Manga Maniac Cafe For the Geek in all of us

Here I am in sunny, er, stormy, Cleveland.  Berea, actually.  I left work at 11, then headed home for some quality Buu time.  Of course I was too overcome with anxiety about my impending solo road trip to really enjoy his company.  At 1 I headed over to the barn, for one last lesson before the horse show.

Harley was being kind of a poopoo.  He kept picking up the wrong canter lead, which he usually doesn’t do. More about this later, in another post.

I was hoping to help load up the horses and follow the trailers down here.  However, D had some shoeing jobs to complete, and M needed to get health certificates for some of the horses, so she didn’t expect that they would leave until 5.  I didn’t relish the thought of driving in rush hour traffic, so I loaded into my car and headed off alone.

The drive down here wasn’t bad at all.  I took 275 to 75, and that is how I will go to any southern location now.  The traffic on 75 by Detroit is horrid; 275 wasn’t bad at all.  Things slowed down a little in Toledo, but picked up once I was on the tollway.  Then it was smooth sailing 100 miles to Cleveland.

Let me tell you, toll roads aren’t that bad.  I wouldn’t like it if I had to pay to use them more than a few times a year, but I do see the benefit of them.  The road was in great shape, and the rest stops were really nice.  So much nicer than the ones in Michigan.  I was able to buy myself an iced chai after hitting the potty.  I could have stopped at one of 4 delectable fast food offerings, but since I try to avoid that sort of thing, I resisted.  I was holding out for sushi (which I never found!!).

Getting to the hotel was a breeze; it’s right off the expressway.  Check in was interesting, as I insisted that they were charging me too much, but the clerks insisted they didn’t offer $50 rooms.  I told them I’d be back after I found my email confirmation.  I was too hungry at that point to argue further.  (I did find the email, and they did adjust the rate.)

The first impression of the room itself is not bad.  It’s clean, but the bathroom has a musty odor.  The door doesn’t close by itself; it has to be pushed, very firmly, to close it.  It sticks when being opened.  Maybe it’s because of the dreadful humidity.  I was disappointed to see that the Ramada Inn is actually like a travel lodge.  It’s 2 stories, and the room entrances are all on the outside.  I was given a 2nd floor room, which meant lugging all of the crap I brought up a flight of steps.  I don’t mind the stairs themselves, I don’t like them when I have 50 pounds of over packed bags hanging from my shoulders.

The internet didn’t connect right away.  Instead, I was greeted with the dreaded No or Limited Connectivity. Argh!  It did eventually connect; hopefully it will continue to do so during the weekend.  There is a Panera Bread about 1 mile from here should I need to fall back on that.

After dropping some junk off in the room, I headed off for food.  I thought there was a sushi restaurant by the Parmatown Mall, but I couldn’t find it.  Instead, I ended up going to Aladdin’s Castle for a quick game of ITG.  3 quarters gets  4 songs there.  The dance pad was in decent shape, but my riding boots made it interesting trying to play.  I’ll head back up there tomorrow morning with my DDR shoes on, and see if I can play better.  The male players were rather friendly, commenting on my Witchhunter Robin shirt, and complementing my playing.  One of them asked my age, and his jaw dropped when I told him.  Then he thought I was pulling his leg.  It was pretty funny.  I bet they all wish their moms were as cool as me! 

I ended up eating at Chipolte’s, since there wasn’t much else to choose from. It’s the first time that I’ve eaten there, and I liked it.  I think it’s even a tiny bit better than Baja Fresh.  I ordered a burrito bol with black beans, spicy beef, hot sauce, and sour cream.  Next time, I’ll leave off the sour cream.  They just gobbed it on.  There was way too much.  The rice had cilantro, which was a nice touch.  I love cilantro.  The hot sauce wasn’t horribly hot, but by the end of meal, it definitely had a zing to it.

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so instead of going to the zoo, I will take a tour of the area and see what’s around.  Hopefully I won’t get lost!  Then Friday I can go to the zoo.  I’m looking forward to that.  It’s 165 acres, as opposed to the Detroit Zoo’s 125 acres, and they have koalas!  The RainForest exhibit looks really cool, too.  Friday will be a good day for the zoo, as I won’t have pre-ride jitters to distract me.  A quick glance at the weather shows that it’s supposed to storm all day Friday, too.  Boo.  I’ll have to purchase an umbrella if I can’t locate the one I usually have in the car.