Other Venues

I haven't been outside long enough to discover anything for quite a long time and it will be sometime longer. I haven't exactly lost sight of the intent of the blog, I just have put my writing and searching mojo on hiatus. Thankfully the Hipstamatic app for iPhone has me discovering other places I might want to explore. This crazy little connector of people is allowing me to see the world through native eyes. Top on my list are of foreign and doemstic travel right now: Cornwall, Sardinia, Istanbul, Dublin, New Jersey, and Oregon. Of course I will always await my return to Paris, Boston, and NYC, but, as I heal and take I sites virtually through the photos of my friends across the world, I'll explore other options and keep my traveling spirits up! Bon Hiver!

Paris in Florida!

Just a couple of photos from our recent visit to Orlando, Florida at the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal Islands of Adventure. This COULD be an amazing kid vacation, but, we went sans kids and proceeded to act like them with our middle-aged and beyond friends. ~cw

Hogwarts Castle at Universal Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Hogsmeade entrance

Hogwarts express

New Addiction (if we only had it here) Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt

Off the Beaten Path…totally OFF!

We lost our way in our quest to find Paris on the trails in Columbus. That doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything, only that our journey was interrupted (mainly by rainy spring weather) and we need to get back to the trails.

We have spent lots of time in a new found passion of geocaching. All we need to do now is superimpose GPS treasure hunting with trail walking here in Central Ohio.

A few pics from our geocaching adventures. NONE are found in the Columbus Metro Park system. I feel a trail geocache experience coming on right nnnnnn ... owwww!!

Nephew Kyle in Pennsylvania

Friend Nora, Best Cache in Ohio

Joan, from Minnesota, we had to kiss a frog for this cache

Son Zane indulging my caching habit for Mother's Day

Scott with a homemade rock cache!

Sometimes you have to reach into unexpected hidden places for magnetic caches!

Duck Ripples after a cache find

We are back!

Audubon Metro Park and Columbus, Ohio

March 19, 2011 It has been awhile since we hit an actual trail but we ventured out today to the Scioto Audubon Metro Park.  So with Dog in car we drove down to Whittier to the park entrance.  I have to say it was a very cool little park with a great view of the downtown skyline.  There was an enclosed dog park with an area for big and small dogs.  It even had ramps and tubes and things that you would normally see at dog shows.  In another part of the the park there was a large climbing wall.


Looking forward to being back to the park again soon with some climbing gear when it warms up. SO


This particular park has a brilliant view of Downtown Columbus. When the weather finally breaks I am hopeful it will truly morph into a bird sanctuary because we saw very little other than the skyline. The trees are still bare to their skinny limbs! But, that didn't stop me from snapping some very cool photos with both the Canon and the iPhone Hipstamatic.  CW

A HUGE seagull completely constructed from plastic bags and tree limbs! 

The Entry Rock

Our car gets a special place!

iphone Hipstamatic photo of the best tree in the park!

Dog Park Toys

Climbing Rock!

J Cow-o-uac Enjoys the Scenery!

Paris in an Antique "Mall"

When is an old house not an old house? When it has multiple antique vendors! I guess that a collection of stores under the same roof is in fact a mall, but, the Columbus Antique Mall is so much more than a collection of stores.

Scott enters the "mall"

Multiple vendors are lodged in multiple rooms both upstairs and downstairs in the mall. Typically, my concentration is easily overwhelmed, but, the antiques housed in this beautiful old building really get me going in a fun and creative way! I think I could live here.

Antiques in and of themselves are not something we lust after on an everyday basis, but, we do like to look and, on occasion, a purchase is made purely for nostalgia sake.  

This mall is more about the experience. The winding rooms overflow with hats and vintage clothes, books and toys of my childhood, the standard furniture and knick-knacks, and, of course JEWELRY!

But, what grabs me most is the creepy dolls! Porcelain faces peek out and creep me out everywhere. I can't help looking! I can't help loving their cracked, browning faces, cobweb lacing dresses, and strange, expressionless mouths. The thing is that they really do CREEP ME OUT! 

Baby Jane in the background waiting to pounce on her fair-haired sister!

       

Howdy Doody marionette! 

Creepy Crib with Crawling Hands!

When we were in Paris everything looked antique and provided a major charm factor for both of us. It's a little more than a touch of Paris for me save the title of "mall" which I'm not sure there is a matching French term.

Not to mention the chapeau selection is divine!

Dahling….

Suave'

     

Miranda was aghast at my lack of
taste in hats. She shunned me.