I know I’ve been rather MIA lately, but it is awfully difficult to find the stamina to create travel content when I’ve hardly been able to do so. So instead of giving you a long list of reasons why, all starting with or involving corona, I’m just going to get right to it!
So, like any crazy person does, I agreed to another cross country road trip this year. Luckily, this time I had some companions. Where did we go you ask?
Columbus, Ohio.
Why? Well, one of our good friends accepted a job at the Ohio State Medical Center– without ever visiting. SO, we decided to take a little girls road trip and (safely) explore her future home and find her a place to live.
So we piled up in early November and started the (agonizing) twelve, yes TWELVE, hour drive.
We managed to stay busy with the Crime Junkie Podcast and the tradition of waving hello and goodbye to the states we drove through. Listen to the below video at your own risk, just note we were THRILLED to be leaving Indiana and entering into Ohio and the excitement is clearly palpable.
We arrived in the same state we left Minnesota in: exhausted.
Day 1
First things first, we toured a house but turned away disappointed in the property. But, our spirits were quickly lifted with a stop for coffee: Fox in the Snow Cafe. (coffee was fantastic, highly recommend it!)
After meeting up with one of Natalie’s college friends who now lives in Columbus, we took a mid-morning stroll down the Short North’s version of Central Park. Well actually, its called Goodale Park, but I like my name better.
Okay, it looks like we did a lot of sitting in this park not strolling, but I mean can you blame us? The weather was TOO GOOD.
Eventually, we made our way to Northstar Cafe off of Sydney’s recommendation and by golly she was right, it hit the spot! But I mean do chips and guac and a chopped salad ever really miss?
From there we made our way to the Easton Town Center for some leisure shopping, but man this group of gals is not made for shopping, we’d rather have food.
So in true fashion, we managed to find our way back to the Airbnb to decompress and head out for more food.
We first stopped at North High Brewing after a recommendation from one of our friends and it was a great start to the night. The food was rather average, but a fantastic Porter.
Guess High Street is THE place to be.
After that, we really just wanted a place to grab a drink and hang out so we ended up at the Short North Pint House for a few hours. We had a fabulous time just hanging out (we haven’t done so in WAY too long) and chatting with our waitress–she told us EVERYTHING we needed to know about Columbus and more.
Day 2
We had a lazy morning getting up, but found our new tour guide for the day, Connor (another friend and Ohio State student). He insisted that we stopped at the North Market for lunch and exploring and it really was a great find. It reminds me a ton of the Milwaukee Public Market if you’ve ever been!
I ended up getting a Ramen bowl from one of the stands inside, but there was BBQ and a bagel shop that almost took its spot. We sat outside in the sun in 70 degree weather (unheard of weather in November to these Minnesota natives) and it quite literally was a soul refresh.
From there we walked around Italian Village, stopping mid-afternoon for coffee at Stauf’s (which HOW cool is this coffee shop? It was an old church building).
After that we got a mini tour of the Ohio State area, but soon needed a break so we headed back to the Airbnb.
We had an issue at our Airbnb that rubbed all four of us the wrong way and made us question how safe we were staying there, so we last second made reservations at the Graduate on High Street (in the Short North).
I’ve stayed in quite a few hotels, Airbnb, VRBO, and B&B’s around the world and to me the most important thing is always safety. I’ve left a handful of hotels throughout the years in light of one that I felt more comfortable at and I’ve never regretted it. Some of those experiences had a direct situation linked and some just an off feeling.
That being said, we just made a split second decision that ended up being the better option for us! And it was great because we then ended up on High Street which was where we were spending our time anyway!
We got our ish together (which was needed) and got ready for dinner! It was a Saturday and the Buckeyes were playing so we knew we had to take advantage. So back to the Short North Pint House we went. What a perfect place for good food, good company, and a blow out of a game.
If you’ve ever tried to take a picture of me or with me you understand how difficult it is. I don’t stop moving, I’m never ready, and I have zero patience for pictures, some evidance:
Day 3
Starving was the state day 3 started. We tried to find a fun and unique place for breakfast, but the lines were too long for us to want to way. So where did we end up? Bob Evans. And before you judge, let me just say when you’re hungry you make rash decisions, but it was delicious so judge all you want.
Connor decided to take us down to the river and explore some of the outdoor amenities of Columbus, so we headed to Scioto Audubon Metro Park.
They had all sorts of stuff like rock climbing, a dog park, outdoor obstacle course, outdoor gym, and some fabulous walking paths. And by all means, we tried it out.
Up next was exploring the German Village. It was hard to want to spend all our time outside with weather as good as we had! It was an absolutely gorgeous fall day.
But we stumbled upon a 32 room bookstore and we just had to check it out. If you’re ever in the area, the Book Loft is absolutely worth checking out.
After a couple of hours in German Village, we headed back to High Street for a bit of shopping before dinner. There’s just so many places to explore on High Street!
My favorite part of the trip? This part.
We met up with Sydney again for tacos and margaritas at Bakersfield and we had an absolute blast. The food and drinks were great, but the company was even better.
The night was too young to end right there so we headed down the street to Forno for drinks. We chatted for a few hours with the bartender and it just was the perfect way to round out the trip.
The next morning, we woke up at the buttcrack of dawn and headed home with what felt like a moving truck amount of stuff. Anyone else feel like their packing skills decrease the moment they have to pack to go home?
All in all, I’m beyond excited to have explored Natalie’s new home (by the time you read this she’ll be on her way there!) and we all can’t wait to visit her.
If you visit Columbus, hopefully you are surprised with it and have as much fun as we did!
xoxo,
Katelyn
Leave a Reply