Cleveland

Cleveland offers all one would expect from a metropolitan area that extends 90 miles along Lake Erie.

Fishing charters can help you pull steelhead or rainbow trout out of Rocky or Cuyahoga rivers or walleye, bass, perch, trout or salmon out of the "big water" of Lake Erie. More urban pursuits should start with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Designed by I.M. Pei, it sprawls over 150,000 square feet and seven stories and includes five theaters. How much is in there? A popular seller is a two-day pass.

Without question, Cleveland is a sports town, with the Indians, Browns and Cavaliers. It's also a former steel town reborn as a biotech and fuel cell center. It's home to the world-renown Cleveland Clinic and the Great Lakes Science Center. Case Western Reserve University has a lofty perch among research institutions, a far cry from its start in territory known as the Western Reserve of Connecticut. Drive through campus and enjoy its zany buildings that turn architecture on its head.

Cleveland is America's true melting pot as seen at the West Side Market and Little Italy. That diversity extends to its eateries, from Melt Bar and Grill, known for enormous and creative grilled cheese sandwiches, to Das Schnitzel Haus, Sokolowski's University Inn or Frank Sterle's Slovenian Country House (complete with polka nights). White Oaks offers classic fare: steak and chops, chased by creme brulee.

The area doesn't disappoint in the golf area, either. This is a city that prides itself in classic golf, from Riceland Golf Course which opened in 1922, to Manakiki Golf Club, a 1920s Donald Ross design where an industrialist's mansion serves as the clubhouse. It's a diverse course with two holes playing over a canyon. Sleepy Hollow is another Cleveland classic, laid atop and in ravines by designer Stanley Thompson in 1925. More than 60 bunkers and trees make the course a formidable foe from start to finish. For a modern flourish, try Little Mountain Country Club with its views of Lake Erie. Designed by Hurdzan-Fry, it makes the most of the rolling hills and woods the course meanders through. It tosses out challenges in the form of 80 bunkers, a large lake, waterfalls and Ellison Creek.