Columbus, OH

[taz_39]

**Warning - Long post!**

Boy are my feet sore!

I walked ten miles today...can you believe it?!

We have internet on the train (for once), so last night I was able to sit down and do a Google exploration of the city. Since there were so many stores that I was interested in visiting, and since they required a great deal of walking to reach, I decided to take a solo adventure!

I started out with a trip to the Ohio Craft Museum on 5th St. All of the artists are from Ohio. There was some very impressive work; I couldn't take pictures of all of it, but here are some samples:




There was an audio tour option too, but I only listened to one or two of them. I'm a sucker for steampunk and there was a surprising amount of that here.

Took a short break for lunch at a Hawaiian BBQ chain I've never seen before. Got some beef and rice, it was very good :)

Next was the Lennox Shopping Center, which I was really only going to so I could visit World Market :D I picked up a wine glass as they were on sale for like $1.50, then had to leave so I wouldn't buy anything else lol. Across the street was a hole-in-the-wall "consignment", so I popped in there and found that most of the stuff was actually vintage. I got a Pennsylvania Railroad glass (not into trains, but it looks very cool), and a few vintage tiles made into coasters.

After that, I crossed the river to get to Ohio State University (OSU), where I fit right in with my little backpack and goofy haircut. I was only cutting through campus to get to High St., but on the way I was stopped a few times by some sororities, clubs, and people trying to get me to vote. Ha-ha!

Then I got to High St. It was PACKED with awesome stuff! Restaurants, bars, about a zillion cafes...and vintage stores! Vintage is a big thing here for some reason. But before visiting those, I went looking for an asian market I'd found on Google Maps. Instead I found the Mediterranian Food Imports store. There was nothing there that I wanted, but I was very impressed by the spice rack:


Well, after that I DID find the asian market another two blocks down. It was a very good market with lots of dried and canned food and not too much candy (phew). I enjoyed looking--really, I just go to these places to look at everything--and got some canned eel that I can't WAIT to try over rice. That's gonna happen after Mexico.

Next up was supposed to be a Goodwill, but that seemed a bit lame when there were all these unique businesses around so I skipped it and walked the length of High St.

Back to vintage stores: there were SO many. There was one called Flower Child that was totally insane...packed to the gills with vintage...

...and more vintage...

...and MORE vintage!!!


There were literally like 8 ground-level rooms full of vintage stuff, and two basement levels. I got there right at closing, but will go back on Friday if I can.

I walked the rest of the way down High St. and saw many unique stores. I wanted to explore more of them, but it was 6pm at that point and many were closing for the day. I went into a military surplus store out of curiosity, but of course there was nothing I needed. Walked all the way down to Spruce Street to reach my last stop...North Market!


I got there only 1/2 hour before closing time. They have TONS of local produce, prepared foods, dry goods...like, EVERYTHING. Once again, I mostly just looked. (If I start buying at these stores, I'll be dirt poor in like a week). But I did indulge in some fantastic and unique ice cream from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. They have some crazy flavors, like Juniper & Lemon Curd, Wheatgrass, Pear & Wine, and Wildberry Lavendar Mint. I got the Iclandic Happy Marriage, which is a rhubarb/skyr cheese/oat cake/syrup blend. It was VERY tasty!

There was a huge assortment of meats and cheeses as well.


I would have gotten some venison if a) it weren't so expensive, and b) if it were allowed into Mexico :/ Oh, I did pick up a bottle of Petraio red wine...the cashier at The Barrel And Bottle shop recommended it as I was looking for Rabbit Ridge and she didn't have it (no one seems to carry it any more).

10 minutes before they closed, I wandered outside and walked the last 2 miles home. BOY did my feet hurt! They still do! But it was worth it!!! I LOVE COLUMBUS!!!