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.

Winter 2010

The fall and winter schedule has not been kind to us! We've been to busy or the snow has kept us from walking in any of the metro parks. I hope we have better luck in 2011. In the meantime, we've had opportunities to get to know some new eateries that help us in our quest to find Paris everywhere. So, off we went to the Tip Top restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. What a treat it is…small venture with an old-fashioned bar just as you walk in…traditional American fair with a flair.  I enjoyed the spinach, strawberry, and bleu cheese salad while Scott treated himself to a macaroni and cheese dish with a twist (it was delicious) and Zane had a reuben. We went back a second time for our anniversary and I had a traditional grilled cheese and tomato dish while Scott had a ham and cheese.  The drinks were quite fun with themes related to local events like Commit to be Lit (take off on the Commit to be Fit campaign) and Skkye Bust (a lampoon of SkyBus airways that went belly up leaving passengers stranded) which they promised to "throw in your face" for extra fees (lol).

Tip Top is tip-top in our minds and we highly recommend it to those who are trying to find some culture in Columbus!

Zane and me on our first visit!

Strawberry, Spinach and Bleu Cheese Salad, sandwiches and drinks! 

Scott and me on our second visit and our anniversary!

Our next stop on our second visit was at Pistacia Vera which we have featured in previous posts. PV roasts their own coffee beans which makes it a special treat for coffee connoisseurs and their desserts are freshly made delicacies for which we have found no match in Columbus.  Scott had the Lemon Tarte and I devoured a Ginger Pear Frangipani in what seemed like seconds.

Is it cheating….

…if you are looking for Paris in Columbus, Ohio and get sidetracked by a trip to New York City? There's no doubt in my mind that elements of Paris could be found in the City that Never Sleeps, but, I wonder if it's a fair comparison?

                                              Strawberry Fields…...

I don't care. It's our journey and our blog so I'm going to share a little of our trip to New York with a focus on Central Park for now.  Central Park definitely has elements of Paris. Their are city gardens all over Paris. Central Park has everything to make it the show piece of the state…perhaps of the country in the way of urban parks.

Belvedere Castle is simply gorgeous. It was the perfect setting for a wedding picture that shows scale!

A wonderful place to write….
                                         wish I could live my life right on this bench…

                                      or maybe have the time to do some Tai Chi on a daily basis…

Prairie Oaks October 6

A little late in posting some of the pictures but on October 6 we walked again at Prairie Oaks and did River Rock Trail and  Lake View Trails.  This trip out I was surprised at how close the park was to our house.  The trail were fairly easy to walk and we got some good pictures via our Iphones,  compliments of the hipstamatic app.  

One of the things that I like most about digital photography is the fact that you have the ability to experiment without actually costing a lot of money.  It allows anyone with a digital camera the ability to experiment and play with things that may or may not have worked out.  I believe everyone is creative if they are just given the chance to be.

Anyway a good walk and a couple of fun pictures...

~S

I'm just popping in to add a few more photos. I don't think I have a lot to add this time. ~C.