McAllister Family Vacation

Cortney and I just got back from a weekend getaway to Cleveland! We had wanted to do this for my birthday, but I was still way too sick for that much excitement. Since Cleveland is only 2 hours away, its a great place to feel like you're on vacation without having to go too far. The Slusser Family has a long history of stopping at cheese factories we pass on road trips. We always go in, try all the cheese, go to the bathroom, and get back in the car for the rest of the journey. We loved the cheese, but I think part of the plan for us stopping at these cheese factories was so we could get a free snack and so our parents could get a break from us fighting in the car. My dad is the most 'thrifty' person I know and looking back on it, although we all enjoyed the free samples, I don't remember my dad ever buying anything at those roadside stands and those are the kinds of things that my brothers and I laugh about all the time now. Anyway, back to the McAllister family vacation...we saw a sign for 'Grandpa's Cheesebarn' and I told Cortney that we needed to stop. We did, we partook, and both decided that we loved cheese factories and needed to continue the tradition of always stopping for them.

Once we got to Cleveland, we went straight for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You could really spend all day in there if you wanted-there is so much to see. We were exhausted after a few hours and decided we were ready to get to our hotel and veg out for the night. One of the many benefits of graduating in Hospitality Management is you have friends that can always get you great deals when you travel! I have quite a few friends that work for Marriott and they can reserve any Marriott hotel in the world for me at half price(and most of the time even more)! We stayed at a Residence Inn for only $45 and the regular rate was $175. I will be so sad if/when my friends leave Marriott and I can't get those discounts anymore. Traveling is so much more fun when it is that much more affordable.

We enjoyed a very lazy morning and made 2 trips down to the free breakfast buffet. Then, we headed over to Kirtland. I went to Kirtland when I was in high school and although I remember going to the church sites, I don't remember too much about the area. Kirtland is such a charming little town! And better yet, there were still tons of fall colors there. We spent an hour just driving into the country because it was so beautiful. So many trees, meadows, cute houses. In my opinion, one of the best things about the midwest are the trees, but I have a lot of appreciation for the pioneers and early settlers of America who had to clear out the trees to make good farmland. And with no power farming equipment! Quite a difficult and enduring task.

I've had a few people ask me about the football culture here, so I'll give you the run down. It's amazing. I consider myself an average sports fan, but the devotion everyone has for the buckeyes here is truly amazing. We live close to a mile away from the Horseshoe (football stadium) and the police shut down all of the streets within a 1 mile radius of the stadium on game day. That entire closed off area is filled to the brim with tailgaters. Every single person- little kids to old grandmas- are covered in red, every one of them wearing a necklace made of buckeyes. They tailgate all day before the game and all day after the game. All of them set up their tents and bring out their bbq's and they play games while they get ready for the game to start. Many of them even bring their satellite dishes and tv's to watch the other games going on that day. I went to the hospital for some IV's the day before a football game and there wasn't a single nurse in the whole hospital not wearing OSU scrubs (this hospital is not sponsored by OSU in any way, and I can only imagine what the actual OSU hospital is like). The horseshoe holds 105,000 people (LaVelle Edwards stadium holds 65,000) and its that many people cheering their guts out for their team. There is a long list of songs that are sung at every game by the fans, and you can even buy cds of all the songs at pretty much any store in and around Columbus. We miss the Cougs very much and our hearts belong to them, but Cortney and I both laugh when we think about the difference between 'game days' in Columbus and Provo. Its unfortunate that Bronco even had to come out and say, let alone start a marketing campaign for people to wear blue to the games. Even if you aren't a sportsfan, it's still an incredible sight to see so many people come together for one thing. OSU was ranked was undefeated and was ranked number 1 and all anyone could talk about out here was the National Championship. We listened to the end of the OSU v. Illinois game on the way home from Kirtland and were very very sad to see them lose when they were so close! But, being the social observers that we are, we're anxious to see how everyone reacts to it here in the next few days.