For decades I've been hoping to see a total solar eclipse. Ever since I was a kid. But they are hard to catch. In 2013 I
caught a partial eclipse at the crack of dawn in DC. For 2017's total eclipse, I traveled to Columbia, South Carolina (
photos), only for clouds to roll in at just the wrong moment; I got nothing. For 2024 my plan was Cleveland, the nearest big city to me in the path of totality. Cloud predictions were pessimistic, so we drove west to Lorain, Ohio, and found a captivating and clear spot on the shore of Lake Erie, and had our perfect four minutes.
See the pink spots? Yeah, those are solar flares, right at the limit of what my equipment and technical skill could capture.
Here's a better photo from an acquaintance of mine. Just surreal to see in real life.
Alright. Let's go to Cleveland.
These are the Guardians of Traffic. Yes, that's what they're called, at least colloquially. I guess officially they're the sentinels of Hope Memorial Bridge, but c'mon. They're the inspiration for the name Cleveland Guardians, and I was very excited to spot them from I-90 passing by, lol.
Downtown Cleveland has some cool stuff, but on this trip I didn't go there. I'd been before, and wanted to see other places new to me. So instead, I went to Shaker Square, a cute old neighborhood built around a light rail stop:
Cleveland's light rail really is very charming, with old tracks through wide street medians and grassy rights-of-way. I wish trains came more often, but you could do a lot worse.
I like the diner built in to the station.
Light rail is nice, but let's talk about Cleveland's *weird* heavy metro line. First off, one has to admit it's notable just for existing. It's the only heavy metro in the US Midwest outside of Chicago, and it was the first in the US to serve an airport. So, good going Clevelanders of the 1950s! Sadly, amid a transit-hostile state government that still treats "inner cities" like it's 1985, The Rapid here hasn't received much love in 50 years. Service is bad, infrastructure is crumbling, ridership is abysmal.
Another weird thing is how, over the decades, the heavy metro and the light rail have evolved in each other's directions, become more and more alike. The difference between heavy metro and light rail is so blurry here that when Cleveland gets a new batch of trains later this decade, the trains they use on the metro and the trains they use on the light rail will be...
exactly the same trains! At that point I'm not sure a distinction between them will be possible anymore.
But check out this el station, which could
almost be Chicago or Philadelphia.
How much do you know about the history of zoning?
Big fan of these steps leading down to Lake Erie in Lakewood:
Not a bad place to watch a sunset.
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