Our first
Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives (we are told to call it DDD from now on) experience was more then either of us expected! When we told them we where there, at
Lucky's Cafe, in a funky area near downtown Cleveland, we were surprised by a visit by the owner. I was impressed by the area when we got there, and then we were WOWed by the staff, the owner, excitement and food at Lucky's Cafe. There were 3 DDDs to choose from in the area, we choose Lucky's..
The owner came out to greet us when she heard we were doing a cross country trip of the DDDs, and she was so much fun to speak with. She said that when they first called her about being on DDD, she was offended, as she works such around the clock hours, she had never seen the show before, so, when they called and called her place a Dive, she was offended!! Too funny! She then did her research and obviously accepted. She said that Guy is wonderful. She said she feels like she is his sister from another mother.
All the staff were wonderful, they loved telling us about their amazing menu. We ended up going with four excellent dishes... There were four of us :). I had a strange sandwich, that had roasted pumpkin, corrinader and ham, Jerry had Mac & Cheese from cream heaven, Cindy had a Reuben to dead for and Larry had an crazy Mole Taco! The guy next to us had an amazing waffle we took a picture of.
The best chocolate in the world, just two doors left of Lucky's was fun as well! I won't go to Lucky's without going to that chocolate place. It's called Lilly's, she makes them herself, she also sells wine to go with her chocolate. Her ninja bark chocolate has Wasabi peas and Hawaiian black lava sea salt in it, I had to hug her after a piece of that! (Paul & Linda, you would have loved it, sorry, i thought of bringing you some, but, i know it's not going to last the 5 weeks!)
Food from DDDs Lucky's Cafe & menu:
We arrived into Geneva on the Lake on Friday evening, greeted by our good friends Larry & Cindy. Their town is, Geneva on the Lake, OH (45mins outside of Cleveland, OH), is a cute beach town on Lake Erie, which feels like you are back in the 50s (not that i was ever in the 50s..). But, it has a novel main street full of little ma&pa run food, ice-cream, hot dogs, with all sorts of things for kids and adults to do, like arcades, a ferriswheel, beaches, band stands, fairgrounds, live music and little clubs with dancing music.
Duke, Cindy and I went for a long walk the first morning, through the town and over to a marina. I went for a run the next morning, to try and make room for our next DDD!
We had our Westy parked on Larry & Cindy's property, at the back of the property they have a second house, which we parked infront of..
Larry and Cindy's home in Geneva on the Lake.
While in Cleveland we drove by where Jerry & Larry grew up. You see, Jerry & Larry meet way back on the first day of kindergarten. There was some discussion as to who cried the most that day. So, we drove by each of their childhood homes and fields (which are no longer fields) they played in and places they hung out.
Above is a picture of the house Jerry, his parents and bother where in from birth until Jerry & his brother Frank were 12ish years old.. right on Lake Erie, it was beautiful.
Cleveland was full of wonderful surprises, it has pockets of unique neighborhoods and architecture all through the down town. I had no idea! Thanks to our Tours guides Larry and Cindy, we got to see places we wouldn't have know existed!
We had a half day delay, which is expected, it was due to trying to get our selves all setup with the Verizon highspeed internet services. After 26 hours, and 8 people and 5 hours in the Verizon store, we are now on the road, south on Hwy 71.. with a HOTSPOT all set up in our Westy! As long as there is Cell coverage, i can be online! YES!! We will be in places without coverage, but, not for a few days now. Good thing Jerry is as calm and patient as he is, or we would have been gone this morning, without any high-speed connection, as i was definitely losing it, he is very calm. Just so you know, incase you ever need a turbo stick or wireless hub while traveling, you indeed need to remove any other wireless modem software you have on your laptops, or it causes a conflict and won't load the new software, and 1 out of 8 people, generally don't know that little bit of information.. secondly, when you then want to pay for a prepaid wireless service, most of their systems will give you the annual service by default, so, when you go to connect, you won't be able to.. again 1 out of 8 people know how to fix that in their systems.. however, everyone is very nice while they try to help!
So, our next stop is two days away, Bubbbas in Eureka Springs, AR. It's not a part of DDD, it is in the book 1001 Places to Visit Before You Die. We met the owners of Babas while camped in Mexico two winters ago. From there we head West and South..
Well, that's all for now! We aren't sure where we will end up tonight, we might make it out of Ohio today, no hurry!
Sofie..
