The Drive There
If there is anything you must see before you die, it is a Midwestern sunrise in the summer. It is breathtaking. The sun streams through the plentiful trees and across the green, growing farmland, and bounces off the morning mist as you drive on winding roads. The world becomes a thousand shades of green. There is nothing quite like it. You just might have to see it yourself to truly understand. But take my word for it -- it's beautiful.
As we were traveling south in Hwy 35 en route to I-70, we kept passing classic and antique cars. They were apparently on their way to some old car expo or something (which we also passed). You name it, we saw it (or just about, anyway) -- 1950s Cadillacs, 1920s roadsters, Model Ts. Kinda neat.
Ohio is very flat. Very flat. Indiana is flat, too, but Ohio is flatter, I'm sure of it. At least it is along I-70. Also, it became very apparent to us the closer we got to Columbus that Ohio is all under construction.
The Temple
The temple was beautiful and peaceful and I'm very glad that we finally got to go back. We both needed it.
The JC Penny Outlet Store
Yes, there is one. And it's huge. We came away with a badly needed new white shirt for Blake, along with a new polo shirt, as well as a skirt and blouse for me to wear to the wedding (seeing as I've encountered a few complications in my sewing project), all for lovely low prices.
The Topiary Garden in the Old Deaf School Park
This was really cool. I mean, how many topiary interpretations of impressionist paintings are there in the world? Interpreted here was Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Here is a picture of the painting:
And here are some pictures of the park, courtesy of the park's website:
So, yeah, this was really neat to see. Unfortunately, not all of the figures were lushly foliaged for our visit, but it was still really neat. It's a beautiful park -- the perfect picnic park, really, with paths to walk on, old iron benches to sit on, trees to sit under. I think I could be really happy just spending a day at this park sitting and thinking.German Village
I can't find any pictures online that do the German Village justice, so I'll have to stick to describing it to you. German Village was first settled in the 1830s by German immigrants and continued to grow and thrive until anti-German sentiment during WWI caused the neighborhood to decline. Groups since the 1960s have worked to restore and preserve the village and have done a pretty good job. Walking through the streets here is like walking in back in time. The streets and sidewalks are made of brick. The homes (where average, everyday people still live) are also for the most part made of red and brown brick, and they are tall and narrow and tightly packed together. They come right out to the street, so there are no front yards, and each house has its own narrow alley. Some homes have waist-high wrought-iron fences complete with squeaky gates leading up to the front door, and almost all the homes' windows have flower-filled window boxes. It's like walking through the neighborhoods of a little Europe.
Sprinkled throughout the village are little shops and restaurants. We of course had to make a visit to The Book Loft, which is a huge 32-room bookstore in the style of Powell's Books (in Portland, Oregon, for those of you unfamiliar with that fabulous bookstore), only it's a lot smaller and more tightly packed. After browsing around for a while, we ended up leaving empty-handed, which was probably good for the book diet we are on. Something funny happened on our way out, though. As we were walking down the little alley back towards the street, a young couple with a small girl were just entering the alley. My first thought when I saw them was "They're LDS -- they have to be." And sure enough they were. They stopped walking just short of us and the guy said to Blake, "Hey, I know you -- from BYU." Turns out that Blake was this guy's (named Ben) philosophy TA a few years ago. Then his wife turned to me and said, "Hey, I know you -- from Provo High. You're Tyler's sister." I didn't recognize her at first, but she was one of a set of twins that Tyler was friends with in high school. They'd been married for a few years, had a cute little girl, and had moved to Columbus so Ben could learn how to be an optometrist. Small world. And who knew we'd meet someone we knew in Ohio? Go figure, I guess.
We also paid a visit to Juergen's Bakery just in time for dinner. The two old white-haired ladies who ran the bakery were German (one more obviously so, seeing as she had a thick German accent). It was a fun place to eat, and they served delicious food. Blake got bratwurst and I got quiche, and we both got to sample some of their yummy breads. We tried Vienna bread, sourdough rye bread, and this whole wheat/rye bread that was called something that started with an M, but which I can't remember what it was, let alone spell it, if my life depended on it. We also splurged, seeing as we were in a bakery, and got a traditional German pastry. Unfortunately, I also can't remember what it was called. But it sure was delicious, though.
Blake and I did a lot of walking in German Village, mostly because we kept getting lost or read the map wrong. It was really hot (just over 90) and quite humid, but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. Just walking through the old neighborhoods was great fun. We stumbled across this tiny little flower-filled park called Frank Fetch Park. It was right across the street from the house I think I want to live in someday. It was a beautiful home, on Beck Street, and all the windows had red geranium-filled window boxes.
Part of me thinks it would be pretty great to live in German Village someday when I grow up. It was such a quaint place, practically right out of a European fairy tale. But then, another part of me -- the newly developed Midwestern part of me -- has decided that it'd be pretty great to live in the country in a beautiful white farmhouse and own lots of land and spend my days gardening. Well, I guess someday we'll find out where we end up settling. As for now, we're not settled and we probably won't be for a while.
The Drive Back
The trip home would have been pleasantly uneventful if only the check engine light hadn't decided to come on. We're still not sure why it came on seeing as the car is running just fine. We even got the oil changed and the fuel system cleaned out not two weeks ago. Anyway, we'll figure it out and cross our fingers that whatever the problem is doesn't brake the bank. We stopped at a gas station just outside of Columbus to check the fluids and examine the engine (just in case the problem was obvious. It wasn't), and to fill the car up with expensive gas, which ended up being more expensive than necessary because the automatic shut off on the pump decided to not shut off like it was supposed to and a bunch of gas that we had to pay for spilled out on the ground. But after all that, the trip home was pleasantly uneventful.
So, Columbus gave us a good day. Coming soon on the day-trip docket: Cincinnati, OH, and Louisville, KY.
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