day four: so much to discover

Okay so, again, I failed to discover any of Ohio's world's largest things. I'm not being very good about reaching my goal - Christen had to go to training for her camp job so we haven't explored much. But I did experience two of Columbus's most fun summer events: Columbus Arts Festival and Gallery Hop!

First, I spent early Saturday afternoon working at the Columbus Children's Theatre booth at the festival. This was the view from our booth:

RAINY. Luckily kids love rain and puddles so we still had a pretty good flow of traffic around the arts booths.

Then, Kayleigh and I met up to explore the festival. We thoroughly enjoyed treats from Jeni's Ice Cream (FAVORITE) and Pattycake Bakery:

Kayleigh bought an adorable candlestick holder for her new apartment:

We named him Patrick Meyer after the artist. Mostly because he stamped it with his name.

We then met up with our dear friend Ariel for a lovely, vegetarian-friendly (read: Leah-friendly) dinner at Northstar off High Street in the Short North.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Rising Star (is that what it was called) drink, which had a strongly carrot flavor... hence the bunny ears. Or maybe that was a happy coincidence. Ask Ariel.

Ariel also enjoyed her buddha bowl...

...and Kayleigh enjoyed her flatbread thing.

We then enjoyed the wonders and delights of GALLERY HOP on High. We happened upon many curious things, not limited to the things pictured.

For more curious items found during Gallery Hop, check out the photo album - the link's in the sidebar to the right.

There was chalk art, there were hipsters, there was live music, there was even a stray ice cream truck. I suggest you head down to High Street on the eve of the first Saturday of the summer months. You will probably buy something that you don't need, but isn't that a joy of life?

day three: look to the future, preserve the past

Today, we didn't see any world's largest thing. We did, however, go thrifting/vintage clothes shopping. After an extensive Google search, we determined that most of these shops are on North High Street. We eventually made our way there, but first we made a pitstop at Volunteers of America, where Christen was in search of decade clothes for the camp she is working at later this summer.

We found some gems.

Sadly, this 80s prom queen dress didn't quite fit.

We did, however, purchase this lovely plaid shirt for Corn Roast night!

After that, we stopped at Pattycake Bakery on a whim. I had visited their website and we wanted to check it out.

Inside the shop, we encountered two men who had driven all the way from Tennessee just to stop at Pattycake. INSANE!! Obviously we had to get something. We purchased double chocolate and peppermint whoopee pies.

Christen ate hers and deemed it absolutely delicious. She says that the icing was amazing and you couldn't even tell it was vegan. Which it was!

We then moved on to the vintage/antique stores on High.

First up, Mad4Mod.

This shop was AMAZING. We recommend it to anyone looking for ADORABLE and authentic vintage wear at a good price.

The employees were extremely cool, friendly and SO helpful. There was a very wide selection of clothes. I bought a kimono robe, something I collect. (I now have a collection of two, but I have the intention of going back and buying MORE- they have a very wide selection, and give really great advice.)

Beautiful at only $15.

Then, we went to the Boomerang Room, which had many interesting trinkets, but was a little lacking in clothing. But hey, it was more of a furniture and knick knack joint.

Across the street, we went to Eclectiques. It had a very, very large selection of everything imaginable, and had things from many vendors. The clothing was mostly very well priced, but it wasn't exactly what we were looking for, and they didn't have A/C so we were a little sweaty. However, I recommend it to anyone looking for a fun treasure hunt through interesting stuff... there were a couple of flapper dresses I was really itching to buy.

Next we visited Rag-O-Rama.

THERE WERE TUTUS. !!!!!!!!

There were also a lot of other clothes from all eras, but leaning more towards modern clothes. There was some great and crazy stuff here. We didn't buy anything, but I am planning on coming back to purchase things for my Lady Gaga Halloween costume! (Yes, I plan way ahead.)

I had a late lunch (Christen had a Compassionberry Snapple, as seen on Celebrity Apprentice) at Cornerstone Deli and Cafe.

I ate a delicious tomato grilled cheese (the tomato was a welcomed surprise) in a room decorated with fish artwork.

It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Look for part II of this post, when we explore the rest of the vintage/thrift clothing stores on High!

day two: touch the heart, teach the mind

So, we only have one "world's largest" to show you today. But before we do, we would just like to shamelessly plug the wonderland of our childhood: THE COLUMBUS ZOO. Yes, #1 in America.

Recently, the Columbus Zoo has installed a POLAR BEAR EXHIBIT. Extraordinarily exciting. Emily and I made our way there this afternoon to see THE POLAR BEARS!

So cute. There is also this nifty underwater viewing thing, but they weren't swimming. They really should've been since it was so hot. Anyway it looks like this:

At that point in time it just looked like murky water with inevitably doomed fish swimming above it. But I hear it's cool when the polar bears are swimming.

Although you can't pet the polar bears, there are lovely statues you can play with.

Just be careful not to touch them when it's sunny or they will burn you.

Anyway, the Columbus Zoo is also home to...

THE WORLD'S LARGEST SNAKE IN CAPTIVITY!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the world's largest snake in captivity, Fluffy the Python.

For more reasons why you should probably visit the Columbus Zoo, check our Photobucket album. It contains evidence of our wonderful excursion, including fox attacks, raccoon butts, adorable baby otters and melting orangutans. The link's on the sidebar to the right.

day one: everything's bigger in Ohio

Today, two bored students home from college for the summer decided to begin an epic adventure. The goal? To find and document all of the "world's largest" things in the good state of Ohio.

We decided to start, for today, with four "world's largest" things.

With only two hours left of sunlight, we departed.

We ventured into downtown Columbus, a convenient 15 minutes away from our suburb (for non-Ohioans, that's about 3-5 miles, which I guess is what normal Americans measure distance in, and we had to ask my mom how many miles 15 minutes was) of Hilliard.

First on our list: The world's largest gavel, along Front Street. Apparently this is supposed to honor the Ohio Supreme Court, so that's cool.

As you can see from these nifty perspective pictures, it is really big. Hence the title of "world's largest". However, if you own a gavel equal to or larger than this one, our apologies. Please take a nifty perspective picture and get back to us.

During this excursion, we discovered a part of Columbus that apparently sprung up while we were away; the most delightful apartments next to the ex-Lazarus building.

How nice. I also made a new friend wearing nothing but overalls. He was very friendly. Possibly too friendly.

Next, we went in search of the world's biggest mortarboard graduation cap. It was situated on the campus of Franklin University, which, as we all know, makes it possible.

We found it suspended over Rich Street. We had no choice but to take tacky tourists pictures, even though I don't think you can be a tourist in a place where you live. These pictures are akin to the pictures that other Americans take of themselves "pushing over the Leaning Tower of Pisa" and such.

Classy.

On our way out of downtown, we passed the world's weakest attempt at emulating Times Square:

Keep on keepin' on, Columbus.

Columbus also seems to be under the delusion that it is France:

Can you tell which is which? It's difficult, I know.

(We know this was actually part of an old train station.)

For our third "world's largest" of the day, we visited a truly unique landmark.

THE WORLD'S LARGEST FIELD OF CONCRETE CORN.

Yes, friends: A field of 109 concrete corns off of Rings Road. This is supposedly a tribute to the great Sam Frantz (of the adjoining Frantz Road, perhaps?), an inventor of hybrid corns.

I never understand how it remains un-vandalized.

And finally, as the sun sets, we rounded out our series of Ohio's "world's largest" for today.

THE BALLANTRAE TRASH BUNNIES.

Yes, they are made of real life trash.

More nifty perspective pictures:

We are assuming that these are the world's largest bunny statues because Google told us so. If they are not, they are almost certainly the world's largest bunny statues made of trash. I challenge you to make a bigger one.

To finish the day, we headed to the Ohio legend of ice cream, Graeter's. Although I found coconut shreds and a whole almond in my black raspberry chip ice cream, and Christen found a hair in her blueberry pie ice cream, we remained satisfied and loyal customers.

That's quality.

Stay tuned for more exciting Ohio "world's largest" adventures. They will be undoubtably quirky.

P.S. To see the rest of our pictures from today, take a look at our Photobucket account here!