Columbus, OH

Friday, August 29, 2008
Toledo, OH to Columbus, OH

We got up and went out to breakfast with John and Aiden this morning. Aiden was so adorable and was drawing up a storm. At one point he grabbed Frank’s camera and took some pictures that came out very good. We got on the road heading to Columbus, land of Ohio State University and a batch of friends from California that all migrated there. We got to Renee and Greg’s house in the afternoon, just hanging out to catch up. It’s funny how with certain friends, no matter how long it’s been since you last saw them, you can just pick up right where you left off. We got to meet the new family dog, Rocky, who makes us miss our dogs even more.

That evening is the opening game of Alex’s, Renee and Greg’s daughter, high school football team. It’s been a very long time since either of us has attended a high school football game but we are sports and tag along. We head over with Robin, Renee’s sister, who we haven’t seen since our last trip to Columbus in 2000. But before we head to the game we are all hungry, so we stop at the local favorite, Emelio’s for some thin crust pizza. We can tell we are at a local hangout, full length bar with tables on the side, since everyone turns and stares the moment they hear the door open. Once at the game, there is a threat of a rainstorm but so far so good. Yes memories are streaming back of being a band geek and a spirit club member and of course we are looking around assigning each kid to their proper “Breakfast Club” stereotype. In the second quarter the rain starts. Robin just looks at us and says “I don’t do rain” followed by an “of course if you guys wanna stay…” and off we go to Robins house. Before we leave, however, they make an announcement that due to the lightening, do not lean against the metal fences. No warnings about staying off of the metal stands where everyone happens to be sitting. Arriving to the safety of Robin’s house, we meet Bodie, Robin’s dog. Renee and Greg arrive later as the game was called due to the rain and we hang out for the rest of the night.

Saturday August 30, 2008
Columbus, OH

The morning begins with Renee, Robin and us all heading out for a walk at Ohio State University. This is the first game of the football season and tailgating parties are going to be in full swing. We would like to start this with a disclaimer; we thought we knew tailgate parties. OMG! Buckeye fans lose there ever loving minds for this team! We can’t begin to describe the size and scope of this tailgate party. Tents, Bar-B-Q, inflated 20 foot tall Ronald McDonalds, another Ronald on a Segway and everyone dressed in red and white. Renee tells us the stadium holds 100,000 an there are an additional 100,000 just here to tailgate. Crazy Stuff! Robin and Renee insist we must have a buckeye necklace because we are the only people in the area not wearing red. We wander over to an auditorium to listen to the marching band play and outside to where the Cheerleaders and yell leaders were doing their thing. Here we stop awhile; adorable Midwest boys in cute and tight yell leader outfits, like we are going to walk away from that. After much ogling, we continue our walk leisurely strolling along the river.

The girls choose a local brew pub for lunch and we watch the OSU game on the many big screen tvs along the walls. Frank is telling some story, dropping a country, this time Peru and our waitress overhears and says that she was born in Peru! Apparently her mom was an exchange student and there she met and married the man who became her father; small world strikes again, well we suppose it doesn’t really apply since neither of us is actually from Peru but we have both been there and the Small World ride at Disneyland is closed down and we have both been to Disneyland as well but we digress…

After lunch with the food coma setting in, we sat at Renee’s house trying to decide if we should take naps or go to the dog park. Rocky and Bodie’s cuteness win out and we head off to Darby Bend Lake Park which has an off leash area for dogs. We would like to offer, if you are ever short of friends or people to talk to, get a cute puppy and go to a dog park. Everyone was all about little Rocky.

That night we, Renee, Greg, Robin, Alex and her boyfriend Eric all head to dinner at Z Cucina in a cool area called Grandview. If you are ever in Columbus, go here for dinner, great food and excellent service. Alex had warned Eric we were “sort of gay” so as it not to be a big shock… didn’t think there was any “sort of” about it. It turns out Eric has a gay cousin but no we don’t know him. There is nothing better to make you feel old then watching kids grow into young adults. Before we arrived to Columbus, Alex was still about 8 in our minds, now she is driving with a permit and has a boyfriend. We feel the same old age when we see Alejandro and Kayleigh too. Once again…Food coma and out. We have eaten more in Ohio than the rest of the trip combined!