:

1) New England and the maritime provinces of Canada. A pile of new states and things to see.

2) New York City. Sadly, I've never been. Honestly, it frightens me.

3) Philadelphia, New Jersey and Delaware. A new city and two new states.

4) The Warhol Museum and PNC Park in Pittsburgh. And maybe a Penguins game.

5) The Hershey Plant in Pennsylvania and the Johnstown Flood Memorial.

6) West Virginia, for maybe camping.

Okay, so I won't probably do all of these things, or maybe not even half of these things. But, I guess I've got to have goals. I guess almost all of them are at least experiential in nature, so it's not a lot of crap I'm buying or anything.

Then again, in that vein, I really am anxious to clean out the garage and basement and sell/give-away/donate almost all of that crap. I'm sick of having so much junk

The good news is, we did a lot of work today on "spring cleaning." The weather was absolutely amazing so we opened all of the windows and doors, aired out the house and cleaned some rooms. Amy cleaned the turds out of the yard after I made her a deal (I did laundry, took out the trash, and cleaned the bird cages and have a floating promise to clean the office).

It's quite possible that we'll have a vaccuum on Friday, and maybe even a dryer.

Wouldn't that be nice?

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