I rose at 5 a.m. to catch my early flight to Cleveland for the holidays. The plane departed 45 minutes “late” yet managed to land at the Akron-Canton Airport on time. Dana picked me up there and after the sad realization that it was too late for me to purchase an Egg McMuffin, we carried-out soup and sandwiches from Panera for lunch at home with our parents.
Afterwards, Dana and I drove around Lakewood and Rocky River to visit some of my favorite used CD shops, stopping for a caffeine break at Phoenix Coffee, marveling how such a comfortably bohemian little shop could still exist in a city rife with Starbucks, Caribou and another local chain, Arabica. On our way to pick up Andrew and Jess from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, we conducted some Christmas window shopping at Great Northern Mall, stopping at Best Buy for a chatty mp3 player overview by an overly helpful young sales clerk. We perused the sweets at a Malley’s store and Dana bought some amusing socks at Marshall’s.