Home By Way of Columbus

The time has come my friends.All good things must come to an end and we eventually had to come back home. We left Cleveland early-ish to start the trip home. It was supposed to take a little over 8 hours. We made a few pit stops of course.

Like at this field of corn in Dublin, Ohio! It is in the middle of an industrial park, so weird. Apparently it is a tribute to the inventor of hybrid corn. There are 109 ears. While we were there a girl about our age pulled up and proceeded to take corn selfies. It was a hot spot on Sunday morning.

We got to Columbus around lunch time and made our way to Dirty Frank's Hotdog Palace. What a place! What a town! We planned on just making a quick food stop but ended up staying for a few hours.

Everything about it was cute. I need that Freddie painting.

I got the picnic blanket. It was a veggie dog with slaw, baked beans, relish and crushed potato chips. Geeze! It was a little too much for me, I like stuff pretty plan usually, but it was good.

Travis loved it so much!

I  don't even remember what he got. He might be by soon to edit this post and tell you. Haha! He comes after me and fixes all my typos. A little behind the scenes for you!

We made our way to the Big Fun location in downtown Columbus so we could get another photobooth strip. Parking was awful and Travis dropped me off then took about 20 minutes to find a spot! It ended up being good though, because on the way back we found all kinds of cute shops to look in. It was such a nice day. I felt very happy and in love with life. And that Pee Wee sign.

Here is what we bought. I love the two photo strips we got this trip. And that Pee Wee fun pack was amazing! It temporary tattoos, a lenticular picture, sticks, a toy and an activity and every single thing was awesome! I wish I had bought a few more! The Addams Family cards were for Travis, obviously. He is obsessed. He keeps talking about getting a THIRD Addams Family tattoo.

We did some vintage browsing too. All I bought here was a little spun head guy. I wish I had bought this Elvis bust.

I heemed and hawed about buying this Life Magazine and now I wish I had! I haven't found it that cheap online. I need to see the Pee Wee party tips!!

More cute shops. Made the long walk to our car much more fun!

One shop had this awesome chicken machine, for a quarter you got an egg that had a button made with a vintage illustration! I got an owl and a squirrel! Made for me!

After we got back to the car we drove to 16 Bit, recommended to me by my buddy Jane Boston. It is a bar that is full of arcade games!

It was so fun! We had a bunch of quarters (I got a roll for tolls) but soon realized you didn't have to pay for most of the games! Really all you had to pay for was pinball. If we lived in town I'd love to come back. We didn't even end up getting drinks because it was early and we were about to get back on the road.

Travis loved the Simpsons game, and Time Crisis. We played Marble Madness too, it was so hard!

We got back on the road, and had about 6 hours left to go.

I got this at a coffee shop in Columbus. I love it! I need to find it somewhere around here.

We made great time until we got to Louisville and got stuck in stand still traffic! It made us too late to eat at Heart and Soy, which really is a tragedy. We finally got out of traffic, got pizza at Mellow Mushroom then high tailed it home. We got back at almost midnight and had to leave the pugs with my aunt another night. But for that, and the rain in Salem, our trip really went off without a hitch! I'm so thankful I have a partner who loves to go on trips like this with me. We had such a wonderful time, I can't wait for our next trip! We're thinking either Austin, Tx, or Portland and Seattle next fall!

Niagara Falls!

When planning the route for our road trip I saw that visiting Niagara Falls would only add about an hour to the day's driving. That is not much when it comes to seeing such an iconic place! I mean, look at this...

at first I was a little disappointed. When you walk up it becomes clear that the better view is on the Canadian side. You can really only get a side view from the railing. Of course, they make you pay for a better view! Only a dollar, and it's worth it.

Also, what the heck is up with smashed pennies being a dollar at national parks! Of course I got one, but I complained about it! That is such a rip off!

Here is a shot from the 1 dollar viewing platform! I mean...it really is so spectacular!

When doing my research I kept saying we weren't going to ride the Maid of the Mist because it seemed expensive, but once we got there it seemed a little anti-climactic to not take a ride down to the falls.

So of course we bought tickets.

It's pretty cute. There is a boat ride on the Canadian side too, but you get red ponchos.

As part of your admission you get these stunning souviner ponchos. I almost kept mine, but Travis convinced me I would probably never use it.

They much for a pretty cute selfie though.

I really think the boat ride is worth it. Even though it is FREEZING. Look!

Once you get to Horsehoe Falls they sit the boat there for a few minutes and let you take it in. It was too misty to get my camera out, so here is an iphone shot. I couldn't see ANYTHING because of the spray on my glasses, so I took them off and got freezing cold spray in my eyes! Haha, it was pretty thrilling being down there with your poncho whipping around! Beautiful.

On the way back to the dock you feel a little like you've been through the ringer. That big tower has the viewing platform on it. You take elevators up from the boats and they are super heated. It feels so good! Someone needs to have a hair dryer/straightener stand for when you get off the boat. My bangs looked crazy!

You can walk up these steps to get close to the falls. I was too cold, but Travis ran up there. See him waving?

My favorite thing in the gift shop were these socks! Too bad they only had them in kid sizes.

And what could be more spectacular than Niagara Falls? Why this beautiful ice cream stand, just minutes from the park entrance! Breathtaking!

We had a hard time finding a place to eat, and ended up at Merge in Buffalo.

The food was ok, but it was SO EXPENSIVE! I got vegan potato skins, and this was them. Those potatoes were a little bigger than a quarter and it was ten dollars! We were cracking up about how little food we got for $50. We ended up stopping for fries later because we were still starving! Boo Merge!

We drove a few more hours to our final stop. Cleveland!

The Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum

On our way to Niagara we stopped in nearby Tonawanda at the Herschell Carousel Factory Museum. When I saw this place on Roadside America, it was a no-brainer!

I loved this room full of beautiful hand carved carousel animals. I especially like how they decorated them for Halloween.

Can I get a copy of this framed for my house? I thought the gift shop would be awesome but it didn't have anything that interested me. I wish they had postcards of the vintage carousel images!

Look at the witch wig! It cracked me up!

They had huge blown up photos of the factory through the years. So cool!

In the workshop they had horses in various stages of the carving process. Apprentices would carve the bodies and legs, and they master carvers would do the heads.

They have a huge collection of Wurlitzer music rolls and machines. They were so cool! I like the ones that have horns and drums attached. Their two carousels have Wurlitzer music, magical!

And lets talk about this photo! I LOVE IT! I want it blown up to wall size for my guest room! Look at that kid in the front with the cowboy hat! They had a little display of rides other than carousels and the Little Dipper was part of that.

Of course part of the tour is riding on one of their carousels!

You get a ride included in admission. And if you want more, I think they were 50 cents a piece. What a deal!

I picked this one to ride. 

We were the only two on the carousel and it was so fun! The old ones seem to go faster.

The carousel factory museum was a great little stop on our trip. I had planned to visit a kazoo factory too, sadly we didn't get to the town in time. Next time!