Packed a ton of stuff in this weekend. Took the day off work on Friday and headed down to Columbus for the weekend. Friday we started out stopping by the field of giant corn in Dublin. We stumbled on this oddity a few years ago during a winter trip to the Columbus area and decided that we had to visit during this trip. I would say the giant corn is right up there with road stops such as the world's largest ball of yarn and the world's largest frying pan.

After the 5 minutes at the corn field, we went on a shopping expedition. We went to both Tuttle Crossing Mall and Polaris Mall in the never ending quest for pants for me. I guess I'm a bit picky about my pants. I have to have cuffs, they have to be pleated with at minimum two pleats and I don't want to spend more than $25 on each pair. I finally found my pants at J.C. Penny. Unfortunately, I had to hit two different stores to find my size. After our mall trips, we headed to the hotel and checked in. We stayed a a Doubletree near 23 and 270. The hotel was comfortable but nothing special.

Giant Corn

Lisa and the Giant Ear

We then headed out to Inniswood Gardens. The Gardens were once owned by a couple of sisters that loved to garden. They eventually donated their land to the Metro parks. The draw of this particular park, keeping on the theme of larger than life objects, was the giant bug art on display throughout the gardens. The park was really nice; beautiful (no, I haven't turned gay!). The bug art was pretty cool too. I would definitely go back with or without the bug art!Inniswood Garden

Giant Assassin BugDragonfly

Bee (actual size)

We then headed out to Marc's in Westerville and then more shopping at Kohls. Finally we ended up heading to German Village and eating at Schmidt's. Unfortunately, it was too late to do much site seeing in German Village and the food at Schmidt's was just fair but the beer was outstanding! What else would you expect me to say about the beer?

Bad Picture of me but Great Beer Shot!

Saturday morning, we headed out to the world renown Hineygate festivities. Where else can you find a couple thousand people drunk as skunks at 9am on a Saturday morning? Lisa and I had a couple of beers and then headed toward the Shoe to watch the band and the cheerleaders as they filed into the stadium. Since we didn't have tickets to the game, we headed toward High Street to find a place to watch the game; we didn't have any luck. The new BW3 was packed and there was a line around the corner with people waiting to get in. We did get into Panini's but the crowd was a bit young and we felt like a couple of senior citizens. We ended up heading back toward our hotel and watched the second half at BW3. The best part of hanging out in Columbus watching the game wasn't the fact that OSU stomped on Youngstown State but it was watching Michigan get their butts whipped by another division 1AA team!

Brutus and a couple of Nuts

After the game and a change of clothes, we headed to a new concept store for Kroger called Kroger marketplace. I wasn't all that impressed with what may be a new concept for Kroger but not a new concept at all. The store was similar to a Meijer or a super Walmart without clothes or the electronics. We then headed down to an area of Columbus called the Short North. The Short North is just North of the Arena District and seemed to be a pretty happening area of town. We first stopped at a bar call Adobe Gilas for a bathroom break but I had to have a couple of beers because it was happy hour ($1 domestics)!

The Short North had a bunch of activities going on this Saturday. First there was a Greek Festival at a church and the Gallery Hop was taking place. No one told me that The Short North was actually code for large population of men who love other men. Needless to say, we walked the mile on both side of the street, browsed several artsy stores and got out of boy's town without incident. Lisa and I were getting hungry at this point but couldn't agree on where to eat. We ended up at Donato's pizza in honor of Lisa's brother Brad's craving for their very thin crust pizza. Pizza isn't really on my diet but nothing over the weekend really was. The pizza was good Brad!

Short North Activities

Art?

Sunday morning had us looking for someplace to eat breakfast. We stumbled on this neat little restaurant in Worthington called, very appropriately, The Worthington Inn. We ate outside on the front porch and the food was very good. I think it will be an annual stop for us during our OSU weekend. My favorites were the smoked salmon, cheese risotto and the turkey thingy (not sure what it was but it was good). We then headed to Easton and spend an hour or so walking around before we headed home.

Today, Shawn and met up with his Nana and Papa at the Mudhen's game. It was so hot that we ended up watching most of the game from the Club lounge area. Came home and cut the grass and caught up on some of my yard work. All in all, a pretty busy weekend.