flying to ohio to watch basketball

 

yes i am flying to ohio to watch the cavs 1st round playoff game. game 1 against the raptors. opening playoff game of this season. the idea came to mind really just me wanting to go on trips before i graduate and begin working for the rest of my life, and ive always wanted to see a cavs game in cleveland before and visit the basketball motherland and its a crazy idea and concept but honestly at the same time a great one too. Since the economy in ohio is quite cheaper than in california the getin price is literally like $40 and we got good seats for $160 in this playoff game. I'm going with 2 of my highschool basketball friends, one of whom is coming from UC Davis and flying with me from SFO, the other is flying from southern california and meeting us in Cleveland.

Thursday, Apr 16

This is like the day 0. I drove home from Santa Cruz at around like 1 PM and got home and did some homework. Then the flight is at 10:40 PM so my friend Ashwin's dad picked us up and drove us to SFO. Was a red-eye flight with a layover in Atlanta. On the flight to Atlanta these ladies brought on cups and security suspected it was alcohol but they were claiming it was facewash and the ladies were causing a scene and im honestly too fried rn to write more about it but it ended up delaying the flight even more and we were super concerned we would miss the layover but it ended up working. 

Friday, Apr 17

We arrived at Cleveland at 10 AM on Friday local time aka EST. First thing we did was take a shuttle to the rental cars where we got our rental car a toyota rav4. We're staying here 4 days and 3 nights so with this amount of time we figured why not venture out. We knew we had to go to Akron but we also had time for other road trips. And that's what we did this Friday.

Got the car and first thing we did was drive to this complex and get brunch at this place called Scramblers which had pretty solid food

then in the same complex there was a grocery store called giant eagle and we went in to get water and WOW this is when the ohio demographic started hitting like ik it was 1 pm but it was all old white people everywhere even the workers. 

then today the itinerary was to drive to michigan since theres some cool places to stop by alogn the way. We first went to Valley Harbor Marina Inc and this is why u dont blindly follow chatgpt cuz its for like renting a boat lmao. Then we went to Cedar Point which is rly cool especially just driving on that peninsula. At this point I went to theback and started sleeping because on the redeye i rly only got like 2 hrs of quality sleep. We knew Cedar Point (which is this roller coaster theme park) was closed but we thought to check it out anyway since it was a big attraction. It was cool ig. Then after waking up here I moved to the front and started checking out ohio scenery with Ashwin. It's all just suburban, one-story houses that are quite evenly spaced out with very saturated green lawns. So many people were out mowing their lawns using electric lawnmowers that they sit on. They quite have a lawnmowing culture, you could prob be quite prosperous in the lawnmowing business.

Everything in Ohio and midwest in general is just copy paste same layout and style which u can say for any region of the world but like here it's just so traditional American. LIke we passed by some schools and its like those exact schools u see in american movies/tv-shows. Anyway i could lowkey talk about Ohio neighborhoods for longer but its rly late at night i need to go to sleep.

Then we started driving towards Toledo but we stopped through Fremont because why is there also a Fremont in Ohio. I took a photo with the "welcome to fremont sign". Then we kept going to Toledo and this entire time Ashwin had his maps set to "avoid highways" so it was a longer than usual drive and I literally kept saying like how come Ohio doesnt have any highways like were only driving on these residential roads going 40 mph LMAOOOOO we would only find out at night.

Once we reached Toledo we stopped at the library to go to the bathroom. This city is quite bigger than expected and it has a pretty surprising skyline with some crazy bridges. I was impressed. We then stopped by this Packo's hot dog place thats rly famous apparently and we each just ordered a light hot dog and shared a blueberry pie desert thing and it was solid.

Then Ashwin got tired so I started driving now and the plan was to drive to Ann Arbor, Michigan to meet up with a friend who goes to UMich. I only got the idea from ChatGPT when it brought up Ann Arbor along things to do in Detroit since that was our original plan.

We stopped at the "Welcome to Michigan" sign, then arrived at UMich at 7 PM. Ashwin was straight knocked out this entire time lmao we both barely got sleep on the flights.

Then from 7 PM - 10PM my UMich friend just took us around the campus and like its honestly an insane campus. LIke it's standard for college standards I guess it's common to have these walkable areas of insane food options and right above it is housing like its so convenient. My friend literally lives right above canes and everything else. The campus itself was also insane like theres this area that literally looks like Harvard and all the buildings are honestly relaly impressive. I think Iwould really enjoy college life here like it's quite social cuz there's a ton of open areas and stuff. Really impressed with this college honestly. We ate dinner at this meditereanan place i forgot thename but there were a bunch of pink walls and stuff.

Now you would think the day is basically over like we drive back to Cleveland but wow you arenot ready. Then after, the warriors vs. suns play-in started and we decided that to watch it we had to stop at Toledo since to Cleveland is 2+ hrs. So we navigated there and im driving on these random roads in the middle of nowhere Michigan and I'm just thinking is this how everyone has to go to get from Ann Arbor to Toledo and rest of Ohio like how come I'm the only car here and thats when it hits me like this dude Ahswin has to have the GPS set on avoid highways. Note that earlier when we drove from Toledo to Ann Arbor it was connected to my phone so I did get on the highway. But here I was just so confused cuz it said it would take 80 minutes and once I pressed Ashwin about it he realized and unchecked it and boom the ETA decreases by like 30 min LMAO. We were talking about how it was a blessing in disguise since we got to immerse ourseves in Ohio suburbs and life.

Now in Toledo we stopped by a sports bar to try to watch the game but ITS ONLY ON PRIME VIDEO NOT CABLE like what is the NBA doing bruh so we end up going to canes and they dont have wifi so we watch it on our phones while I ate a kids meal. ANd yeah the warriors go out sad LMAOOOO SEASON OVER CANCUNNNNNNN

Then after, its liek basically 1 AM and we started the 100+ mile drive to Cleveland which was like basically 2 hrs. On that drive we talked about a ton of random stuff that rly made the time pass by.

Now it's like 3 AM. we get to our Airbnb, we get to the door and punch in the code and get our key, we open the door, and theres like knives and butter and plates on the table which is weird and stuff isnt cleaned up which is weird. We open a bedroom door and I legit think I see someone sleeping in there and so I tell Ashwin to shine the light in AND THERES LEGIT A DUDE AND A WOMAN SLEEPING INTHERE AND THEY WAKE UP AND START LOOKING AT ME. Me and Ashwin immediately just step out and hes like we need to leave and so we leave the house and we talk outside for like 10 seconds and were just like lets go to the car first. Like what do we even do. I pull out my computer to emssage the host but its 3 AM so im not expecting a reply. We think about what couldve happened like is it the airbnb owner, or could it be previous tenants that think no ones living there and trying to crash a night. But how come the code and everything was set up on the door as if no one had done self check-in since it's quite plausible to just take the key and everything out once u checked in. Or did we just get scammed.

I end up calling Airbnb support and they said they will contact the owner and if they dont get response within 30 min they will cancel and refund us. So now were looking for vacant spots. I tell Ashwin to start driving towards this area near the airport with like 8 different hotels. But before we dothat I need to go to the bathroom rly bad. So we go inside this random hot dog store that closes at 4 AM but they lost the bathroom key. So I end up just running it at a bush. Anyway, now its time to look for housing because it is not a good idea to go back to the Airbnb. The fact that hte ppl sleeping there didnt come out to explain anything is extremely suspicious and quite dangerous and so we are definitely not going back there. 

So we start driving and I call every motel and hotel in that area and I'm 0-5 until i found one and they have vacancy so we go there and we end up clutching it and the dude gave us the first night for free justcuz hes nice and cuz he said its annoying cuz its like some thingwith the system if its after 1 AM or something that makes it hard to track stuff. So our total cost at the hotel ends up being pretty much the same price as the Airbnb. We chose Airbnb originally cuz hotel options were too expensive.

Now we get to our room at like almost 5 AM and begin showering and stuff and during this time Airbnb support called me and said the owner didnt respond and so they cancelled and refunded the reservation, and also gave me 20% hotel compensation aka 64 bucks profit from airbnb i guess. But this whole experience was extremely suspicious and dangerous and unforgettable and we still dont even know what happened. I'll look more into it tmrw because right not its 6:30 AM and I need to go to sleep. Our friend from UC Riverside lands at 10:40 AM. This whole day was insanely crazy like I missed some details too but like just look how long this post is already and its only 1 out of the 3 days. Can't believe it. Going to bed now I'm actually too tired.

Saturday, Apr 18

today we woke up at like 10:40AM, this guy ashwin wouldnt get up so i went to the airport to pick up my riverside friend first and then we barely had enoghu time to go with our original plan of eating lunch at downtownnear the arena, so we just speedran some canes, drove to arena, made it there basically right on time for star spangled banner and hype video and introductions. I think we missed some stuff but its aight. 

Game was really good like playoff games are such nextlevel. everyone had a wristband witha light on it along with the playoff shirt and 2 towels. Just like everyone spinning the towels in the arena and the announcer hyping everything up and the playoff intro was so cold cuz the lights were off and there was like fire spraying and everything. Our seats were also really solid.

game was close until the 3q before cavs wenton a run and we werebasically up 20 the rest of the way and it was a blowout. I do wish it woul dbe aclose game but im totally fine with a blowout. This made me realize the Raptors are truly horrible like they were giving AJ Lawson minutes they absolutely have no depth compared to us. Dr. Seuss, Mitchell, Harden played rly well like super satisfied. This gonna be a free first-round we need to make it past the 2nd round if we dont im actually losing it. 

Anyway after the game we met up with a high school friend who goes to case western sincehe also went to the game. We took some photos with stuff nearby like there was a championship replica and multiple posters nearby and we went to the team shop during halftime. We ended up walking to our car 20min away together and driving to case western to drop him moff at his dorm. So it was nice catching up withhim. Then we went to visit a garfield memorial thing nearby, then we went to Mitchell's ice cream and it was pretty good cuz I got caramel fudge brownie. 

Then we went to visit the Cleveland sign near this beach thing and there's the Cleveland sign all around the city which I didn't know. There was one in theh airport and this one in a beach and we were yet to visit the main one in downtown. The cleveland signs are honestly so cool like I love that white color and slant to it and its just so much aura.

Then we drove to downtown to go to the other sign and it took forever to find good parking so by this time the sun was setting. It was rly ncie and we got some rly good photos. The sign is in front of the whole skyline and with the sunset it was lowkey some insane photos. Honestly wish we had more time to explore downtown because we drove past some cool parks and things while trynna find parking.

then we drove to get food and we ended up going to pickles and pints which is like american food and it was pretty nice cuz we got to watch the rockets lakers game. We basically wathced the entire 2nd quarter and2nd half and the rockets are so bad. Really happy the lakers won this game.

Then we basically just drove back to the hotel and we hit the hotel gym and showered and here I am writing this post at like 2 AM. Really fun day yet again and I'm not gonna do any summary/reflection because I wanna sleep.

Sunday, Apr 19

Our last day began withus waking up at like 11 AM, going to the west side market which is a big tourist attraction. We didnt end up eating lunch there we went to some nearby restaurant. West side market was pretty cool it kinda reminds me of that random market in Denver except better. There were a ton of "smokies" i think thats what they were calledl ikje the dried up sausages and i bought some beef jerky which spoiler alerti left at the hotel when i left.

Then it was time to drive to Akron. On this car ride me and the riverside friend slept for the entire like 50 minutes while Ashwin was driving. Our first stop was the museum but they were closed. So we went to the I Promise School and took some photos near the signs and the Lebron Family Foundation logo. There was a court right next to it which was open and right after we started chilling there some kids came with a ball and so we literally just started hooping. We were originally planning on going to the football hall of fame in Canton which is even more south of Cleveland but it closes at 5 PM and we were just like yea lets just run games here instead of leaving rightnow to catch the hall of fame. Also the tickets for that arelike $50 which iskinda unnecessary imo.

So we were playing like 4 on 4s with these Akron natives and all the little kids were outside like playfighting I thought but these dudes were legit fighting like kicking each others neck like wtf I was trynna make sure no one stole my stuff after seeing how these people grow up. Anyway tho the runs were okay like all of them were just ballhogging and clip farming so itwasnt any actual quality runs and it started random raining forlike 10 min in between so the court became wet. It was lowkey some unreal runs but the court was super cool cuzit was like super colorful and wegot to record some clips.

Then we went to the St. Vincent St. Marys high school which was funny and we took some photos. It's the HS lebron went to and he went straight to the NBA after high school which is honestly crazy. 

Then, we went to visit the hospital Lebron and Curry were born and all these landmarks that we visited were all along one street which was interesting. Anyway we walked inside the hospital and asked if lebronwas born here and they were like "idk" and then they were like "u gotta have an appointment or u have to be seeing someone to come in here" and we were like "ight" so we just dipped and we asked another front lady about it and she also said "idk" lmao it was funny.

So then after that we drove to Canton just to check out the football hall of fame from the outside which was kinda cool. THere was like a big field that we got to see. After that we visited downtown Canton and we went to this place with thiscool structure thing and a Canton sign and it was really nice and cool except there was like no one out like basically like a ghost town. Maybe it was cold but like dang no one was out when this is supposed to be like some central community center for the entire city like it seems like theres supposed to be a ton of ppl chillinghere. But we ended up doingsome races here and random stuff. 

So then after that it was like 7 pm or something and we decided to drive to downtown Cleveland to check stuff out like we didnt go to a lot of the parks and some stuff I hadh marked but they closed but its fine cuz some of the parks we still havent gone to. On the car ride back to Cleveland I drove and Ashwin took his turn to sleep like honestly this trip we didnt get any sleep and had to cover a lot on the car which is rly funny.

SO then we ended up actually chilling at a casino right next to the park sincetheres literally nothing else todo in Ohio at this point LMAO like it rly is like this like if u made me spend another day here I highkey wouldve gotten mad. Anyway im not 21 so I couldnt enter so they were playingblackjack or something while I was at the entrance watching the magic pistons game and they kicked me out cuz i cant wait there like bruhits cold outside and they ahve the TV right there. So i went otuside and sat on a pot and watched the streamon my phone and it was worthit cuz the magic won. We play the winner of thisseries and seeing the pistons exposed like this makes me rly happy. Anyway we ended up driving todinner at this restauraunt i forgot thename but it was rly good. I ordered a chicken enchiliadad and we all shared this nachos too and it was rly good. After that we drove back home, it was like 11 pm at thispoint. We originally planned on going to someabandoned stuff at night that our casewestern friend recommended us since he said all there is to do in Ohio is to watch sports and goto these abandoned places. But we were tired and it was rly raining and cold outside so we scrappe dit and chilled at thehotel and basically thats the trip. We watched the flightreaction to the mrbeast video on the tv.

Monday, Apr 20

woke up, drove to airport, some flights got delayed cuz its frontier but we made it back to cali at like 6 pm and that's how the trip went!

Conclusion

Let's do a quick conclusion, what a random trip like its liek a dream come true to literally fly to ohio and go to Cleveland and see a playoffs game like so manythings happening. I will say if we did have to stay another day there wouldn't be much else left to do. Like there's notmuch to do in Ohio for my typa person like all they do there is watch sports and go to bars. There's a couple of theme parks like the roller coasters and water parks that we didn't get to check out, but other than that we accomplished quite a lot on this trip and went into quite a big sleep debt.

This trip also taught me a lot about traveling and stuff, for example the process of renting the car and other stuff that I forgot. Anyway tho what an insane trip and it is good to be back in comfort zone and stability in california. I don't anticipate thisbeing the last time in Cleveland. Who knows when I'll be back !

Lyric(s) of the Post: 

Rucci, Kalan.FrFr - Tell Your Friends