I've Never Been to Ohio

We spent last weekend in Ohio. Michael was INVITED to Ohio State's "Up and Coming Senior" football camp. Michael is just a Junior. Yes, they know that but they were very impressed with his performance at camp last year and would like to see him again. But, Ohio State typically does not recruit out of the south. True, but they feel it would be to Michael's advantage to attend this camp. So...we took him. He did well...got a coupla elbows to the face (no contact my foot) but handled himself well. A number of coaches/scouts form other colleges talked with him and he made sure they knew who he was (most already knew). So...I'm thinking full ride scholarship? I could hang in Ohio for a few years.

So, camp was just on Friday so Kenneth & I explored Columbus. We went to German Village (cute) and had yummy German food at Schmidt's, went to the fudge shop and looked around in the little shops. {Side note: they had a major crisis at the Houston data center so Kenneth was on the phone ALL DAY}. Then we went to the old School for the Deaf where they have created this topiary garden that looks like Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle De La Grande Jatte.

I thought it was very clever. Oh by the way, the weather was great it was in the low 80's during the day and got down in the 50's at night. We rented a convertible. FUN! We toured the Statehouse which is the capital building. It's modestly ornate. There are some cool civil war relics and the rotunda is very nice. They had a really sad memorial of soldiers lost in Iraq. We got to go into the House and Senate Chambers. Nice but the carpet was atrocious. Then we drove around in circles trying to get to the Santa Maria, a replica of the ship Columbus sailed over here in, but with all the construction, we finally gave up. Kenneth got a call and we stopped in this parking lot and I got out to look around and found an old Presbyterian cemetery from 1797. It was on the site of the first church in the community of Franklinton which is now Columbus. It was just sitting in the back yard of some old mechanics garage. Weird. So we walked around there for a while then went to get Michael.

Meanwhile, back in Texas, Jay & Martha were heading up to Estes Park so we put Michael on a plane to Amarillo and Kenneth & I stayed 'til Sunday. We headed up to Holmes County which has the largest concentration of Amish people in the nation. Who knew? The ride out there was great! It was cool but we wanted to leave the top down so we actually turned the heater on and donned our sweaters. Hey...it's 100 degrees in Texas, I'm gonna enjoy this while I can.

We passed the Longaberger Basket Company. Yes, that is an eight or nine story office building. How cute is that? We drove through some beautiful country. Then it got really dark. Kenneth was trying to talk to Michael so he stopped the car on the side of the road. He told me to look out across the fields and he turned off the lights. I've never seen anything like it. The hills were sparkling. Lightening bugs, fire flies, glow worms, whatever you call them, they were out and it was incredible. We drove along country roads, some paved, some not, up into the hills and down into the valleys. We saw deer, racoons, possums, cats, dogs, cows, sheep, goats, horses and even the occasional buggy.

We FINALLY got to Grandma's Homestead Bed & Breakfast and got a good nights sleep. (NO PHONE CALLS at 2am). Woke to the sounds and smells of a busy country kitchen. Breakfast was great, the company fun and the scenery was spectacular. This is the view from our porch looking out across the valley. Everything was so green and peaceful. The farms were very well kept and the people, Amish and "English" (not Amish) were so happy and busy and relaxed and, well, at peace. The children laughed and played, the young adults at work seemed to enjoy what they were doing, the older folks had a sense of pride in their accomplishments and in their families. Cool Place!

We went to antique shops, quilt shops and even an Amish flea market. We ate lots of Amish food...just down home country cookin'. We toured an Amish Farmstead and saw baby animals. We just had a nice time. I wish Kenneth could have enjoyed it more but he is very good at living IN the moment. When he wasn't on the phone, he was soaking it all in. But he did say we could go back and stay longer next time. We had to leave when it started to get dark because we had a 9:30 flight the next morning and had to drive back to Columbus to spend the night. So, we said goodbye to our Amish friends and flew to Dallas, drove to Houston and here we are. Next is the Colorado trip. We leave the 3rd. I CAN'T WAIT! Maybe they'll leave Kenneth alone for a while and give him a MUCH needed break.