I hadn't flown out of LaGuardia in years, and was dreading the experience. Oddly, it turned out to be one of my better flying experiences in a long time. I drove up to LaGuardia Monday morning, and parked in the lot right next to the Delta Terminal, which was all of a 2 minute walk. I took one of those baby jets out to Columbus, which means you don't actually board a the gate, you hop a bus which drives you across the tarmac to the plane, this was pretty cool. I like the small plans as they have the best seating configuration, one row of single seats on the left, and rows of double seats on the right, so I was able to ride by myself. The plane left on time and even arrived EARLY to Columbus. I grabbed my rental, a PT Cruiser, and made my way up to Cleveland.
I discovered that my cell phone was not working starting up after shutting it down on the plane, and managed to do my own tech support while making my way up to Cleveland (which was a 120 miles away). (Incidentally, the issue was due to the memory card having a glitch on it, that was easily solved by me popping the card out and the phone working fine. ) The trip itself was fairly boring, I71 turns into I90, get off at 9th Street in Cleveland, go down a few blocks and then there I was at the Crowne Plaza Cleveland.
I checked in, dropped my bags off and checked out the view, which was that of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which I had been to before) and the Cleveland Browns Stadium, as well as Lake Erie, which was partially frozen for a cool effect.
Starving, I needed food. Since I had one night in Cleveland, I wanted to make sure I had a good meal. My other half picked the restaurant I needed to eat at, and little did I know of the culinary masterpiece I was about to eat.
Being an Iron Chef fan, my wife determined that I should eat at either Lola or Lolita, both owned by Michael Symon. Since Lola was a short walk away, and it was cold and snowy, I opted for that.
I got to Lola's (www.lolabistro.com) for an early dinner (around 5:30) and ordered. I lucked out in that there was a price fixe menu, meaning I could fit this in under my company's per diem for dinner. Not only that, I figured I could even get another appetizer. Since I had barely eaten all day, and I had a long week ahead, this worked out good.
The price fixe menu consisted of an appetizer, main course and dessert for 30 bucks. The appetizer I chose off this menu was an excellent bowl of black bean soup. The additional appetizer I chose was called "Bacon" which was pork bellies (the stuff from which bacon comes). Both of these were incredible, and I can't really express how good that food was.
Next up, I had the Beef Hanger Steak with French Fries. This had to go down as one of the best pieces of meat I've ever had. It was 100% perfect. I was in culinary heaven.
To top it off, I had a Panna Cotta with fresh berries sauce for dessert, this was also incredible. This was truly one of the best meals of my entire life, and I found it in Cleveland? Go figure.
After dinner, I made my way over to Tower City mall and picked up a wire I left at home. Then back to the room and sleep. The hotel was nice, fairly standard and relatively clean, so I couldn't ask for more.
Tuesday, I woke up, checked out, went to work, taught the class I was there to teach to a wonderful group of people, and then made my way to Columbus. On this leg, I had company with me as a coworker was going to be in the class I was teaching the next day as well, so to save money, we drove together.
The trip to Columbus was nice and easy, and straight, and we made it there in no time. I dropped my colleague off at his hotel and I went to mine - the extended stay suites outside of Columbus in the Polaris Center. The room was nice, it was actually a mini apartment, so I had some space that night. I dropped my bags off, and since I had some time before I met a different friend for dinner, I headed over to the Polaris Fashion Mall, where, I found of all things, a better winter coat for my dog since he loves to jump in the snow.
After, I met my friend for dinner at the Bonefish Grill where we caught up on things, then back to the hotel to hypothetically sleep. I say hypothetically, because I didn't have a great night's sleep. Luckily, I was functional enough the next day to go to work.
The office location here is in one of the largest buildings in the US, at the McCoy Center in Polaris. This place is one massive spead out complex, that looks more like a shopping mall than an office. It's its own mini city, complete with everything including a Starbucks, post office, cleaners and more. Amazingly, I didn't get lost, and also taught a very nice group of people.
After, we managed to finish up early, so we rushed to the airport, and I was able to get flight that was 3 hours earlier than planned. Getting back to LaGuardia (on time!), I also experienced my first miracle of 2010: I was able to get from LaGuardia to my house in a shade over an hour, during RUSH HOUR in NYC!!!!!
This was the perfect way to end the first of many trips for 2010.
