By Christine Tibbetts
CNHI News Service

Fresh veggies from the back yard, or a Ritz Carlton weekend? Hmm. Tough decision? Take both – together --if you go to Cleveland, Ohio.

Sleep and stay in luxury, plus stroll the aisles of the West Side Market with the Ritz Carlton chef, selecting items for your dinner.

Surprises like that pop up all around Cleveland. Forget what you think you know about steel mills and the past. Allow today’s wonders to fill your visit.

I ended up in Cleveland because of a conference but had I been paying attention, I’d have gone sooner for specific entertainment.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I knew about; the rest was discovery. Very fun family science center. Art museum. Symphony orchestra with an opulent performance hall. Baseball park. Theater district. Amusement park.

We’re a cynical nation these days about surveys, wondering what disclosure is needed about the gathering of the data, but Cleveland ranks so high on so many distinctive destination rankings that I’m inclined to trust them.

Get a Cleveland Plus pass for admission to 10 area attractions plus some discounts. Two-day passes cost $19.95 for seniors.

City passes help narrow the field, point me in the right way when exploring a new place and create the mystique once purchased of getting in free. Sure that’s a mind game, but a good one.

Walk if you like or take the red or green Lolly the Trolley for point-to-point drop-offs as well as one and two hour tours. Cleveland groups itself in districts, so it’s easy to connect with many experiences within a few blocks.

Great Lakes Science Center on Lake Erie is next door to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Browns football stadium, William G. Mather steamship museum, Women’s International Air and Space Museum, a small park for green-space refreshing between sightseeing, the dock for a party boat and a windmill.

Since I stayed at the Doubletree Hotel, I was in view of the great lake and only a block away from these sites, a full day’s delight at least.

Noisy in a happy way is the mood in the Science Center, with families building robots, arranging furniture with computers, watching tornadoes twist, analyzing gigantic bubbles and engaging with at least 400 activities.

Weather’s the story on the lowest of the three levels and more about the great lakes, ice ages and climate change.

In the middle are a fine bookstore and the cafeteria; have a burger if you like but I was delighted to find Moroccan chicken and eggplant with feta cheese. Food all around Cleveland mixes basic and distinctive, familiar and trend setting.

The bio-medical technology gallery mesmerized me on the top floor — all about MRIs, stem cells, DNA — the stuff of health care shared in simple ways that make sense.

Quirky facts too. Like this: “The company that developed the first CT scanner was also in the music business, so the Beatles helped pay for it.”

x x x x

cutline:

Severance Hall is the orchestra’s stunning city home with a grand foyer circled with enticing murals above eye level detailing the development of musical instruments and a concert hall blending art deco, French nouveau and modern.
Christine Tibbetts

Christine Tibbetts writes for The Tifton (Ga.) Gazette. She can be reached at tibbetts1@bellsouth.net. CNHI News Service distributes her column.