As soon as I found out that a total solar eclipse was going to happen two days after my birthday this year, I knew that I wanted a birthday weekend in the path of totality! And, fortunately, one of my best friends lives in Cleveland, Ohio, which meant that I could make this dream a reality! I had such an incredible time exploring Cleveland and getting to see the eclipse, and I’m so excited to share this experience because it was a highlight of my year, so far!
While this post will not include all the Cleveland highlights, it will definitely mention a few of my favorites, and I hope to write more posts in the future about visiting Cleveland and Cuyahoga National Park.
On the Road and Dinner at Fat Head’s Brewery
We started our drive on a cool spring afternoon. It wasn’t warm yet, but the snow was still a surprise as we crossed into Ohio (on side roads to avoid tolls). It was a scenic drive though with snow falling gently over the farm land. The drive to Cleveland is long and not very exciting, so there’s not much else to say about that other than to note that our excitement was already high as we anticipated the weekend to come.
Upon arriving in Cleveland and meeting up with friends, we headed to dinner at Fat Head’s Brewery. This was much more a family sit-down restaurant than I expected for a brewery, but they had very good food that explained the phenomenon. I didn’t try any beer, but I did love the Smokehouse Nachos I had! The toppings on these were unique and worked together better than I expected. They included house-made cheese sauce, chicken thighs, black bean and corn salsa, pickled red onion, and optional sour cream. I really wasn’t sure about the pickled onion but ended up loving how the acidity balanced out the rich cheese and chicken flavors. It made for an excellent plate of nachos that was filling but balanced enough that I didn’t feel too stuffed after eating it. So yeah, basically, I would recommend Fat Heads and their nachos!
The Museum of Contemporary Art (plus coffee and burritos!)
For my actual birthday on Saturday, we had a packed and incredible day! We started off the morning with coffee from Roasted, which has such relaxed, fun energy that I would spend hours there if I actually lived nearby! With fun 70s decor, comfy seating options, and a variety of board games and DIY projects, you could easily spend a morning just hanging out here. Also their drinks were delicious! With cherry blossoms in bloom and the eclipse just days away, they had several themed drinks, but I got and enjoyed my standard chai, while sampling the themed drinks that my friends chose.
Following coffee, we headed to the one destination that I insisted on: moCa Cleveland (The Museum of Contemporary Art). I’d actually visited Cleveland in February as well on a field trip with one of my classes and on that visit went to the Cleveland Museum of Art and moCa. The regular Cleveland Museum of Art is impressive and definitely worth a visit if you have time, but I was obsessed with the current exhibits at moCa and knew that I wanted to bring my friends there because they would also love them! This spring, moCa had three incredible exhibits: SCRD GRDN featuring massive collaborative paintings that are at once gothic and futuristic; Exist, Flourish, Evolve, which showed a number of artworks relating to the Great Lakes (including the one above); and Flowers from the Wreckage, a career retrospective of the artist Manabu Ikeda. I had never heard of Ikeda before seeing this exhibit in February, but he has since become one of my favorite contemporary artists. His work is detailed and gorgeous, at once somber and fanciful. I was completely blown away by his art, especially the title piece, Flowers from the Wreckage.
I was so happy to share these exhibits with my friends and see them fall in love with this art too! moCa Cleveland also has a dedicated art-making space for guests, so we had fun hanging out there together and creating out own little works of art inspired by the exhibitions. If you’re inclined to visit moCa Cleveland on your next visit to the city, admission is free, so you really have no excuse to skip it!
For lunch, we headed to Barrio, a favorite of my friends who live locally. I was excited to try it since I’d heard many good things, and the food did not disappoint! Barrio primarily serves tacos, and with lots of topping options, you place your order by filling out one (or more) of the sheets in the picture above. Like taking a multiple choice test in school, you fill in the bubbles for whatever you want, hand the papers to your waiter, and eventually tacos appear with all your customizations! It was a fun way to order, and the tacos themselves were delicious! We also enjoyed guacamole, queso, and salsa while waiting for our food, all of which were exemplary. Definitely another restaurant that I would recommend in Cleveland!
Akron Cherry Blossom Festival
Our last (and longest) stop of the day was the Akron Cherry Blossom Festival. While not technically in Cleveland, it’s close enough that there were a lot of Cleveland residents there, and it was absolutely worth the short drive away from the city! With a variety of food trucks, artisan stands, and events, there was plenty to do here while enjoying the beautiful cherry trees! We started out by walking around and seeing what the various stalls had on display. One of the most interesting was definitely the local bonsai association, who brought several incredible trees to show. I personally find bonsai trees so fascinating and love getting to see them up close, so this was a really cool thing to stumble upon.
We then headed to another part of the festival to see a traditional tea ceremony. The women hosting it explained each detail and why certain things are done the way they are. Though it was a bit hard to see with the crowd, it was still really interesting to learn about. And the best part was definitely the free sample at the end! I had never had matcha tea before and was under the impression that it was very bitter, so I appreciated learning that you are actually supposed to have it with a sweet treat that then adds sugar to your mouth and sweetens the drink. And sure enough when I tried my cup of matcha with the pastry I was given, it was incredible! So now I’m considering getting my own kit to grind and serve match at home!
We returned to the main part of the festival after that to catch the last two shows of traditional dancing and drumming. Both of these were stunning, and because we were there in the evening as the festival came to a close, we easily snagged front row seats to watch the performances. We also sampled a few dishes from the food trucks, though we were unfortunately too late to get any mooncakes, which had sold out earlier in the day. Though I was definitely getting a bit chilly by the time we left the festival, every moment of it was beautiful, and I would do it again – although I would probably remember a jacket next time!
If you happen to be in the area while the festival is happening, I would 100% suggest going – or maybe even planning an entire trip around the festival as I will likely do next year!
A Day to Rest (and visit Loganberry Books)
The next day was our chance to rest and just hang out together during the weekend. While we mostly stayed around the house (traffic was increasing the closer we got to the eclipse), we did venture out for another cool stop in the Cleveland area: Loganberry Books! This was a stunningly beautiful bookstore – and also much bigger than it appeared from the street. It had a substantial collection of both new and used books – and even a rare books room in the back! I found a few that I could enjoy, but I was especially excited by the foreign language section where I was able to pick up a couple French novels!
Even just exploring and wandering around this bookstore was a treat, and I could have spent even longer there! They also had a few comfortable chairs where you could sit and flip through a book or two. I love a good bookstore, so this was a very good place to bring me! And I managed to walk away with only three books!
Eclipse Day
Finally it was the day of the eclipse. Traffic was pretty terrible at this point because of all the people who, like me, wanted to be in the path of totality. We had originally talked about going to one of the places that was having a special event for the day but decided it would be better to skip the stress of driving and just enjoy it from the backyard. We slipped out early in the day for breakfast at a nearby diner and then it was back to the house to prep a few snacks and spend the afternoon waiting for the sun to disappear.
It was remarkably warm, unlike the rest of the weekend had been, so it was nice to just hang out in the sunshine for a while. Every so often, we would put on our glasses to check how much of the sun had disappeared, getting more and more excited the closer we got to the peak. As the time approached, we could feel the temperature drop and notice the light slowly fading to an eerie twilight. But when the sun fully disappeared, there was no mistaking it as the light and temperature changed dramatically in seconds. The birds that had been chirping went silent, even as we heard excited cries from all the people who, just like us, were standing in their yards to watch. One of the dogs outside with us got anxious and had to go inside, but the rest of us stayed out there, looking up in awe. It was an incredible experience and one that I will never forget! I can understand why some people go eclipse-chasing, and I’m definitely tempted to seek out another total eclipse in the future! But it was really so wonderful to share this amazing experience with friends as the culmination of an amazing weekend!
A Final Stop in Cambridge, OH
We left soon after totality ended, hoping to beat some of the traffic out of the city. As we took side roads to avoid the interstates for a while, we had none of the predicted problems until after we stopped for dinner and the traffic caught up with us. But stopping wad a good choice since we got to check out the little town of Cambridge, Ohio! This was a cute little small town that we had never heard of – which is our favorite kind of small town to visit! We had a delicious dinner at Theo’s Restaurant, which is a family restaurant opened in 1931. It was a fun little evening stop where we could have a great meal and stretch our legs before finishing the rest of the drive home after an amazing weekend!
Final Thoughts
I’ve loved slowly getting to explore more of Cleveland on short trips there, and this was the best trip yet! It was a truly magical weekend with the cherry blossom and solar eclipse, and I loved spending time with friends and getting to enjoy all of this with them! Eventually, I hope to write a more lengthy post about visiting Cleveland, but if you’re able to visit for a combination cherry blossom festival and solar eclipse, I would definitely recommend that!
Wonderlust Wanderings 