June 30: Columbus Zoo

Today, Josh and I had brunch with Earl, Alyn, and Alyn's adult son Joe. After brunch, the five of us went to the Columbus Zoo. We saw a lot of animals, and of course, we saw a giant piece of macaroni and cheese.

The pasta doesn't lie. I dig mac 'n' cheese! We also saw real animals, like flamingoes:

The zoo has a baby bonobo, which is only a week and a half old. Her name is Elema.

A shot through the mist:

A kangaroo chilling:

These birds are LOUD.

An orangutan drinking water:

Snake!

Not a full-grown elephant, but not a baby elephant. So a tween elephant?

Polar bear!

Here's a cool one off the glass of an exhibit. I'm reminded of an exhibit at the Atlanta Zoo of "The World's Most Dangerous Animal," which is simply a mirror.

We had a good time. After the zoo, we ate a nice dinner out at an Italian restaurant. (Good thing my Lain I teacher played us a movie in Italian this year!) When we got home, Josh and I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I forgot how funny that movie is!

Josh and I leave for Chicago soon.

Trip odometer: 866.6 miles
Currently listening to: Wonder Twin Powers!

June 29: ComFest

Yesterday, after going to Highbanks Park earlier in the day, we went to a local music festival. Dubbed ComFest (for Community Festival), the weekend-long event is spread across half a dozen stages on 40-acre Goodale Park right outside of downtown Columbus. We spent three hours at ComFest that night. Early on, we saw a good jazz group play at the stage on a street corner next to the park.

We hopped around to a few other acts, including a couple of hilarious comedians. Later, at the gazebo stage, we came across an amazing group. At first, it looked like a bluesy Southern singer-songwriter:

On stage was the female singer, and she had an awesome drummer. He had some solid beats, with a bit of hip-hop thrown in. Then some back-up vocalists came up, and they were great!

But… a hype man? Not expected AT ALL, but he was fantastic.

His name is Psycho. He left the stage for a few minutes, but came back on later in a new outfit. And yes, he's holding a thesaurus. Go figure.

I can't get enough of Psycho. A few other guests came up for songs throughout the gig. The whole set was epic. It tuns out the core group is a duo of the singer and the drummer, and their group's name is Wonder Twin Powers! Josh and I got their EP after the show, and it's really good. I've listened to it maybe ten times already. Here's a picture of us with the singer, Jenny Flory:

The group after was pretty good, too. Their name is Under The Sun.

Today, we went back to ComFest. (ComFest Day 2: This Time It's Personal!) On our way to the festival, Earl and Alyn drove us around some sights in downtown Columbus. Here's the Scioto River waterfront.

When Josh and I got to ComFest, there was a WEIRD free-form jazz/poetry group, but we didn't stay long.

Then we caught a great performance by a killer singer-songwriter named Mike Perkins. His music is really catchy. I bought three of his CDs after the show.

We really enjoyed the set. After him, a group called the Floorwalkers played. They put on one hell of a show!

A rapper came out for a verse? I didn't see it coming, but he was good.

And then a tenor sax player came out for a song. He was amazing, and the crowd loved him!

I highly recommend the Floorwalkers, along with Wonder Twin Powers! and Mike Perkins, for that matter. It started pouring rain after the encore, and Josh and I left, but we still had a great time at ComFest. It looks like there's scattered storms in Columbus for the next few days, so we'll see what happens for us tomorrow.

Trip odometer: 866.5 miles
Currently listening to: Mike Perkins

June 28: Drive to Columbus and Hike in Highbanks

Yesterday, we drove from Franklin, North Carolina, to Columbus, Ohio. It's a long drive. We left the house in North Carolina at 9:00 in the morning, and we stopped a few miles north of Knoxville, Tennessee, for lunch a bit after noon. We ate at a Mexican joint called La Fiesta, which was very interestingly decorated. There was this water fixture in the middle of the restaurant. I didn't really get it, but that's just me.

There were also a lot of things on the ceiling. Too much?

I had a chimichanga, and I was happy. A few hours later, when we were outside of Lexington, Kentucky, the car exhaust unhinged itself from the back of the car, and started dragging on the road. We pulled over, called AAA, and a guy named Bill came out in a tow truck and put the exhaust back up.

Everything ended up being fine. Bill followed us on the interstate for maybe 10 miles, just to make sure everything was alright. He was very nice. That whole thing was a delay of maybe an hour or an hour and a half. Not too terrible. On the road again, we passed by an interesting sign. (Hint: it's not the Harley-Davidson sign.) 

For the record, a lot of Quakers I know are vegetarian. Anyway, maybe an hour later, we passed through Cincinnati at rush hour. Here a picture of the Cincy skyline:

We made it to Columbus at around 8:00. My relatives Earl and Alyn live here; Earl is my Aunt Kate's father, and Alyn is his wife. We ate dinner, and went to bed pretty early. This morning, Josh and I went to Highbanks Metro Park, about a mile away from Earl and Alyn's house. We went hiking, and it's surprisingly woody for Ohio.

Here's a picture of the Olentangy River that runs by the path.

Right before we left the park, we came across a gigantic dandelion. Neither one of us had seen one that big before.

Here's a picture of the road that runs through the park. I liked how the clouds looked. Luckily, we left right before it started raining.

One thing I forgot: Earl works at Ohio State, which is the big Michigan rival. Luckily, he doesn't care about the rivalry, but let's just say I won't be wearing my Michigan T-shirt in Columbus.

Trip odometer: 866.5 miles
Currently listening to: Music of Ola Gjeilo, sung by the Phoenix Chorale

June 26: Last Day in North Carolina

Today was a relaxed day. This morning, we tossed around the Frisbee for a while, and then we played some cards. (Josh is very good at Go Fish.) The Carolina summer has been bringing us scattered rains in throughout our days here. So since our usual spot for playing cards was wet, we made a makeshift table in the pavilion.

I took this shot of the gravel road on our walk back up to the house.

For lunch, Josh made the gnocchi, and I made the salad. Josh approved of my salad. What more can I ask for?

We didn't do very much in the afternoon, mainly because of the heavy scattered rains. When it finally got sunny later in the afternoon, I went down to the river and read some more of a book my dad got me, called Blue Highways.

After dinner, Josh built a fire, and we made s'mores. We got a pack of Resse's Cups, and we each had a Reese's Cup s'more. If you've never tried one, I highly recommend it!

In the morning, we'll leave for Columbus, Ohio. I'm looking forward to the drive!

Trip odometer: 334.9 miles

Currently listening to: Big K.R.I.T

June 25: Day Trip to Pisgah Forest

Josh and I didn't do too much yesterday. We spent some time outside, and I took some pictures. Here's a shot of the house:

A view of the mountains from the property:

And for some reason there's an old windmill? I guess? I thought it looked cool.

We also watched a lot of television, mainly How I Met Your Mother and Top Gear. We had pasta for dinner last night, and Josh made us a killer sauce from scratch.

Today, we took a day trip to the Pisgah National Forest, near Brevard, North Carolina. When Josh was younger, his summer camp used to go to a place in the Pisgah called Sliding Rock, which is a 60-foot natural water slide. Josh and I decided to go to Sliding Rock today, and we had a blast.

After that, we went to the nearby Looking Glass Falls, which is gorgeous. Pictures can't capture how amazing the waterfall is.

Then we went to an ice cream shop nearby called Dolly's Dairy Bar. We both had some delicious blackberry ice cream, which I ate up before I could take a picture of it. The shop has a nice porch with rocking chairs. We had a good time. Now we're back in Franklin after the hour and a half ride back.

Dinner's ready. We're having fajitas tonight.

Trip odometer: 334.5 miles
Currently listening to: Top Gear in the background, but we listened to a lot of Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons today

June 23: First Day!

Today's the first day of our big trip. I had to say my (sad) goodbyes, but then we hit the road. The picture above was taken right before we left.

Josh and I just made it up from Atlanta to our first stop in Franklin, North Carolina. We stopped at the Ingles in Franklin to pick up some groceries. Now we're just about to make some dinner. (For those of you who don't know, Josh is an awesome cook, and I'm excited to see what we're going to eat. Warning: I may be posting some food pictures throughout the trip!)

We're staying these first few days by ourselves at my Aunt Stacy and her fiancé Greg's place. It's ten acres of what used to be a campground, but now they just own it for friends and family to stay. The old camp store is now a super nice house with a decked out kitchen, bedrooms, etc. And to top it off, the property is right by the Nantahala River. Here's a picture I took of the river when I was here a few years ago:

Anyway, it's about time to make some food. More posts to come. We'll leave you with a picture of us making dinner:

Currently listening to: The Head and The Heart

Current odometer reading: 132.6 miles from home