What is a good mini-vacation around the Cleveland area? Nothing more than 3-4 hours away.?

Answer 1

Depends what you like to do:

Amusement Parks:
Cedar Point in Sandusky
Kings Island in Cincy
Kennywood in Pittsburgh

Vacation Spots:
Put-in-Bay - Island in Lake Erie close to Sandusky
Niagara Falls

State Parks:
Quite a few very nice most within your time frame:
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/

Big Cities to visit:
Columbus
Cincy
Pittsburgh.

Push your time to 5 hours and you can get to:
Chicago
Indianapolis

For more fun things to do in Ohio check out:
Kids Love Ohio (Even if you don't have kids is has a great list of places to visit in Ohio)

Answer 2

Now I know I'm sticking my neck out here, given the rivalry between these two cities, but how about Pittsburgh? It's easy to get to from Cleveland, and there's lots of museums, performing arts events, sporting events year round, even a giant regatta around the 4th of July. You can even take a Mega bus (http://www.megabus.com) and the fare is as low as $1 each way.

Another option is Mackinaw Island in Michigan. It's a nice, relaxing place and about 3 hours from you. But this is a touristy area so the crowds could be kind of bad in the summer.

Happy traveling wherever you end up!