JANUARY 21ST

When my cousin SP Beary called me and asked if I’d like to show some skating fans around Cleveland, I said absolutely. I should probably start with introductions, my name is Drew Beary and I want to welcome you all to my hometown, Cleveland. I met up with my travel partner Casey at the Renaissance Hotel. It’s a beautiful hotel that’s connected to Tower City. Being a huge fan of the movie A Christmas Story, we couldn’t resist getting a picture of the infamous leg lamp. The hotel has a tv station that plays the movie over and over again. You can recognize the areas around the hotel in some of the parade scenes. Very cool.

After getting settled into the room, we explored a few more places inside the hotel. My friend Casey wanted to see the pool, which has an atrium design. In fact, her room overlooks the atrium. When you open the windows in the room, it kind of fools you because it feels more like Florida. There’s no heater in the room, only cold air blowers. Here are a few shots from the lobby, pool and with all the athletes walking around, we felt a need to work out a little bit.

We finally made it over to the Quicken, or “Q” as us locals like to call it. There are a few ways to get here from the Renaissance. You can hop on the shuttle at 30 or 60 minutes, you can cut through Tower City and take the walkway, or if you’re adventurous, you can walk a few blocks. We’ve had an opportunity to do all 3. I took my friends down through 4 th Street and showed them the Corner Alley and of course Flannery’s Pub. It’s been snowing lightly for the past few days, so the sidewalks are pretty slushy. The Q is a great setup though for both the competitors and fans. It has a real intimate feel to it.

Tomorrow, Casey and I are going to do some sightseeing, so we’ll be back with more pictures and our report then.