Tour Cleveland's lakefront (and riverfront)

You might start your tour of Cleveland's lakefront (and riverfront) at the foot of West 3rd Street where it meets Lake Erie — well, almost, anyway. There you'll find Cleveland Browns Stadium, among a cluster of other fine waterside attractions.

Venture a few hundred feet eastward — past the sculpture commemorating local firefighters, and through the shadow of the tall wind turbine — and you can amble beneath the semicircular array of solar panel canopies, to the entrance to The Great Lakes Science Center. This Center houses multiple levels of interactive exhibits, traveling displays, and an Omnimax theater that regularly cycles several dramatic features.

Keep moving east and you'll next encounter the shimmering prismatic atrium of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Among its many touring and permanent exhibits are rock artifacts, musician biographies, video documentaries, museum displays, and a comprehensive music store — all within a structure designed by famed architect I. M. Pei.

Look for the cozy harbor tucked behind the Rock Hall and you'll find docked there the historic Great Lakes steamship, The William G. Mather. Clamber aboard to get an idea of what it must have been like to work the merchant marine routes along the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

While you're at the Inner Harbor, check out the times and prices for the next lakefront tour on board the Goodtime III. Both lunch and dinner cruises are available seasonally, offering great vistas of the City of Cleveland from Lake Erie waters.

If you're the landlubber sort, simply stroll the length and breadth of Voinovich Park (named for the Cleveland mayor, Ohio Governor and U.S. Senator). Perhaps your dog wants to keep catching that frisbee, or you just want to see the local gulls nab bread crust on the fly?

For a longer hike, keep moving east to the colorful fighter jets on display at Burke Lakefront Airport. This commuter airfield serves as the site of the City's annual Labor Day air show, a several-day food-and-fest extravaganza, with appearances by stunt pilots, parachutists, and the Navy's Blue Angels.

Tired of walking? Then stop where East Ninth Street spans the Shoreway and hop aboard the Regional Transit Authority's Waterfront Line. This light-rail transit line loops from the lakefront past the Cuyahoga Riverfront to terminate — fittingly enough — at the Terminal Tower, Cleveland's Grand Dame landmark.

Keep your eyes on the opposite shore of the winding Cuyahoga River as you make your way along the Waterfront Line. The long river boardwalk serves several restaurant and entertainment venues along the riverbanks, including the Nautica Queen, another tour boat available for private parties and special events.

Just before the Waterfront Line train enters the bowels of Tower City Center and the Terminal Tower, you can alight at Settlers Landing. Here, along the east bank of the Cuyahoga River, Moses Cleaveland and his band of settlers first arrived to begin surveying the new village as part of Connecticut colony's 'lands of the Western Reserve'.