Columbus, Ohio

I love to travel . . . and when I do I like to get a bit of the flavor of the area.  So I was thrilled to meet new friends as we disembarked from the plane last night.  There were seven of us on the flight from Minneapolis it turns out.  Two others were in science and we warmed up to one another right away . . . even shared a cab to the hotel.  We decided that we were each up for an adventure to find a place to eat.

Suzann from Gonzaga had read online that our hotel was close to Germantown.  Furthermore, she had read that the place to eat was Schmidt's.  So with a rough map from the hotel desk, our adventurous spirit and this bit of knowledge; we set out.  It was a gorgeous night!  Once we got off the main drag it was like we had transformed ourselves into an earlier time . . . cobblestone streets and brick buildings and no one out but lights lit up all the homes that we passed.  After a bit of walking (30 minutes) we finally stumbled upon our target.

The servers wore traditional German clothing and the menu was all German food.  It turns out the "Man vs Food" show visited there two years ago and the host ate the smorgasbord and then 3 cream puffs.  Not just any cream puff, but half-pound cream puffs. (And yes, we tried one~split it!)  Also, the waitress learned we were educators and she thanked us.  No kidding.  That floored me  . . . so much so I got up and gave her a hug.  Suzann, Barb (from U of Minnesota) and I each agreed that it is not often a teacher receives a thank you, particularly from a stranger.

Today was the training and an opportunity to meet more new friends.  The guys on my table were a lot of fun: Ted, Jim and Mark.  And I also got to meet three from Drake and three from the University of Iowa.

This morning I took a short walk to the Capitol Building so that I could complete a virtual cache there.  And this afternoon Ted and I found a ride from an instructor at The Ohio University to campus.  I wanted to complete an EarthCache at the Orton Geologic Museum.  We visited the Union where I had my photo taken with Brutus and also the 11th Floor of the Library to be able to see Columbus and to view the Horseshoe.  We walked part of the 3 miles back before taking the bus back as I learned my friend Jeanne was also at the hotel!  So fun to catch up with her too . . .

Seven of us then ate at "Tony's", an Italian Restaurant just down the street.  Then back to our rooms to do homework for tomorrow . . .