Upon landing in Cleveland, I took a half-hour to sit on the desk in my fifth-floor room at the Aloft hotel and sketch the bright PanAm blue span of the Shoreway Bridge. The furnishings in this hotel aren't so luxe, but the expansive views compensate. I never get tired of watching the river traffic on the Cuyahoga, hearing the ding of the RTA Waterfront line at my feet, feeling the room quiver temblor-style as the miles-long freight trains rumble-roll past.

(Pitt marker and watercolors in Strathmore hardbound watercolor sketchbook)