Cleveland Really Does Rock!

YUM!

Here are some scenes from my recent visit to Cleveland, where I attended Bouchercon with too many famous writers to even begin counting. I had to pull Lee Child aside and tell him to stop stalking me, that if he wanted an autograph all he had to do was ask. Jeez.

Of course this is my fevered imagination, fueled by the scrumptious creation to the right -- a chocolate martini from The Chocolate Bar.  New York Times best-selling author C. J. Lyons bought it for me. I owe her one. Eventually. Once I make the NYT-bestseller list. Until then, I'm gonna go buy some of her books because they sound awesome, and because buying them helps her change the world. Seriously. Go see how you can enjoy a great read and help save lives here.

Downtown Cleveland Lights up on Fifth Street

Guitar Art at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Monument to Ohio's Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil War

Another view of the monument, which contains a museum below it, and Freedom with her sword atop it.

Sunset from The Chocolate Bar

For those of us in the South, this is what autumn in October looks like for most of the rest of the country.

I think this is a statue of Mr. Cleveland. You know, the guy who . . . well, of course you can figure that one out. Sorry to be pedantic.

Cleveland also rises.

Flowers in bloom in the same park where The Avengers was filmed. So if those blossoms look familiar, that's because you saw Loki stomping all over them. They're much nicer now, once he got finished with his demi-god temper tantrum.