Day 1, Cleveland, OH

Our vacation started with a 3:00am wake up call. After finishing off as many leftovers as we could manage we made our 7 hour drive to Cleveland. Our first stop was the Great Lake Science Center. With 3 levels of hands-on experiments, we explored everything from plasma balls to water vortexes to smoke generators. We also had the opportunity to watch the movie Galapagos in the Omnimax theater, where we learned about the research scientists are gathering in order to continue the work of Darwin's theory of evolution. The last thing we did before we left was the Center's new Darwin exhibit, where Jessie had a little trouble following the clearly marked path. Seeing her almost walk through doors that would have surely set off an alarm was nearly worth the entrance fee itself.

Since we wouldn't have been able to check into our hotel right away, we decided to make our way over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The first thing we saw was Johnny Cash's tour bus. I was so excited, I walked right past it. We didn't have enough time to make a day out of this museum, so we decided to see how much we could access without paying for an entrance ticket. I will be the first to tell you that the Hall of Fame had some of the whitest walls I'd ever seen in my life. So to summarize in two words: WORTH IT.

Our next stop was our fabulous hotel room, where we were greeted with unmade beds and a very distinct smell. Luckily, we were upgraded to a nicer corner room with a much bigger bathroom. But with daylight remaining and 1/3 of our family wanting to hike, it only made sense to head out to Cuyahoga National Park while we still could. It was a nice park that had trails leading through caves and ledges, which we really enjoyed. We stayed for about an hour, trying to take as many decent pictures as we could with the dwindling sunlight, before grabbing a bite to eat at a local Mexican restaurant. The food was tasty but we had filled up on chips and salsa so fast we didn't have much room left for the main course. To end the day we made our way back to our hotel, spending the rest of the night watching 30 Rock and Conan O'Brian.