On Saturday we left Cape May and picked up a glowing Leo at the University of Delaware. He was glowingly happy and had a tiny bit of glowing sunburn which was a wonderful thing to see on my pale inside boy. I tried not to keep hugging him for an hour but none of us could stop grinning. We tumbled into the car and headed off for Cleveland, about six and a half hours or so. We drove from Newark towards Strasburg, Pennsylvania. It was absolutely gorgeous, rolling country with wonderful architecture and many Amish horse and buggies. In hindsight (see? it was the theme of the vacation) we should have stayed around there instead of Cape May. We were so far east though that I could not resist the lure of the ocean. One of the days in Railcamp they had spent at a train museum in Strasburg with a live steam engine (as in Leo's picture). As we drove by we could see it loading up so Leo directed us to a spot where we could watch it go by. They don't have a turntable so it went by backwards but it was strangely thrilling to see. As we drove through Strasburg there were a number of antique shops that looked promising but our budget didn't allow for stopping and I just watched them go by wistfully.
After talking rapidly about his whole week, Leo promptly collapsed into sleep. It was a VERY busy week for him. We made it into Cleveland just as traffic was pouring into their stadium. We got stuck in traffic and one way streets but it gave us a quick tour of downtown Cleveland which I thought was delightful. We were happy to tumble into our hotel room though, to flop onto the beds and look out at the lake and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My boys love hanging out in hotel rooms so they had no interest in going out. Ernie and I ordered dinner for them and went downstairs to the hotel bar. I found the layout rather odd until I figured out that the actual restaurant was being remodeled and it had all been moved out into the lobby for the duration. We settled onto a couch in the corner. My wine was expensive but it was a hell of a pour and we sat and talked and began to relax.
When Ernie was checking in to the hotel, the person at the desk had mentioned that the Antique Roadshow was in town. There was only one other person in the restaurant/bar when we got there. As I sat, looking out the window to the street, I saw a group of folks walking toward the hotel. I don't know why but I just thought hmmm....wonder if that's a group of AR folks. Just the look, the bags over their shoulder... A bunch came in and sat down and a minute later Ernie whispered the same thing to me, saying that one of them had a lanyard that said AR Crew on it. We giggled for no good reason and kept sipping and chatting. Then Noel Barrett (and lord I just looked at his website and he sure as hell doesn't look his age) came walking in and as he's pretty damn easily identifiable our suspicions were confirmed.
Ernie murmured "maybe the Keno brothers will show up," and I just rolled my eyes. Then a moment later, sure enough, Keno Brother One came walking in, over to a corner to talk on his phone. We sat and watched everybody. It all seemed so familiar for some reason. Then, in came Keno Brother Two. He stood and talked to the a group at the table in front of us before turning to take off. He looked over to our table, smiled and nodded. We nodded back and I tried to figure out if it had seemed as though we were staring. Ernie has this odd ability to get the nod from people though. I don't know how he does it. We can walk into a club and somebody from the band that we don't know will give him the nod. I'm always like "What the hell?" The first time we saw Malcolm Holcombe, before he even played, he walked over, patted Ernie's shoulder and said hello. It works on antiques folks as well. I have no idea.
I made Ernie get me another glass of wine because no way in hell was I leaving this kind of entertainment. Yes, we are geeks. A few minutes later Keno Brother Two finished up his phone call, walked over to the other folks and said a few words before heading out, only to turn toward our corner, pause and wave at us.
And good LORD did I ever want to call my mother. She would have been so tickled.
The Roadshow group headed out for dinner and we went upstairs, ordered some Vietnamese food for delivery and happily collapsed into comfortable beds.
Yup, my favorite moment of vacation (other than the storm coming in off the bay I guess....). I wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to sink quite that low.