2013 July Cleveland for the National Senior Games

Many not a real vacation, but a new place for me to explore.  I was here for the Senior Nationals Games (for "athletes" over 50 years old).  They are held every other year.  Last time (my first trip to the games) they were held in Houston.  This time they are in Cleveland.  We were disappointed that they split up the age groups this year and half our St. Louis volleyball teams were arriving as we were leaving.  It was fun in Houston running around with and cheering on all our StL volleyball teams.  I don't remember how many teams were in our age group in 2011, but there were 29 teams in it this year.  Although most of us are well over 55, 2 of our players were under 55 so we played in the 50+ division.

Since Cleveland was about 550 miles (10.5 hours), 5 of our team of 7 drove there.  I had planned to fly home since the player I rode there with was continuing on a vacation.  But when we were eliminated early on the last day, I called Southwest Airlines, cancelled my flight and rode home with the other car load of teammates.

Originally I wasn't too excited about going to Cleveland.   It had never been a destination I longed to see.  But, then, I really didn't know anything about it.  A week before the trip, I played in a tournament and strained a knee so was in pain most of the trip.  But I'm glad I went and did have a good time.  Too bad we didn't play better.  At least we had plenty of time to look around the city!  I'll have to admit it is a beautiful city---in the summer!

The gal I rode with had connections for cheap hotel rooms outside of the city, so I stayed in that hotel, too, and rode to the games with her every day.   Our ride was only about 11 miles and none of our games started really early so that worked out well.   By the end of our stay, I think we saw all the sights in this painting.

We found the $2 parking lot and were able to ride a shuttle to the Convention Center a couple of the days.  The other days the streets were closed off for bike races so we were forced to park elsewhere.