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then spent the rest of the afternoon at a park and beach in Bay Village that I've never been to. The cat cafe was nice but they raised the price (it's now $11 for 30 minutes in the "cat room") and most of the cats were napping. Of the cats that were awake, only one--Gator--was willing to be petted more than once or twice. Gator is stunning--his markings suggest he's part Bengal--and he made biscuits most of the time I was there. I don't think he'll be there long. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Caspar--a beautiful senior boy with a light gray (almost white) coat and pale blue eyes--but like his namesake, he never made himself visible <g>. I'm just about to the point where I'm ready for another kitty...I'm hoping to be a recipient of the global Cat Distribution System but so far, it's not chosen me.

The beach--Huntington Beach--was...not my favorite beach. It's part of a park, and the area before you get to the actual beach is really well done, with a huge playground, a couple nice picnic pavilions, seating everywhere, a nice restroom/changing area and a "snack bar" that goes far above and beyond the usual beach concession stand (their caprese sandwich is divine, and I really enjoyed my blackberry cone dipped in dark chocolate that a local--really good--ice cream place supplies). I also really enjoyed the part of the park that was across the street, away from the lake, especially the walking trail along Porter Creek. They even thoughtfully provided a walking tunnel under Lake Road so you can go back and forth without having to cross a busy street. But the beach is 7 flights of stairs down from the park area (though I did find at the faaaaaaar end of the beach a wheelchair accessible entrance). The stretch of sand is fairly narrow, though it's somewhat long. There's some kind of black...something (silt? algae?) that swirls around in the water in most of the area. And there's several lifeguards who make you follow some pretty strict rules; for example, you have to get entirely out of the water for the last 10 minutes of every hour (you can't even just walk along the edge and dip your toes in...which is as far in the water as I went). You can't stand, or even sit, on the rock break walls that split the beach into several sections (which meant going all the way around them when you're walking the water's edge as they come quite a ways up the shore). You can only swim out so far, no matter how strong a swimmer you are. Also, while I was there, the clouds rolled in; I was walking at the far end of the beach, out of earshot of the guards, and heard a faint whistle but couldn't hear anything that was said. I turned around and started walking back to the middle of the beach where my stuff is and noticed both the water and the beach were completely empty except for the lifeguards. As I was walking back, a lifeguard sternly told me thunder had been heard (I didn't hear any), so they cleared the beach and I needed to get off the beach. I said fine but I was walking back to get my stuff. Along the way, at least four other lifeguards told me to get off the beach. I still hadn't heard, and never did hear, any thunder. I was the last non-personnel to leave the beach. I heard from other beachgoers that they weren't going to let anyone back on the beach until 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder was heard. By then, I'd already been there a couple hours and wasn't really enjoying myself (plus I'd tweaked my back sitting in my beach chair), so I hiked back up the seven flights of steps (hauling a beach bag and beach chair), found an empty porch swing and read another chapter of my book before heading for home. I'm glad I went to Huntington Beach...but I don't think I'll go back any time soon unless I ever move to the west side of Cleveland (which I highly doubt I ever will...but you can never say never).