* Thursday - We slept in a bit and then went to the Martin House Complex - a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Buffalo. It was pretty, bu then house is in the midst of a gut renovation and we couldn't see much. Then we went to downtown Buffalo and looked at more buildings. We went to the lookout at the top of city hall and H freaked out that I was getting too close to the edge (even thought there was a brick wall and a plexi-glass barrier, you can't jump off if you try). Then we explored some funky parts of town and ate sponge candy. It started raining so we found a mall and went to a movie (Bridesmaids - LOVED it but wished they would have left out the potty humor scene).
* Friday - Left Buffalo and drove south through PA again and into Ohio. We stopped for lunch somewhere approaching Cleveland and got ice cream on our way out. Gag. It was the worst ice cream ever. I can only describe the flavor as "smoked" (as in cigarette smoked). Again, gag. I really, really wanted to go to this house I was at on a girl scout trip in 1993 in Akron. H wasn't thrilled about it because our trip was supposed to focus on modern house tours and this place was a tudor house billed for a family with more money than taste, but I won the argument and we went. We arrived just as the last tour was leaving but I looked sad and they let us join it. The gardens redeemed it for H, so all were happy. Then we drove around downtown Akron to see another building H wanted to see and headed south to Columbus. We ate at a Greek restaurant on the north side of town that had great reviews on Trip Advisor. It did not disappoint. Then we headed to our hotel downtown.
* Saturday - I got into it with the hotel staff when they charged us for valet parking even though we didn't use a valet. They told us that everyone gets charged the same for parking, valet or no. The girl was really snooty and I wanted to punch her in the face. I opted for a much more cowardly eye roll and left in a huff. We found a good place for breakfast and then walked around the OH state campus. H wanted to look for a building that his friend designed but we never found it. But we did find a few girls on walks of shame in their club clothes. Back in the car and headed west we stopped at Ikea in Cincinnati. We spent too much money and bought a medicine cabinet and new light fixture that is too wide and will have to be returned. Then we went on into Indiana and found our hotel and pizza in a different Columbus.
* Sunday - H was intent on finding the spot in the road where his dad was the only surviver of a terrible car accident over 50 years ago. I don't quite understand that but I knew better than to argue. Then we checked in for our tour of an Eero Saarinen house in Columbus that just opened for tours earlier this month. It was glorious. I cried. H thought some of the interiors were cheesy, but I loved every bit of it. Our tour guide was a hoot. I knew we were in trouble when I saw her bejeweled giraffe t-shirt. She admitted that it was her first tour and it showed. She had lots of rules and freaked if anyone looked like they were thinking about stepping off of the throw rug path. She made some mention of the master bedroom being "smaller than what all of us require today." What? The two giant walk-in closets, the adjoining office and huge bathroom I'm pretty sure made up about half of the square footage of our house and we don't have a tiny house. She must have snorted too much giraffe glitter that morning. We explored more of Columbus and then got more ice cream to cleanse our memories from the terrible Ohio ice cream and headed home. Our house was still here but the weeds grew like weeds while we were gone and the cat was desperate for attention (a lady was checking on him, but he always freaks out when the dogs are gone).
It was a great trip. I was afraid we would murder each other in the car for that long but there were only a few times that I was tempted to hurl someone onto the asphalt. And I think we avoided bed bugs even though I was rocking the blind bookings and saving cash the whole way.
I just a friendly gal looking for options.
