Road Trip... Columbus, Ohio

Mrs. WYA! hopped in her car and took I-70 East for 3 hours Saturday morning to visit a girlfriend in Columbus, Ohio. Mrs. WYA! was a tiny tot the last time she was in Columbus so, as always, she was excited to see the sights, the unique shops, restaurants, and architecture that the city has to offer.

The first stop was German Village, more specifically, the renowned Book Loft store in German Village. This is a "32 room labyrinth" of books. Mrs. WYA! had heard about the store from several people and mistakenly thought that it was used books. They were new books though and, while that is nice, that meant no lovingly beat up 50 cent bargain books. Most of the books had "5% off Publisher's List Price" stickers on them so there were good deals. There are also some very good coupons on their website. We used the "20% off any one item" coupon to get a discount on our most expensive purchase. What really got to Mrs. WYA! was the fabulous music playing in the room nooks. There were a lot of classics such as Bing Crosby, Sarah Vaughan, and even some classic Johnny Cash in the automotive room. Not only did it make browsing even more pleasurable but, beside the speakers, they had big signs with the name of the artist, the album, and where the CD could be found. There was also a big display near the entrance with most of the CDs that were playing. This was very dangerous for Mrs. WYA! because she just falls in love with the mood that those old jazz, big band greats, and crooners evoke. Consequently, Mrs. WYA! ended up buying more music than books. Many of the CDs were $6.98 although some were discounted even more. There were several discounted Sinatra ones that tempted her but she really scored with a $3.49 Coleman Hawkins CD. We had just mentioned not a week before that we missed seeing the old Superman series and that we wished someone would air it so Mrs. WYA! was delighted to see boxed sets of the series and bought the second season which was only $14.99 (but $11.99 after the 20% off coupon).

We wandered the adorable streets of the village and browsed at the beautiful Caterina store. The extremely helpful salesmen there asked if we were visiting the area for the first time and then proceeded to give us a German Village brochure with a map and circled his pick hits for restaurants to go to in the area. We know that they talk about Hoosier Hospitality but the Buckeyes have it too because everywhere we went we were greeted by ample friendliness not only from the employees but from fellow shoppers as well.

Scenes from German Village:

Taking one of the suggestions the salesman gave us, we landed at The Brown Bag for a lovely, casual lunch. We checked out the chalkboard menu, placed our order, found a table in the cozy place, and soon were brought our Mohawk Stroller and Tuna Melt. These were delicious and very generous sandwiches. Mrs. WYA!'s choice, the Mohawk Stroller, was delicious smoked turkey, sprouts, red peppers, and basil pesto on a Cheddar herb roll.

We then headed to the Short North neighborhood downtown near Ohio State University. We just wandered up and down High Street as long as we saw the distinctive black arches that punctuate the area. This neighborhood was right up Mrs. WYA!'s alley because it was full of independent restaurants, antiques, and shops. There were also cute signs and murals that took up the entire sides of buildings.

This display was at the extremely cool Collier West store:

Another lovely store was Loot:

Along High Street near the Convention Center:

Mural at 714 N. High Street:

Another really cool store to browse in is Karavan Treasures from Turkey. You've got to love it when the salesperson suddenly comes around and hands everyone little charms. Mrs. WYA! couldn't pass up this $7.99 change purse (and loved the shiny sealed shopping bag):

If you want to head out of Indy for a late summer getaway just to see something new, we highly recommend these areas in Columbus. If you get an early start, it makes a very do-able day trip if you don't want the expense of spending the night.