She Was a Day Tripper

There are actually some very cool things that can be done in a day if you live in the central part of the Buckeye State (that would be Ohio) and you are willing to travel a couple of hours in any direction.


For example, you might head up to the Wooster area and behold Grandpa's Cheesebarn (more on that later).



Jen and I took such a roadtrip today. It was a Daddy/Daughter bonding time and a sort of a last hoorah before she starts the big bad world of 8th grade Monday. Yes, she's getting old. Yes, I'm old.

Anyway, after popping my Geritol and gassing up the autobot, we headed north. North on I-71. Destination -Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and museum).



Oh yes.



RAWK!!!!

It appears that even as stadiums (long noted RAWK venues) must have corporate sponsorship, so too must the house that RAWK built. Key bank to the rescue. Personally, I would have gone with an address of Eighty-Eight Key Plaza...but what do I know?

The first thing that greeted us (after the $10 parking (which as we left had switched to $15 parking)) was the row of massive 9ft. tall Fender Stratocasters. We later learned that they were for a charity auction for United Way. Very cool stuff. So of course we got pix (with the new camera, of course).

We didn't take the tour of the tour bus (but we should have). It's Johnny Cash's Tour Bus.

Here's the building from the outside. It's also the logo. On the logo, it looks like the part of the guitar right where the neck joins the body of the guitar.

More fiberglass Fenders on the inside.
I got excited when I first saw this one. I had heard that the homestar runner guys had done a 'The Cheat' guitar and I thought this was it. Alas, it was not.

Apparently there's some King in Cleveland. I don't know. I think he plays some sport or something.


And, when we got up to get our tickets we were greeted with this lovely note. The only other place we could take pix was in the lower lobby. Then we had to check the camera at the coat check (and it pissed me off because I saw people inside the museum taking pictures with their cameras that they smuggled in. Bastards. That's what I get for following the rules. Next time I'll know.
So...I live near Columbus. And while Cleveland seems to be the heart of rock and roll, Columbus is the ass pimple of rock and roll. It's where all the bad sh*t happens. This is Dimebag Darrel's guitar.
And then Robbie Robertson's axe.

Kurt Cobain's axe. I was about to type Kurt Blobrain's axe...but that would probably be in bad taste.

I read...but I have to say that my all time favorite book is "Cash" by Johnny Cash. (yes, this is his guitar).
This one belongs to some blues dude.

Give you one guess who this one belongs to.

This is Billy Joel's custom Sport Harley Davidson.


I've been to a Phish concert. And I have to say that in the state I was in at the concert, this would have FREAKED me the f**k OUT!

Especially to see the band flying in over the crowd in the weiner...weiner...weinerMOBILE!
And lastly, the true state of Rock now....Corporate. Fitting somehow.
Jen gives her best RAWKER pose before we ditch the camera.
So...tell me...how the hell could Roy Orbison NOT get a Pretty Woman with a SWEET ride like this??

If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

Even the ATM RAWKED!!!!
So, the day went well. And 4 hours later we were headed back to the car. We had planned on doing the true RAWK (sick of it yet?) thing of staying until the place closed and Security had to kick us out. BUT....the place really isn't as big as you might think. And 5 more hours after we'd already hit every exhibit just seemed...well...dumb. So we hit the road.

And on the way back, we saw a sign that somehow missed observation on the way up. It was for Grandpa's Cheesebarn. And it struck us as soooooo freakin' funny that we HAD to stop.

I like cheese!

And yes...there was cheese. Lots of cheese. And there was every country kanick kanack that you could think of. It was like an issue of Country Living threw up in 5 rooms of the CHEESEBARN. Heh...cheesebarn. Funny stuff.

We got a call about halfway home from the missus telling us that we might want to stall a bit in Mansfield since they were in the middle of severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings and all that rot. But by the time we got home, spent from our day of RAWKING, all was well.

Well, except for the A/C still being out and not being repaired until Monday or Tuesday.

But, what's a rawker gonna do??