Dinner with Friends...and Ice Cream at the Falls

The reason we picked the Cleveland area as our last stop on the trip is that my friend Cori and her family live in Chagrin Falls, in the 'burbs of Cleveland.  Their town reminds me a bit of Stars Hollow in the Gilmore Girls - it's that cute.  It's named after the waterfalls in the center of town, which run right next to the Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop, which makes all kinds of popcorn:  caramel corn, caramel but, cheese, double cheese and more.  They sell ice cream and candy too, covering all kinds of snacking needs.

Chagrin Falls

We drove to Cori's house from Cleveland and beat the rush hour traffic.  It was good to see Cori again; she used to sit in the office next to me at work and made my job infinitely more enjoyable.   Ruth enjoyed spending time with Annabelle and her baby sister, Lizzie.  Ruth picked her up and held her for awhile, and played with her.  The kids played Candyland and ping pong, and they taught Belle how to serve.

Cori and her husband put together a delicious dinner of grilled pizza.  Cori assembled a fabulous buffet of pizza toppings so we could make our own pizzas.  Her husband Trey took care of the grilling, and did a superb job.  It's not easy to grill a pizza without burning it - I speak from experience.

After dinner, Cori took us into town for ice cream at a new place called Jenni's.  They make artisanal ice cream, with unique flavors and all natural ingredients.  We sampled a few, and then Jeff and Henry opted for vanilla, Ruth got the Milkiest Chocolate in the World, and I had a combination of salted caramel and butter toffee crunch.  Totally delicious.

We hung out around the falls for a bit while finishing our ice cream, but then it was time to go.  And the end of our visit marked the end of our road trip in a way, because all that was left was a six-seven hour ride home the next morning.