Chillin’ in Cbus

In September, I spent the last weekend reconnecting with my dear friend Lucy and her husband Randall in Ohio’s state capital and largest city. They bought a beautiful house and moved to Columbus right after they got married last year (check out my blog post on their destination wedding in Cancun!). Lucy works at White Castle Corporate, which is headquartered in Columbus. A lot of other stores such as Express, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Big Lots are based here.

My trip started out a bit rocky. I originally was supposed to fly into Columbus on Friday evening. At first, the flight was delayed 45 minutes because of the stormy weather in Chicago. When we all boarded the plane, the pilot informed us that we weren’t going to leave until the runaway was open. The storm was right above the airport, and all planes were grounded for the time being. A few moments later, lightning struck nearby which caused the plane to lose power. It came back on fairly quickly, but now the situation was to assess if lightning did indeed hit the plane. We then disembarked the plane and was told that it would be another hour for maintenance to come and see if there was any damage. With the storms progressively getting worse through the night, our flight ended up being cancelled. Luckily, I was able to get onto a flight the next morning and flew into Columbus around 11am. What helped was that Columbus is only an hour plane ride so we still had a full day for many activities.

When I arrived, Lucy picked me up, and we stopped for breakfast at Bob Evans. We then went to her home and spent some time with Randall and their cats, Millie and Rocco. They live in a northeast suburb called Westerville; it is within the city limits of Columbus. Lucy provided a step stool that I used to access the bathroom area and sink. In the late afternoon, Lucy and I explored the Easton Town Center, which is a popular shopping complex in the city. We walked around the different shops while sipping our teas from the Koko Tea Salon and Bakery. The sun was shining and the air was humid. After Easton, Lucy and I went back to pick up Randall and the three of us drove through the next door suburb called New Albany, which is known for their million dollar homes. We were amazed to see how big these houses were especially those with 4-5 car garages. Following that, Randall and Lucy took me to the Hoover Dam (not to be confused with the one in Las Vegas). The couple was dog-sitting this weekend so we decided to bring her along for the fun. It was quite enjoyable walking along the dam and seeing the sun set in the background. Our evening was topped off with a hearty home-cooked Indian dinner and a thriller movie, The Curse of La Llorona.

Sunday morning started off with brunch at the Milestone 229 restaurant. I anticipated a long wait considering it was downtown but surprisingly, unlike brunches in Chicago, they seated us right away at a table outside. After our meal, we took pictures along the Scioto River and marveled at the Columbus skyline. On our way back to Westerville, we drove through the city a bit and even went by the Ohio State University Campus. OSU is a big ten school and their rivalry with University of Michigan is very well known. My flight back to Chicago departed at 4:30, but a relaxing weekend wouldn’t be complete without chai and biscuits.

Lucy and Randall were very gracious hosts. I felt right at home with them and definitely plan to come back hopefully in the near future!