Back to Columbus
As briefly alluded to, after M's parents were here for Christmas we went down to Columbus the week between and New Year's.
As with our earlier trip, we stayed in an AirBNB from Monday 12/27 to Thursday 12/30. This house was in the northern suburb of Shawnee Hills, and like our earlier trip was a three bedroom house on a single floor. We got groceries for our breakfast and lunches, and had takeout for dinner.
While in Columbus:
- M's parents still live in the house she grew up in, and they have a close relationship with their long-time next door neighbor Ellen. Ellen lives in Chicago now, but her son now lives in her old house, and she was back for the holidays. M got to show off Birdie to her when we first arrived.
- The next day we met M's friend Amber and her family at a playground so her twin sons could play while the nominal adults hung out and chatted. It was a bit cold and rainy, but still fun. Amber was a witness at our wedding and one of only three people I'm friends with on Facebook (the other two are cousins of M) who I hadn't met in the real world, so that was a nice bonus.
- M's friends Jess and Robert (of trivia fame were in Columbus to visit family. Wednesday morning we hung out at their AirBNB and chatted for several hours. We showed off Birdie, they showed off their three kids. Thankfully, it wasn't cold and rainy that day.
- Unsurprisingly, we saw a lot of M's parents. Since they were still hadn't seen anyone since their trip to visit us, they came over for takeout dinner two nights in a row (City BBQ and Aladdin's, and we saw them several other times as well. There was a lot of "hanging out at our AirBNB so they could play with their granddaughter" going on.
Food-wise, Aladdin's was Aladdin's. We got chicken and roasted turkey from City BBQ, but they left out the BBQ sauce from the delivery packet which was a little weird. The chicken was well spiced and still good, but the turkey was a little dry for my taste sans sauce. We also got mac & cheese, which was fine, and slaw, which I didn't eat.
- We also saw M's sister and nephew a few times. They stopped by the AirBNB once, we stopped by their house once, and they and M's mother all spent Wednesday afternoon with us at the Columbus Zoo. It was my first time attending that zoo, but most of the animals were inside for the winter so I didn't really "see" much beyond the Christmas light show and a few hardier outdoor animals like the tiger and the moose. I hope to return post-pandemic, or failing that in warmer weather.
- After the zoo, M and I got takeout from Amul India, which was solid Indian food. The area around our AirBNB has a large Indian community so we were spoiled for choice when it came to Indian food.
- We very briefly got to see Kati in a quick visit in the driveway of M's parents house before we left.
- One of the books at the AirBNB was World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. This was a bunch of short chapters that used various animals and plants to form a memoir of her life. It was very beautiful and I strongly recommend it.
I also started reading another book that was there, Sailing Alone Around the World, the memoir by Joshua Slocum of his famous voyage on the Spray. I enjoyed the first 1/3 of it enough that I'll have to get a copy and finish it some day.
That concluded our travel for 2021. We went to Columbus twice, to my parents in PA twice, and as far as west as the Pumpkin Patch. That makes it the least impressive travel year of my life, but such are the way of babies and pandemics. So far we have two definite trips planned for 2022, and a bunch of tentative stuff.
As with our earlier trip, we stayed in an AirBNB from Monday 12/27 to Thursday 12/30. This house was in the northern suburb of Shawnee Hills, and like our earlier trip was a three bedroom house on a single floor. We got groceries for our breakfast and lunches, and had takeout for dinner.
While in Columbus:
- M's parents still live in the house she grew up in, and they have a close relationship with their long-time next door neighbor Ellen. Ellen lives in Chicago now, but her son now lives in her old house, and she was back for the holidays. M got to show off Birdie to her when we first arrived.
- The next day we met M's friend Amber and her family at a playground so her twin sons could play while the nominal adults hung out and chatted. It was a bit cold and rainy, but still fun. Amber was a witness at our wedding and one of only three people I'm friends with on Facebook (the other two are cousins of M) who I hadn't met in the real world, so that was a nice bonus.
- M's friends Jess and Robert (of trivia fame were in Columbus to visit family. Wednesday morning we hung out at their AirBNB and chatted for several hours. We showed off Birdie, they showed off their three kids. Thankfully, it wasn't cold and rainy that day.
- Unsurprisingly, we saw a lot of M's parents. Since they were still hadn't seen anyone since their trip to visit us, they came over for takeout dinner two nights in a row (City BBQ and Aladdin's, and we saw them several other times as well. There was a lot of "hanging out at our AirBNB so they could play with their granddaughter" going on.
Food-wise, Aladdin's was Aladdin's. We got chicken and roasted turkey from City BBQ, but they left out the BBQ sauce from the delivery packet which was a little weird. The chicken was well spiced and still good, but the turkey was a little dry for my taste sans sauce. We also got mac & cheese, which was fine, and slaw, which I didn't eat.
- We also saw M's sister and nephew a few times. They stopped by the AirBNB once, we stopped by their house once, and they and M's mother all spent Wednesday afternoon with us at the Columbus Zoo. It was my first time attending that zoo, but most of the animals were inside for the winter so I didn't really "see" much beyond the Christmas light show and a few hardier outdoor animals like the tiger and the moose. I hope to return post-pandemic, or failing that in warmer weather.
- After the zoo, M and I got takeout from Amul India, which was solid Indian food. The area around our AirBNB has a large Indian community so we were spoiled for choice when it came to Indian food.
- We very briefly got to see Kati in a quick visit in the driveway of M's parents house before we left.
- One of the books at the AirBNB was World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. This was a bunch of short chapters that used various animals and plants to form a memoir of her life. It was very beautiful and I strongly recommend it.
I also started reading another book that was there, Sailing Alone Around the World, the memoir by Joshua Slocum of his famous voyage on the Spray. I enjoyed the first 1/3 of it enough that I'll have to get a copy and finish it some day.
That concluded our travel for 2021. We went to Columbus twice, to my parents in PA twice, and as far as west as the Pumpkin Patch. That makes it the least impressive travel year of my life, but such are the way of babies and pandemics. So far we have two definite trips planned for 2022, and a bunch of tentative stuff.