Dad is here! He arrived in Cleveland in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday. Thursday is my day off, so I picked him up and we headed off to an Indians-Blue Jays game. We were relatively close to Canada, so there were a lot of Jays fans there. It was a great game! I've seen the Jays play two times in the Lou, but I'd never seen "the tribe," so that was cool.

Now I've seen these stadiums:
Indians
Cardinals
Brewers
Yankees
Cubs

Briefly on Wednesday night, I had looked up things to do in Cleveland, and stumbled upon this beauty below...one of just a few real, remaining WWII submarines. This is the U.S.S. Cod. It was so moving and meaningful to go in a ship that wasn't made into a museum, but simply made to look as though it had just picked up supplies at a port. There were no creepy mannequins and no plexiglass. Knowing that we went in a boat where men had laughed together, prepared to dive together, fought together, and celebrated together was really moving. They also had artifacts from the ship's days, an actual menu and words from the cook was really moving. Only one man had died aboard that ship, and you know that it had its near-misses. Pat-on-the-back to Cleveland. I've seen about four warships in my day, and though small (though way longer in the inside than it looks from the outside), this was my favorite.




Friday I went to work. Dad went to the National Museum of the USAF. Dad had been looking forward to going back for a looooooong time. He is so intelligent in terms of military history and equipment, so he really appreciated the experience.

Saturday we rode our bikes 30 miles, made lunch, played baseball in the parks, went out for dinner, and got frozen yogurt. Dad had never had it. I do not think that it will be his last time. He really enjoyed it.

Dad was bummed about only having spent 8 hours in the museum (which took him through just one of the three hangars), and I was planning to go some other time, so it seemed perfect to go today again instead. The Museum is in Dayton, Ohio and has real-life planes and blurbs about almost every plane from WWII.

I mainly spent time in the Early Years and WWII hangar, the Cold War hangar, and the space exhibit. I teared up quite a few times, reading stories about men who gave their all and came home, gave their all and didn't come home, gave their all and became prisoners of war, gave their brothers, fathers, and sons. There were so many brave airmen who sacrificed, endured, and fought in ways that demonstrated exemplary character, and there was a nation who came together around them to support them. I honor the bravery of the men in the Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Army.

In funny news, dad decided to ride west to east in the hopes of riding with a tailwind. The big man is having a laugh at him right now http://www.weather.com/news/weather-forecast/weather-pattern-reverse-20130712 The one week where the weather pattern changed!