Taking a Road Trip to Cleveland with the Kids

It was a beautiful summer and my husband wanted to go to Cleveland to see a baseball game. We planned our two hour drive the day before and were excited about getting away for the weekend.

We left on Friday after work and drove to Cleveland. The girls had to sit behind the parent they liked the best and fought like dogs and cats if one of them sat in the wrong seat. We had the games and stuffed animals and anything that would give us a semi-quiet ride. The radio was blaring in the front with my husband's Elvis tapes.

We finally got to Cleveland and went to a burger place to get some food. We sat down to eat our meal and talked about the motel we would be staying in, when to our dismay, our youngest daughter threw up all over the floor. Well, with forty people looking on and dinner not finished we tried to clean her and the mess up. She was fine, but just overtired.

Then we were off to the motel for a very much needed rest. After staying up half the night with a hyperactive older daughter we finally settled down to a fitful sleep.

After breakfast we went down to the motel Putt Putt Golf range. We started to play the game and my youngest daughter did not seem to get the concept of the game. She kept taking the ball and running away with it. But, we all had a good time in spite of her thievery.

We all prepared that afternoon to go to the baseball game. It was a warm windy day and we wore light clothes to suit the weather. We waited in line in anticipation for the game and took in all the atmosphere while waiting.

We were amazed at all the merchandise for sale, but we guided the kids past anything that would tempt them, and finally found our seats.

We were enjoying the game when all of a sudden the wind got stronger, the sky got really dark and it started lightening with heavy rain. The stadium sat close to Lake Erie and did not have a roof on it. We realized that we would never see the end of the game that day so we hurried out of the stadium with the rest of the crowd. We picked up rainchecks and when we finally made it to our car, we were all drenched!

Four very wet people sat in the car waiting for the crowd to leave the stadium. As we had packed our things before we left the motel we headed home. Elvis was playing as we slowly dried out on the ride home. My youngest daughter fell asleep, as did I, and soon we pulled into our driveway.

The trip had been a disaster, but it is a fond memory for me. I remember most the little girl gleefully running away with the golf ball and there are days when I would like to have that time back. There were many other road trips but not to Cleveland. The raincheck expired in the dresser drawer.