Cleveland

There's more to Cleveland than corned beef and rock 'n' roll. Technology, for example. This ruggedly handsome city on a "crooked river" and a Great Lake is building a name for itself in high-tech sectors including biomedical, advanced materials and advanced and alternative energy -- often in collaboration with institutions like the NASA Glenn Research Center and the Cleveland Clinic. The city is ground zero for some of Ohio's most respected colleges and universities -- Case Western Reserve, Cleveland State University and Baldwin Wallace College, to name but three. When it's time to play, locals enjoy sandy beaches, bountiful parkland, and three pro sports teams. It offers a thriving arts scene, buoyed by mainstays like PlayhouseSquare, Severance Hall and the Cleveland Museum of Art. As for the rock 'n' roll, it's no fluke that the Rock Hall landed in C-Town – this city's jammed tighter than a minivan with killer live-music venues.