Ohio: Columbus to Cleveland

I don't really remember why we decided to go to Cleveland for Thanksgiving. Anyway, let's go to  Cleveland for Thanksgiving!

We left on Wednesday after work and got as far as Indianapolis, IN.  We didn't really do anything other than fart around in the Airbnb. We always get a hoot out of how much of the Airbnbs' furniture we recognize from IKEA.

The light in the kitchen could have doubled as a tanning bed.

I think cabin fever must have set in because Lydia was losing it while reading the guestbook. What sort of person reads the guestbook anyway?

Losing it.

Lost it.

Brandon has a pretty pink suitcase. I didn't have to even look inside to know that this was full of baby dolls.

Our friend Svetlana lives in Indianapolis so we made plans to meet her at Metro Diner. Apparently it's a chain. And we went to the wrong one. The other one was so far away that we just said screw it and had some breakfast.

We found Ohio right where we expected it to be, which was nice.

We passed Columbus, Ohio and I wanted to stop, take a peek, and stretch my legs. Lydia was all "everything will be closed it's Thanksgiving wah wah". We stopped in Columbus.

And we didn't even have to pay the meter! In yo face Lydia! Hahaha!

The Ohio Statehouse looks kind of weird. Like they ran out of money for the dome at the end and just made it flat on top. It's a pretty old one, built between 1839 and 1861.

Ok, so it was closed, but it did have cool door handles.

Then we drove the rest of the way to Cleveland.

Cleveland and environs have a solid craft beer scene so I was excited to punch up Thanksgiving a little with some strange and exciting brews. We found a gas station which ended up being beer Nirvana.

I'm not embarrassed to admit I bought this one just because the label referenced one of my favorite movies: Donnie Darko. Ok, it was made in Michigan but who cares. Close enough. The label was nice and creepy:

"95 Days… 23 Hours… 14 Minutes… 38 Seconds… 

That is when the batch will be ready.

And when it is, we can breathe a sigh of relief because there will be so much dark fruit cider to look forward to.

The one in the Stupid Man Suit must complete the batch and return the tank to the Primary Universe where it belongs.

Do not doubt his commitment to fermentation. The bottling day is coming and the world is counting on him.

What is the point of living if you don’t have a bottle?

B. AFRAID OF THE DARK"

The Airbnb was nice and homey, and was a good setting for a little Thanksgiving dinner.

There were some medieval looking chalices that were perfect for my fancy hard cider with balaton cherry, raspberry, and black currant.

Dinner turned out pretty awesome.

Ok, this one was legitimately from Cleveland, and it was made with spruce tips! So holiday festive!

"Spruce tips possess many of the same aromas and flavors as hops, but also have a pleasant citrusy pine not unique to themselves. We used a blend of spruce tips and hops in this seasonal beer to yield a balance between tropical hop goodness and piney dankness."

Then it was food coma on the couch time. A Thanksgiving tradition.

Our Airbnb was nestled in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, only a couple of blocks away from the house they used in the 1983 film A Christmas Story. So I procured the film for our viewing pleasure.

Lots of Bats Live in Austin, Texas

Ah, Austin, Texas. What a place. It was interesting to me because of how liberal it seemed compared to how conservative the state is supposed to be. Before this trip I had obviously heard of Austin, Houston, and San Antonio but I had no idea how they were different. Well that was about to change.

We decided to walk from our hotel to get some lunch because we figured it would be hard to park downtown on a Wednesday at lunch time. It was really, really hot outside. Texas is hot. We had some BBQ at Iron Works first thing. Luckily they had one of those giant industrial fans inside to make eating bearable.

Texas has their own cheapy PBR-like beer: Lone Star. Coincidence would have it that it's also owned by Pabst.

State capitals are such a nice place for a tourist. There's always plenty of free history to experience in the form of state buildings. To the capitol!

Turns out Texas is pretty obsessed with stars.

Texas also seems pretty enamored with the fact that it's been part of six different countries: the US, the Confederacy, Mexico, Spain, France, and the Republic of Texas. If you ask me it's nothing to brag about. Seems more like a dirty doorknob where everyone gets a turn. I doubt Belgium is so proud about getting invaded left and right.

Did you know that Texas being passed around like a church collection plate is where the amusement park Six Flags got it's name?

And don't get me started with the whole "we were our own country" bragging crap. That delicious Lone Star beer I had earlier? Its slogan is "the national beer of Texas". Very cute. I've never encountered a state with so many stupid tag lines. Billboards with "don't mess with Texas" and "blah blah is bigger in Texas" were everywhere. The truth is that Texas was its own country for 10 years because the US didn't want it. Some of us still don't. Zing! I enjoyed my time in Texas I'm just not a fan of all the trash talk. Moving on...

David Crockett, king of the wild frontier.

Next we learned even more about Texas at the state history museum.

I learned all about oil.

There was a special exhibit on the 60s which we enjoyed. I think Mad Men in particular has stoked a lot of interest in the decade.

Lydia practicing election fraud.

We went to the Congress Bridge right before dusk in order to see an epic number of bats swarm from their homes under the bridge. I thought this was going to be some obscure locals-only event but there were a ton of people laid out on a big grassy field waiting for the bats. We decided that we might get a better vantage point from on top of the bridge itself.

This guy was amusing. He was a drumming street performer who used this guard rail as one of his instruments. I still didn't give him any money, but I thought it was cool.

There were so many of them moving so fast plus low light levels made it pretty much impossible to get any decent pictures. You can just make out some of their buzzy little shadows on the left side of this picture. But it was really impressive to see. There was a continuous, blurry ribbon of bats just pouring out from under the bridge and over the river. They just kept coming and coming, and it went on so long that we left our vantage point to give other onlookers a chance to use our spot. Very wild!

It was a bit like trying to take a picture of a swarm of bees in the dark. 

 Next we headed to Pinballz Arcade, which is by far the most comprehensive pinball place that I have ever encountered. I couldn't think of a single machine that was absent. Part of the reason that we went is to scope out some ideas for my hypothetical business on the square in downtown Neosho. I would love to have a pinball bar but I think it needs to have some sort of lunch food in order to draw in the daytime county employee crowd. On the other hand, cooking is a pain.

I think it's cool when places make decorations out of old broken machines. They'd probably just end up in the trash otherwise. The early pinball machines are nice to look at but they are just torture to play.

We ended the night with a saunter up and down 6th street. It was sort of a Beale Street sort of place, with lots of flashy bars and clubs with aggressive barkers out front pestering you to come in.