When looking at places for your next family vacation, a trip to the midwest and visiting Cleveland, Ohio, may just be what your family is looking for...
Located on the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland offers a multitude of recreational activities and special events throughout the year. Families can choose cultural, historical, or just plain fun places to visit.
The city is very diverse and actually divided into several sections: the Flats Entertainment District, Historic Warehouse District, Theater District, University Circle, and Tower City District.
Cleveland's Alan Freed was credited with coming up with the name "Rock n' Roll" in 1952 and Cleveland now hosts the nation's Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame museum. What you'll find handy about visiting Cleveland is that many of the locations you'll want to visit are actually grouped together. Since these groupings make several locations within walking distance, it's easy to plan to visit more than one location per day. |
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For example, the Great Lakes Science Center is located right next door to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Although you can probably get through the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in a couple of hours, the Great Lakes Science Center is one Cleveland attraction where you'll want to spend a lot of time. This is a "must see" for families with school-aged children... exhibit after exhibit of hands-on fun. |
The Cleveland Natural History Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and Cleveland Botanical Gardens are also grouped together in University Circle, but visiting all three in one day would be difficult. Leave yourself plenty of time to see the Cleveland Museum of Art. Established in 1913, this is an internationally recognized museum and has everything from Renaissance armor and ancient Egyptian pieces to masterpieces by Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, and Degas. |
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Another fun and relatively quick place to visit is the U.S.S. Cod. This 1943 submarine, was one of the subs that fought the Japanese in the South Pacific during WWII. It's even credited with sinking the Japanese destroyer, Karukaya. It's a real history lesson for both kids and grown-ups. |
Now, if you're visiting a city like Cleveland that's right on a lake, then at least one attraction you visit should be on a lake. Right? Anyway, we chose and recommend "The Nautica Queen." The Nautica Queen is a luxury cruise/dining ship that tours you around Lake Erie for 2-3 hours depending on which cruise you take. The kids really enjoyed this one. |
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Another fun excursion is to Jacob's Field... home of the Cleveland Indians. If you make it over to Jacob's field for a baseball game, make sure you try some Johnny Applestix! Yum! This culinary vice of fried apples slices with assorted dips is exclusive to this location and boy are they good. After over-indulging in Johnny Applestix, a nice outdoor activity may be in order for the next day and Cleveland Metroparks has plenty of outdoors... |
The Cleveland Metroparks has 20,000 acres for walking, hiking, swimming, picnicking, and golfing. There are even ice toboggan shoots available in the winter. Cleveland Metroparks is enormous and a great place for nature lovers or just a quiet, peaceful afternoon. Cleveland Metroparks also has naturalist led programs and nature centers, so check their calendar before you go. |
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Within Cleveland Metroparks is the Cleveland Metropark Zoo. The Cleveland Metropark Zoo is the 7th oldest zoo in the country. There are many exhibits and the animals live in very indigenous looking settings. Some of the outstanding highlights are the Wolf Wilderness, Australian Adventure, and Rainforest exhibits. The elephants at the Cleveland Metropark Zoo even moonlight as artists by creating paintings. They have artwork for sale and have also participated in customizing one of the cities famed guitar sculptures which is displayed at the zoo's entrance. |
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