Spring Break to Cleveland

 We turned the whole concept of Spring Break upside down and went up to Cleveland. The weather wasn’t awesome but it all worked out well enough and we had a great time.

We stayed at a VRBO

We played games. (If you have ever played Forbidden Island you can see how narrowly we won that game.)

And we had a group coloring project to get ready for Easter

The first place we visited was Kirtland. This is the site of the first temple of our church. It is more of a historic place at this point, but it was wonderful to see it. This was really the reason for coming to Ohio.

The Whitney store was Joseph Smith's home for a while and temporary HQ for the church.

These pulpits are located inside the temple. 

This was Joseph's office in the John Johnson home. This was where Joseph and Sidney had some important revelations like the knowledge that almost everyone will be saved in a degree of glory.

It was a special place with a special spirit.

We went out for some Cleveland special meals. In the foreground is a Polish Boy, a foot long kielbasa covered with coleslaw and French fries and two kinds of barbecue sauce. In the back you can see Grant with his glazed donut burger. 

The place was literally called, "No Forks." It was a bit of mess.  

The next day we toured Cleveland, like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

And the Harbor on Lake Erie

The weather was cool and windy, but we dodged all the rain. 

We toured the WWII submarine USS Cod

That evening we went to the Cleveland Art Museum. It was a great Museum. They have great exhibits and they happened to have live chamber choir singing in the background.

We also went to a concert. Yagody is a Ukrainian folk music group. They put on a great show and I was personally interested to experience some Ukrainian culture. 

The next day we went hiking in Cuyahoga Valley National park.

We did the Ledges trail

And we hiked to Brandywine Falls. It was a muddy but the falls were powerful after all the rain. 

And the crowning gem of the whole trip was a stop to visit my Grandma McConnell in Pittsburgh. We went out to lunch together. 

Bill and Terry were also visiting Grandma and we got to all spend some time together. It was a great visit with family and a perfect way to end our week.