Cleveland Rocks!

Our final stop on our whirlwind Labor Day travel bonanza was beautiful Cleveland, Ohio. Shockingly, this was our second trip to the Cleve this summer, and our experience made getting around the city easier. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice downtown Cleveland is, with interesting architecture, happening nightlife in the warehouse district, and interesting attractions and sights to see.

Having visiting Cleveland's most popular attraction (more on that later), we chose to branch out and see something new - the Great Lakes Science Center. Embracing our inner children, we went through nearly all of the museum's activities, trying our hand at conducting electricity, testing the laws of physics (and nearly getting sick from all the spinning), and attempted to learn more about the unique weather of the Great Lakes region, but that area was closed. After learning we were too old to enjoy the Polymer Funhouse, we decided to take in a flick at the Omnimax, the museum's six-story tall, domed Imax theater. With "Galápagos," we took a journey with marine biologists as they delve deep into the largely unknown waters surrounding the volcanic archipelago. Galápagos explores the natural wonders of a realm of which Darwin only scraped the surface. Wait... what was that you said? I thought Darwin was going to be wholly absent from this road trip...

Nope, there he is. Turns out that the Science Center actually had an entire exhibit dedicated to the naturalist who came up with those pesky theories called "evolution" and "natural selection." After spending most of Saturday at the Creation Museum discovering how God's word trumps human reason, you better believe we paid the extra $2 to see what good ole Charlie had to say.

The first display cases contained a large number of intact skeletons. It was particularly amazing to see that when you strip away all of the external layers of skin, hair, etc., the skeletons of animals as disparate as an ocelot, domestic cat, bulldog, dolphin, snake, and the monkey showed above are more similar than you might think.

The special exhibit detailed Darwin's life, explaining how he became the naturalist we all know him to be. Most interesting were tales from the five year expedition he took on the HMS Beagle. Particularly striking, however, was the surprising image of this naturalist, dedicated to exploring and discovering new species, often ate said species. Entirely fearless, Darwin tried everything that crossed his path. He cheerfully sampled iguanas, declaring "these lizards, when cooked, yield a white meat, which is liked by those whose stomachs soar above all prejudices." Interestingly enough, his strange culinary experiments sometimes worked against him. Darwin had been searching for two different types of rhea, a flightless bird native to South America. Having found several examples of the larger, greater rhea, Darwin failed to find the more elusive lesser rhea. One night, after stopping in Port Desire on the coast of Argentina, the ship's artist shot a small rhea. Thinking it was simply a young greater rhea, Darwin and the rest of the crew sat down to feast. Halfway through the meal, Darwin realized his mistake: this was in fact the lesser rhea he had been searching for! "It was cooked and eaten before my memory returned. Fortunately the head, neck, legs, wings, many of the large feathers, and a large part of the skin, had been preserved. From these a very nearly perfect specimen has been put together." Even so, Charlie, maybe you should stop eating your findings!

It seems that the curators of the exhibit couldn't resist just one crack at those wacky creationists. The last sign read: "Creationism, including intelligent design, does not offer a scientific alternative to the theory of evolution. By invoking the act of a Creator or intelligent designer as the explanation of life's diversity, creationism invokes a cause that lies outside our powers of observation and thus outside the realm of scientific inquiry. Boo yah.

After finishing up with Mr. Darwin, we headed back over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Having just visited earlier this summer, we decided not to go through the exhibit again, instead simply attempting the overly crowded and disappointing gift shop.

All around Cleveland one can find elaborately decorated guitars, just like this one. This happened to have brought out on display in the lobby of the museum in honor of Michael Jackson.

We randomly happened upon the Cleveland National Air Show, going on all weekend at the lakefront airport. Since both the science center and the Rock Hall are right next to Burke Lakefront Airport, we managed to spy some pretty awesome aerial stunts, including one from this huge cargo plane.
... and these six jets...
After leaving the lakefront, we headed back downtown for the Taste of Cleveland food bonanza. On the way, we came upon this statue, which seemed to be a memorial of some sort.
We also happened upon the Free Stamp in Willard Park.
The Taste of Cleveland was... tasty... Located at the Time Warner Amphitheatre right on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, it provided lovely views of the city.

One of the many, many bridges along Cleveland's stretch of the Cuyahoga River. Even if this "river that caught fire" seemed perfectly serene, we more than welcome the chance to escape Ohio and head on home to Maryland.