A quick note of thanks to the Beatles for inspiring the title for this series of posts. This is the eighth in a series of posts written about our trip that will be published four weeks to the day of the trip.
Day 8 – Hanging out in Akron, Cleveland, Copley, and Cuyahoga Falls Area on Saturday, May 9, 2015
Saturday, May 9 was our day to spend with our family in Copley. Today’s activities were spread out for things in the local area.
Westside Market
Our first stop in the morning was the Westside Market in Cleveland, OH.
The Westside Market reminds me of the excellent food halls in Europe. The Grand Central Market in Los Angeles is a good example of one that is similar in Southern California, but rarely do I find myself at these type of places when I’m home. Food halls are just one of those places that I love to go to when I’m on a trip. Food halls often provide me a sense of “adventure.” The Westside Market is quite fun, it’s no KaDeWe in Berlin or the Harrod’s Food Halls, but it holds its own.
Picked up some cannolis here. It’s always a good idea to get some food at these sort of places when one is gallivanting about for the day.
Some cheese, perhaps?
Some bread?
Or some healthy fruit options?
I was surprised to see star fruit. As warm as the day is in Cleveland, it was quite surprising to see something tropical fruit, in decisively non-tropical Cleveland.
We picked some up for the younger members of the family to try. I don’t really like star fruit. It’s them, not me. 😉
Glass Bubble Project
Adjacent to the Westside Market is a fun activity called the Glass Bubble Project.
The Glass Bubble Project allows participants to gain instruction in AND have the opportunity to blow two pieces of glass. We were observers as younger members of our family took the opportunity to take instruction and craft their own glass pieces.
This is a picture of the oven where the artist “gathers” the molten glass.
And uses the molten glass to pick up whatever colors they want to mix in with the piece. The glass in this picture is glowing red from heat. There are no red colors in any of the pieces that were crafted by our younger family members that day.
The next series of photographs are of the molten glass being being melted to the colored glass in the kiln. My wife got some really great pictures of the piece in there.
We spoke with the proprietor and were delighted to hear that at least 95% of the glass used at the glass bubble project are from recycled glass.
The Glass Bubble Project folks also had a shop for some of the glasswork that artists were selling at the location as well. The Glass and Metal Swordfish on the picture below was headed in the opposite direction of our travel. We were told by the proprietor that it was sold to a restaurant in California and will be adorning their dining room.
Here is a picture of some of the molten glass being shaped by our family members
This next piece is a bowl being made.
The same bowl in the kiln being heated up again.
[WHOOSH… Time warp to the future]
Here are the finished pieces from later in the week (we were already onto other destinations when these pieces cooled and arrived at my cousin’s home.)
[WHOOSH… Back to Day 8]
What is it with Cleveland businesses and using birds for mascots.
Yesterday’s visit to the Tesla Lyndhurst Sales and Service Center had the Canada Goose.
The Glass Bubble Project have a Rooster as its “Marketing Director.” Apparently Morty the Rooster, the mascot/”Marketing Director” for the Glass Bubble Project has more Instagram followers than the Glass Bubble Project itself.
Needless to say, we had a pretty full morning. We took the opportunity to go grab some lunch at a fun little restaurant at Cuyahoga Falls.
Cuyahoga Falls
We proceeded to Cuyahoga Falls for lunch at the Blue Door Cafe and Bakery. I would’ve had dessert there as well, but we promised our younger family members that we would go to Rita’s for dessert.
It turns out that Rita’s dessert is Frozen Custard. So, I had my second Frozen Custard (or as they call it here, Ice Custard.) As we finished ordering our dessert here, a couple of local young adults asked if we were the ones that drove up in the Model S.
We took the opportunity to discuss the Model S and electric vehicle travel from California to Ohio. We showed them the car and its various features and the discussion with these young adults has led me to be hopeful for the future generation. I sure am glad that we had the car washed the day before as the car does show off better when it is clean than when it is littered with many dead bugs on it.
One of the things that we discussed and carry in the car, is an example of the battery for the Model S. As previously reported, Tesla’s battery sheets are made from off-the shelf Panasonic 18650 cells. So, when we first got our Roadster, we bought two of the 18650 from Amazon to show the type of battery that comprises Tesla’s battery sheets to people. So, whenever we talk about the car to people, we like to pull out the battery below for demonstration purposes.
[picture replaced 2015-06-07 at 11:12 PM PDT]
Here is a better picture with a AA and AAA for comparison as well as the pen. [picture added 2015-06-07 at 11:12 PM PDT]
Palladian Palette
We spent the afternoon going to the Palladian Palette in Akron, OH. Rather than explore the city, we explored our artistic talents.
I’m a rather practical sort, and I was trying to figure out what to paint. Aside from Ice Cream (or now Ice/Frozen Custard), I have a weakness for coffee. I like coffee. So, I was attracted to the picture of some coffee cups that I saw in the “inspiration book” that the good folk at Palladian Palette provided for us to draw inspiration from.
So, draw I did. It’s been decades since I’ve picked up a paintbrush or drawn anything, so I figured that something less “realistic” would probably suit me well.
I guess my free-hand and pencil isn’t so bad. I think I did a good job of mimicking the picture that was provided.
After drawing it, one had to go through the multitude of colored paint that was provided for us to use.
And there brushes of all sorts.
I opted for a light “mocha” color for the white-space in the work. I figure that it would be less likely that I would “mess up” that part of the painting before I filled it in.
A picture of another work of art parked outside for the afternoon.
So, I finished the work.
And the last piece that I always remembered from art class, was to sign and date my work. It’s no Picasso or Van Gogh, but it’s mine.
While I was busy painting coffee cups to go beside our coffee machine at home, my better half was busy painting a nice romantic scene.
The cannolis from earlier in the day came in handy while we waited for the “paint to dry.”
Her painting came out nicer than mine.
Macedonia Supercharger
The Macedonia Supercharger was about 20 miles away from my cousin’s home in Copley, OH. We were planning on driving toward New Jersey on Day 9, Sunday and to make sure that we were not heading backward as we headed toward Pittsburgh (and the Cranberry, PA supercharger) we decided to go get a supercharge before we plug in at my cousin’s house at 110V.
It was raining lightly while we were on the way to the supercharger and the rain picked up while we were there. As we supercharged at the location, we had several cars drive by. A gentleman with his daughter stopped by and conversed with us. He apparently works with GM on the Volt and has never seen anyone use the supercharger. He asked whether the car was a hybrid, like the Volt and I proceeded to communicate what made the Model S different from the Volt.
Copley, OH
The rain got stronger as we headed back to Copley, so we didn’t plug the car back in when we got back from Macedonia. The 110V installation outdoors would’ve gotten wet as it was raining, and we just got a full supercharge, so we figured to just leave the car unplugged. Between the 21 mile difference from Macedonia and my cousin’s home in Copley, we could afford the “up-to” ten mile loss that we’ve experienced in the past. Our distance to Cranberry, PA Supercharger from Copley, OH is approximately 100 miles away anyway, so we have enough range to work with.
Didn’t take a photo of the mileage that night nor did we log the overnight miles.
Go on to Day 9. Click here.
We’ve decided to overlay yellow lines for marking the return journey from the supercharger. When we reach the Easternmost portion of the journey, we intend on overlaying yellow for the route back West.