Tuesday, May 24

So on Tuesday I went out to Wendy Park, which is right over by Whisky Island and Edgewater Park, but is directly to the left on the river mouth. It's a small though certainly pretty park, with grass and trees and the sun was out that day so the lake was really blue. But I suppose the most interesting about all of those parks is that on one side is the lake and then on the other side are railroad tracks and mills and rock and sand piles and all of the flats. I watched a huge cargo ship - must have been at least 80 yards long - pull out of the river and back into Lake Erie. It had gone under a bridge so after it left the bridge lowered back down and then minutes later a train pulling coal and stuff went right over it. It was pretty cool to just watch and realize that all of these train tracks and mills and even the river are still in use. Afterwards I went west a little bit to Battery Park which contrary to belief isn't a park, it's a developing community. It was built on the site of an old battery factory (hence the name) and for a while the land had been so polluted and acidic that it was just a waste. But some people got together, were granted money from the city, and now they're building this little village out of it. It's right off of Gordon Square as well so it's still largely connected to the city but it also has a couple restaurants of its own, including one that's in the remaining building of the original factory. Plus, it has a beautiful view of the lake. I'm not saying that'd I'd ever live there, but it's a pretty interesting way to see how Cleveland can make good out of it's industrial past, and also how development in Cleveland isn't gone.