We were about 30 miles (less than 50 kilometers) southeast of Columbus, and our first stop in the city was in the suburbs, stopping at the Watlao Buddhamamakaram Buddhist Temple, a Laotian temple that was built in 2009. The grounds were empty when we arrived, except for a lady who arrived at the same time as us and was about to enter one of the buildings, but indicated it was okay for us to check out the temple.
The temple is lovely and serene, with a walkway flanked by green, red and gold dragons (and then red and gold dragons), leading to the temple, which was beaming in the bright sunlight with its richly painted white, gold, red, and blue colors, and intricate roof. Walking up the stairs leading to the door of the temple, we found that it was unfortunately closed, but the grounds are clean and it's a peaceful place to simply sit and meditate in.
Stepping into a Seurat Painting
Another relaxing setting is Topiary Park in Columbus, which has the only topiary garden based on a painting, which is Georges Seurat’s "A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle of La Grand Jatte" from 1887. The Topiary Garden is at the original site of the Ohio School for the Deaf, which operated from the 1890s until 1953, but fire unfortunately destroyed the school in 1981 so only a few ruins remain. Here, we could also see the topiaries of the various figures from the famous painting, including of people, dogs, and boats in the little lake. It's an incredible way to bring a masterpiece to life (the tallest topiary is 12 feet), and be able to wander and stand next to the individual topiary figures, as if you had stepped into the pointillism-style painting itself. Pretty cool to have nature imitate art!
Columbus on e-Bike
Just like what we'd done in cities like Detroit and New Orleans, we figured we could see the city most efficiently on e-bike rather than driving our big RV and contending with parking. We both piled onto one, and headed first to the Ohio Statehouse, the state capitol building built in Greek Revival style, which had a peaceful protest on the front steps about gerrymandering (from what we could gather!). Next to the Statehouse is the striking Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Memorial, with a detailed inscription on two big slabs with a cut-out star in the middle.
We're continuing to see what items Americans can make into the "world's largest," and in Columbus it's the world's largest gavel, a 31 foot (about 9.5 meters) steel sculpture outside the Supreme Court of Ohio. We wonder if anyone "objected" to this big gavel? (Geddit?!)
We drove past the High Corridor and Arena districts, passing by a number of hotels that presumably are for folks visiting the nearby conference centers and stadiums in the area. Outside the Greater Columbus Convention Center is the Arnold Schwarzenegger Statue, a bronze statue showing him in a permanent flexing pose, commemorating when he competed and won in the Mr. World competition in Columbus back in 1970.
Cycling across West Broad Street, we crossed the Scioto River, where we saw a couple of bronze deer sculptures hanging around: one lazing on some grass, and another up the top of some stairs, sitting in contemplation. There are 3 deer sculptures along the Scioto Mile, all with humanlike poses. From the river, people can easily walk and cycle around and get a beautiful view of the city--Columbus is really pretty!
The park was very clean and immaculate, and the historic buildings and sunny skies made for the perfect day. Riding alongside Dorrian Green park, we soon arrived at The Slingshot, which is 20 foot (over 6 meters) tall and 12 foot (over 3.5 meters) wide; it's a playful sculpture where you can sit in the pouch, looking like you're about to be launched by the two fingers that could let go of the projectile at any moment!
We crossed the bridge on West Main Street to get back to the side of the city we were originally on, stopping to see the third and final deer sculpture, standing on its two hind legs along the bridge, gazing into the water below. Our e-bike battery hadn't been fully charged, so we rushed back to the RV, and fortunately made it back with battery left to spare!
Leaving our (free!) parking spot, we drove back past the Arnold Schwarzenegger statue, realizing that we weren't very far from "As We Are," which is a unique art installation made from ribbons of LED screens. Visitors can go to a photo booth to take a selfie of themselves, which then is uploaded into this massive screen that stands at 14 feet (over 4.2 meters) high. If nobody is taking any selfies, then the display cycles through existing portraits of people. Because it was hard to find a parking spot around the Arena District, Michael ran out to take a quick photo of the installation, although wasn't able to try the installation out for himself as the line for people wanting their own selfie was rather long! Sometimes we've found that we need to take turns to hop in and out to check out places, as parking can be really difficult!
Finally, we drove through Ohio State University, as there were a couple of spots that we wanted to check out, but with school back in session there really was nowhere for us to stop and park, so it was really just driving through and looking at the campus, as students strolled all around us (nobody looked like they were in a rush to get to their next class, or wherever they were headed). Universities in the US are all huge and incredible, with stunning architecture and acres of land. We've always been in awe of all the campuses we've visited!
German Village and Sausage Haus
By sheer coincidence, our friend Kait had called us the previous evening, who hails from Columbus. We'd shared some of the places we'd planned to visit, and she had noted that the German Village would be a lovely area to check out. It's a walkable, charming neighborhood, with a lot of well-preserved European-style architecture, brick-lined streets, and lots of boutique shops, cafes and restaurants to check out.
Fortunately, it was easy to find a parking spot, and from here it was a short amble over to Schmidt's Sausage Haus, founded by German immigrant J. Fred Schmidt, who arrived in the US in the early 1880s, starting a successful Meat Packing House in the historic German Village, before expanding to the restaurant business (there's also a Schmidt's Fudge Haus across the road). Schmidt's is now a 5th-generation run business, and is a popular destination place for customers to frequent, it seems for both locals and visitors to Columbus.
We went into the restaurant and despite getting there around 3pm, there were quite a lot of folks sitting and eating--it turns out that there's a lunchtime all-you-can-eat buffet, and people were taking advantage of the unlimited amounts of chicken schnitzel, sauerkraut, German potato salad, spaetzle, sausages, salads, and more. It costs $20, which is a pretty good deal! However, Michael wanted to try their signature sausage, the Bahama Mama, a spicy blend of beef and pork that they've been serving up since 1968, so he got this with a side of German potato salad. Like many German restaurants, the main menu doesn't have a lot of non-meat options, but there is a separate vegetarian menu that Lisette asked for, from which she ordered a vegetarian Reuben sandwich (mushrooms, sauerkraut, cheese, bell peppers, onions), and a side of kartoffelpuffer (crispy German pancakes), served with applesauce.
When the dishes came, the servings were huge! Lisette's vegetarian sandwich on rye bread was overflowing with fillings and it was impossible for her to finish the entire dish, though she tried her hardest! She had to remove some of the sauerkraut and onions from the sandwich, it was just way too much. We enjoyed our meals, but definitely wouldn't have fared well with the all-you-can-eat buffet. While we ate a late lunch, we had no appetite to eat anything further for the remainder of the day (and for Lisette, that continued to the next morning!). If you're looking for a very filling meal, Schmidt's Sausage Haus is a great place to visit.
The Famous Longaberger Baskets
We had initially anticipated that we'd spend the night in Columbus, but with our efficient e-bike exploration mode, we were able to cover a lot of ground really quickly, and decided that we'd continue on our way. East of Columbus in the town of Newark is the Longaberger Building, the former headquarters of the Longaberger Company, an American manufacturer and distributor of handcrafted maple wood baskets and other home and lifestyle products. Longaberger's baskets were popular in the 1980s and 1990s, and the company was then acquired in 2013.
The Longaberger Building is a 7-story building that was designed to resemble the company's Medium Market Basket, complete with handles. The building was used until 2016, and has since stood abandoned, remaining a vacant but intriguing visitor stop thanks to its striking architecture. Apparently there had been plans to convert the building into a hotel, but this has fallen through, so its future remains unknown. We had heard about this building, randomly, in a Last Week Tonight episode earlier this year, when John Oliver joked about Americans loving the "world's largest" items--with the Longaberger Building apparently being his favorite. Once we saw this, we added this stop to our trip!
While the Longaberger corporate headquarters may get more attention, there's another huge basket at the abandoned Longaberger Village, a 5,000-acre "homestead" that had been developed into an educational park and historical village, with basket-filled architecture and shops. While the buildings remain silently standing and vacated, the one attraction that is standing in good shape is the World's Largest Apple Basket, another sculpture of a Longaberger handcrafted black and white basket, filled with sculpted apples flowing from the top. Longaberger has been revived as a brand since its acquisition and bankruptcy, so perhaps one day this will be restored to its former glory.
Cornfields and Cracker Barrel, Yet Again
We were driving through more rural parts of Ohio, where we could see vast fields of corn crops--and like we had been told when we were back in Iowa, we were now seeing the corn being harvested, yay! We've now seen corn through its entire lifecycle as we've traveled across the country, from being a small crop, to rapidly increasing so that they towered above us, to becoming fully golden and brown in color, with ears sprouting, indicating that they would soon be ready for harvest. We didn't realize there'd be so many cornfields in Ohio too, but corn is definitely one of the crops that seems to grow extensively all throughout the country.
Tonight we stayed out overnight at yet another Cracker Barrel, which we're staying at with the same frequency that we were doing with casinos in the spring. Funnily enough, we've never been inside a Cracker Barrel, so Lisette went in this evening to check it out. This one had a homely country feel from the outside, with a porch wrapping around and wooden chairs set up outside with board games like checkers. Stepping inside, visitors arrive immediately at a gift store selling various "country" and homely type of gifts, including jams and preserves, kitchen items, clothes, and even CDs of country singers like Dolly Parton! There was an archway that then led to the restaurant. We wonder how many Cracker Barrel restaurants we'll end up staying in--at this rate, they'll surpass the number of casinos we frequented for the evening!