Columbus, OH, cont.- Saturday, July 2, 2011

We had a lot planned for today, and got a good start. We had tickets for a second day at the zoo and the waterpark. We went to a McDonald’s that was completely decorated in Ohio State football memorabilia, and got to near the zoo with more than a half an hour to spare. We picked up a few things that we needed at the nearby Kroger’s. (Julie said Kroh-gers. Scott said “Roger’s with a K,” like always.) Scott was disappointed when Anna couldn’t win him a Sinestro from the crane game, but no amount of willpower was going to move him.

The girls were immediately disappointed by the fact that it was thundering and lightening. The waterpark was sure to be closed. If they had just wanted to be wet, that wasn’t going to be a problem, because the rain was coming down quite steadily. We started our way through the zoo by picking up the one major area that we hadn’t done yesterday—North America. The newest attraction in the zoo seems to be the polar bear exhibit. It certainly is deserving of all of the attention it’s getting. We saw two bears swimming rather close to us in their pool, but what really made the viewing unique was the fact that there is an underwater viewing area. In our minds we had pictured looking into the bears’ pool, but the viewing area actually extends into the pool, so the bears can swim above you and around you. A crowd had gathered there. One of the first things we noticed were all of the fish that were swimming in the pool that had not even caught our attention when we saw them from above. The bears weren’t nearby to start with, but the pair eventually wrestled a bit above us on the other side of the foot-thick plexi-glass. When their little tussle was over, they floated around, barely moving. The view from below was surreal, as if each bear was floating in slow motion through the air. It was certainly the highlight of the zoo for us today.

We tried running through the raindrops to get to see some of the other animals, but it wasn’t really working for us. We tried huddling under a couple of shelters. We watched the otters for a while, and Anna tried to get a picture of Dad with one. But the rain was coming down harder, and we were all feeling a bit drenched. We made our way to the gift shop at the front of the zoo. Mom got a “Jungle Jack Hanna” hat that would have helped her stay dry if she had it a few hours earlier. We got our hands stamped to return, but ultimately decided that we had seen nearly everything that we wanted to see at the zoo, and didn’t go back. That’s just as well because the ink didn’t last very long on most of our hands.

We tried to get “Lizzie” to take us to a mall where we could get lunch and dry out, but the GPS does not seem very good at that sort of thing. She did get us to a Barnes and Nobles where we browsed for a while and the girls bought some new books for the car. We went to a Panera where we got some warm food in us, and then to the new hotel for tonight. We all got a chance to change to warmer and/or drier clothes and we continued on with our day.

This hotel was different than the one we stayed in for the last two nights, even though we’re still in Columbus. Julie had started planning for this trip by paying for one hotel room from each paycheck we got. That means that all of our hotels are already paid for from here to Florida and back again. However since we were anxious to get the trip started and came to Columbus early, we ended up staying in a different place for our first two nights. Julie’s friend Laura got us a deal on the first two nights at a hotel right near Ohio State. Now we’re at the other hotel, right next to the Columbus airport.

Lizzie took us to downtown Columbus, and we found our own way to Battelle Riverfront Park, where there is a replica of the Santa Maria. It’s Columbus’s ship, you see, because it’s Columbus, Ohio. Oddly, the Scioto River seems to be low right now. The trailer-sized visitor’s center for the Santa Maria is apparently meant to float on the river, but it was resting on the mud and leaning quite a bit. The ship itself is 20 years old, having been built in 1991, in time for the quincentennial of Columbus’s voyage. We knew the ship was going to be small, but it was also quite simple in its design. The tour guide who took us through had an enthusiastic but unique personality. She was probably pretty good at holding the attention of the many small children that were on the tour, though more than one was crying at some point during it. The tour was heavy on what shipboard life was like for the sailors, and barely mentioned the story of Columbus until we sat in the captain’s quarters at the end of the tour. Perhaps is not PC to talk about Columbus as a hero. That seems odd, since the city is named after him and someone paid money to have this ship built. The ship itself seems to be showing a lot of age and dirt. It’s not glamorous, but perhaps it is accurate.

We drove past the state capital building, and found our way to the German Village. It’s a great little part of town that was built by German immigrants in the 1800s. It’s not far from downtown, but this nice little area is filled with tidy brick houses and stores. It’s actually a lot like what “Over-the-Rhine” must have been like in Cincinnati, as well as many parts of Buffalo. We parked and strolled around quite a bit, admiring the houses and going into shops. The Book Loft was a bit of an experience. It’s a sprawling complex maze-like building. The books it sells can be bargains, but they are organized into 32 small rooms connected by a tight, narrow, winding path. It’s hard to get to the room that you want with all of the traffic jams involved. Then when you do find an interesting section, you can’t stop because you’re blocking traffic. There’s a lot of “excuse mes” and claustrophobia.

We made our way to Schmidt’s famous sausage house. Matt (the guitar player from Rush the Growler) had recommended the place to us. Schmidt’s is famous for their house sausages served in a buffet and their half-pound cream puffs. The place is in its fifth generation of ownership by the same family. They were recently featured on the “Man vs. Food” program on the Travel Channel. The place is very popular. They won’t take reservations and we had to wait an hour for a table. When we asked if this was the usual Saturday crowd or a holiday crowd, the waiter told us it was actually a little slow that night. Scott loved the sausage buffet and the German atmosphere.

Julie’s friend Laura and her husband Steve met us for dinner at Schmidts. Julie knew her because Laura taught with her at JFK, up until about two years ago. We chatted for a time while we waited outside Schmidt’s, and the conversation continued over dinner. It's not hard to see why the two of them were friends.

As expected, the girls finished the day by swimming in the hotel pool. They were surprised by a visit from a firefly who flew in and sat on a chair. He crawled to Emma’s hands, and then to Anna’s . It was probably the first time either of them had seen one up-close like that. It was a magical little moment.