Second full day of the OSU trip starts with a quick bite to eat while Julia sleeps, then I hop on the Peloton for an hour. The wifi does not work with the bike so I just ride generally forward for an hour to check this box. I then do my morning routine/stretches and sweat all over everything in the gym.
After a shower, we get ready and go to High Bank Distillery for brunch. We meet some relatives of Julia’s mom’s boyfriend, and while that sounds like it could be awkward, I am old and DGAF and they were generally nice people. The meal is amazing and I am sure this place will be a routine stop on future visits.
We leave and drive over to Fox in Snow Cafe, which is 1 of 2 locations in the city. The first one has a line out the door so we go to the second which is much more reasonable. We wait a little bit in line and we get some pretty good coffee, which I see from the shelf is from Tandem roasters in Portland, Maine.
We then drive over to campus and go in the Barnes & Noble store. I told her that I would not buy myself an OSU shirt unless she was going there, and she said she would decide in a week (to go there) and I could buy a shirt. Note that as I write this a week later, she has already accepted so it was a fruitful purchase.
We then walk around campus where she declares at one point, “I’m not going to San Diego.”
I like the campus, it’s a combination of modern yet pretty, and while it’s technically in the city it’s peaceful. It may not be as nice as South Carolina, but I think OSU integrates with Columbus better than USC integrates with Columbia.
We go to Walgreens to get some allergy meds then to the hotel for a break.
Dinner tonight is ramen at Ampersand Asian Dinner Club and the egg & broth are excellent. The meat is good, not as good as ours. The broccoli is fabulous and I may need to figure out how to incorporate it into our bowl.
We then grab some Jeni’s ice cream. It turns out that Jeni’s is from Columbus and has locations all over. While I love this ice cream it is about the most expensive stuff on earth.
We head back to the hotel, then watch the Alabama-UConn men’s BB game. UConn wins.
Sunday morning we are up by 7 and after a quick breakfast, out by 8. The drive is free and clear. We stop once for lunch, and once for gas, and we are still home in 8 hours by 4:00.
Solid trip, and I am sure it’ll be the first of many out to OSU.
Traveling Normandy 