Of course we chose to go through West Virginia! West Virginia, in this area, is no more than 5 miles wide...at best. And the drive between Pittsburgh and Canton was only 10 miles longer going this way...and it's a fun side adventure. So we drove to Chester, WV and had breakfast there. Chester also happens to be home to the World's Largest Teapot...a tourist hotspot to be sure!
After breakfast in Chester, WV, it was on to Canton, OH! Canton is the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
If I had to pick one thing that was the overriding best part of my trip (and believe me, its hard, we did so much cool stuff!), the Pro Football Hall of Fame would have to be it. I was pretty much in heaven. The first room in the Hall of Fame is a tribute to the history of football. It walks you through its beginnings, to Jim Thorpe, to the NFL and AFL forming, to the merger, then to the modern day game, with tributes to the 70s Steelers, the 72 Perfect Dolphins, the 80s Niners and Bears, the 90s Cowboys, and to the great players. There's so much history in there that the first room could take hours to get through...it's that interesting.
The next room was an informational room for all 32 teams in the NFL today. They had a setup for each team with logo and colors, and then just loads of information on them: when they were formed, when they joined the NFL, who's in the Hall of Fame from that team, Championships, history, etc. It's pretty awesome, actually. Also in that room are the NFC and AFC Championship Trophies. And that room leads directly into the Hall of Fame itself. When a player is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a bust is made of the person from the shoulders (or so) up. That is what is on display. The player also gets a gold jacket. This was just fascinating, to see the likenesses of all the former greats who are now enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I took loads of pictures of various interesting busts, but here is my favorite...the best QB of all time:
Awesome! Also on display were the empty shelves waiting for the busts of this year's Hall of Fame class (we were there like two weeks before the induction ceremony)...which includes greatest receiver of all time Jerry Rice. After that there's some more rooms. There's a gallary of modern day football with some artifacts from modern players who broke records (some Favre stuff, Tomlinson's shoes and gloves from the TD record, etc). The Super Bowl gallery is pretty awesome...it has info on all the super bowls, and also on display is the Lombardi Trophy, which is gorgeous! After touring the Hall of Fame, you can go next door and tour the Hall of Fame field. This field, for most of the year, just hosts local high school football games. But once a year, the day after induction, an exhibition game is played on this field. You will see it this year on Sunday August 8. I got to play some catch with a football on this field during the tour, and that was pretty cool. Then went up into the stands to take some pictures.
Watch the game on Sunday...you'll recognize the field from the picture above. Yeah, that's right, I hung out on the same field that Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco will be playing on this coming weekend! Boo-yah!
After we had our Hall of Fame fill, it was time to continue on our trek. Dustin has this thing where he's trying to get to every National Park in the country. An ambitious task, to be sure. But between Akron, OH and Cleveland, OH there happens to be a very tiny one: Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And in this Park there is a waterfall. It's pretty. See...
So we knocked that out, and then continued on to Cleveland (with a stop at White Castle for lunch). Cleveland is not exactly a big city. It has a few points of interest, though. It has two big buildings. It has the most depressing sports history of any city ever. And it has the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
You are not allowed to take pictures in the Hall of Fame, because musicians are picky like that. So I had to check my camera and then we went in. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was pretty cool. They had guitars from various people, and outfits they wore on stage. They had original handwritten lyrics to famous songs...my favorite being We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel. Then there's a cool video package of all the Hall of Fame inductees, year by year. All in all it's a pretty cool museum. Lots of rock history. Not as cool as the Football Hall of Fame, but definately worth seeing.
After the Hall of Fame, it was about time to head on up to the game. Progressive Field is about 5 blocks up from the Hall of Fame (which is right on the lakeshore). So it was a short walk from the parking garage. The stadium was pretty cool. There was a statue of Bob Feller out front. Our seats were behind home plate, a few rows up in the highest level. Not too bad...gave a good look of the field.
The one thing about Indians games that I enjoyed was how hard they worked to make it an enjoyable in game experience for the patrons. They had interesting things going on pretty much every half inning, between some pizza throwing contest, and throwing a pie at a Yankees fan, and then hot dog races. Pretty awesome. Its hard to explain, but more so than any other stadium, I just really enjoyed being at the Indians game. It was a really good time.
The Yankees won (boo), but A-rod did not hit his 600th HR (yay!...although he has now since hit it...boo). And, all in all, I really enjoyed my experience at Progressive Field. After the game we jumped in the car and drove an hour to Huron, OH, where our Motel 6 awaited us. This had to be the nicest Hotel 6 ever. Like seriously, I've stayed in worse looking 4 star hotels. It was amazing. And it provided a nice night's sleep before a big day of roller coaster riding at Cedar Point.
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