Playing & playbooks: Rock 'n' roll, football appeal to tourists in Cleveland

CLEVELAND — Cleveland and the surrounding environs make for an interesting vacation — appealing to the sports enthusiast, the rock 'n' roll fan and, well, even my wife, who is neither.

She loves road trips and long drives in the car. I would rather fly and then rent a car. So on our last little recreational respite we compromised. We flew into Cincinnati (she really wanted to drive all the way from Utah), rented a car and drove the 235 miles to Cleveland.

One day must be spent in Kirtland, if you are interested in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that venture appealed to both me and my wife and our adult son, Michael, who came with us.

On the route from Kirtland back to the hotel in Cleveland, my wife managed to navigate us through a place called Middlefield — a home to the Amish.

Now, I admit this was fascinating, although not so fascinating that it caused us to skip the baseball game between the Indians and the Angels that night.

The Amish road signs caught my attention immediately. Regulation caution signs warned about watching for horses and buggies. A stop sign read: "WHOA." (Once, on a road trip between Memphis to Mississippi, I spied a transportation department sign read: "Speed Limit: Cars 40 mph and Horses 10 mph.")

We passed Amish houses where the Amish were cooking their evening meals over open fires in their backyards. We ate at a restaurant that featured Amish food. It was delicious.

The local Walmart was filled with so many Amish that it had a parking garage for horse and buggies next to it. We saw one family with a McDonald's meal on their laps in their buggy. My wife would not allow me to take a photo. Nor would she hear of my idea to bribe the family to return to McDonald's and let me take a picture of them going through the drive-through.

Also worth seeing in Ohio is Chagrin Falls. A beautiful, serene waterfall, with quaint tourist shops, beckons tourists. The falls, Middlefield and Kirtland are all within 50 miles of Cleveland, so the journey is not too long.

The next day it was on to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Motown, baby! I love the Motown sound, but living mainly in the West, there were several Motowners in the hall that I didn't know.

And the Beach Boys? They were members, but there was very little about them. The top two floors were devoted exclusively to Bruce Springsteen. The Beatles and Rolling Stones.

Disc jockey Alan Freed began his career in Cleveland where he is attributed with coining the phrase "rock 'n' roll."

I could have spent all day there, but four or five hours were sufficient for my wife and son.