On the six hour drive to Skaneatles there were five adults in a five seater car and two 80+lb dogs. Addie and Luna cuddled.
The following day, my parents and Addie dropped us off at the Amtrak station in Syracuse on their way back to Long Island. Saul and I took the train from Syracuse to Buffalo and it was absolutely fabulous (reclining seats, outlets, and free wifi). From Buffalo we had booked an overnight Mega Bus reservation to get to Columbus. The Buffalo bus station was pretty sketchy but we passed the time by watching Amazing Race reruns.
The Mega Bus ride (7 hours) was one of the worst experiences of my life. Okay... It wasn't that bad but it was pretty uncomfortable. First, the bus we got wasn't even the infamous double decker Mega Bus with outlets and all that jazz. It was a loaner old-school coach bus. Eww. Next, we had two drivers and the woman driver was a nut. She had way too much attitude for her own good. She was an okay driver that made us feel relatively safe but the male driver was horrendous. He was literally falling asleep the entire time he was driving (swerving, incessantly rubbing his arms, etc.). We probably got like three hours of sleep but lo and behold we made it to downtown Columbus around 5am.
Josh picked us up and took us back to his and Ashly's casa and we knocked out for quite some time. We were in Columbus for almost two weeks and had a fabulous time. Some of the highlights were:
Eating!! -- Columbus is a cute college town that has an insane amount of DELICIOUS restaurants. This was literally the highlight of our trip. We'd look forward to dinner everyday.
Melt Bar and Grilled. Phenomenal grilled sandwiches. We started our food tour here our first night where Josh treated us (thanks Josh!!). :)
I got this picture from yelp because we forgot to take a picture but it really does look this amazing.
Los Guachos Taqueria -- Best al pastor I've ever had.
Al pastor plate.
The Columbus-Famous Buckeye Donuts where Addie used to work.
Maple Bacon Bar with REAL bacon. Nom worthy.
Croissant sandwich with kielbasa, egg and cheese.
Dan's Deli lamb gyros. This place is amazing late-night food but really it's just as delicious at anytime.
Dan's Deli double cheese burger on texas toast. That brown crust is fried cheese, say what?!!
Fabian's Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Bomb.com happy hour.
Ray Ray's Hog Pit. Tri-tip delicious.
Drelyse West African food. Sambusas and another appetizer.
Peanut butter soup with fufu. This place was out of this world good.
Jollof rice and spinach with meat
Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. Artisanal ice cream. Fabulous but expensive.
Schmidt's Sausage Haus. German food!
Schmidt's creme puff. Big, bad, delicious.
La Plaza Tapatia
La Plaza Tapatia al pastor with pineapples.
The zoo -- The Columbus Zoo is consistently ranked as the #1 zoo in America and for good reason. It's a very manageable size and the habitats are all super unique. For instance the kangaroo exhibit is an open one where you get to walk into the habitat where the kangaroos are kept.
Amish Country -- we stopped at some crazy hunting stores, the Cheese Barn (it's as amazing as it sounds), saw lots of Buggys in the beautiful countryside driven by the super-friendly Amish, and got our phone jacked by a man who's car was broken down near an abandoned gas station for something like 45 minutes.
Yes, that's real!
Posing guerilla.
Because I turn into a kid when I go to the zoo.
Cute Orangutan
The kangaroo exhibit was awesome. They were just out and about.
The whole park is Jack Hannah themed. This was his Australian safari bar.
I made him do it. ;)
Foot prints and poo. Yum.
Jack Hannah's base camp.
Reproduction of turtles.
This pic was for Josh because he had just discovered Nicki Minaj's Anaconda video//song.
Amish Country -- we stopped at some crazy hunting stores, the Cheese Barn (it's as amazing as it sounds), saw lots of Buggys in the beautiful countryside driven by the super-friendly Amish, and got our phone jacked by a man who's car was broken down near an abandoned gas station for something like 45 minutes.
Taxidermy at some crazy hunting store the size of wal-mart outside of Columbus.
Because I like to make him pose in front of stuff.
Big Bro and Ashly at Grandpa's Cheese Barn.
Tasting every kind of cheese, spread, cider, jerky and cracker known to mankind.
Cheese for days! I died and went to heaven.
Buggy crossing.
Whitewoman Rd. hahaha
The headquarters for some picnic basket company.
And of course hanging out with Josh and Ashly -- we hadn't seen them for well over a year (since June 2013) and it was so great to spend some quality time with them.
Columbus Rose Garden
Josh's first day of work. His brother IN law had to tie his tie (awwww).
Ohio State Buckeyes
After our stay had ended we all pitched in and rented a car. While Josh's Goldilocks is a trooper, we didn't know if she could make the ten hour drive back to Long Island. Josh and Ashly hung out at the parents for a couple nights and got to see a bit of NY.
The weirdness runs in my fambam.
Weird picture. :)
Fun Fact:: Saul, Josh, Ashly and I saw Fat Joe driving when we were crossing the lower George Washington Bridge into Manhattan. Make it rainnnnnnn.
-C
