The Blanch Herd: To the Ohio Trip {Day 7}

Day 7: Monday, 14 May 2018

Columbus

Our main objective for Monday in Columbus was the zoo. We had heard great things about this zoo, and since it had been a couple years since we'd even been to any zoo, we were quite excited. The first animals we spotted weren't even zoo animals, but a family of geese camped out by the pond inside the entrance. We worked our way past the flamingos and through the aquarium. I think the manatees were a highlight for most of the group. Cal and Sam had a blast playing on the bug-themed playground. We also loved the antics of the baby gorilla. A train ride was another hit, especially with Sam. The Africa section was cool - I loved the "savanna" and being able to be up fairly close to the giraffes. We walked down to the underwater level to watch the polar bear swimming, which was super cool. The elephants were near the end of our animal escapades, and our attention/energy spans. But we had promised a carousel ride to the kids, so we worked our way back to where that was. As soon as the ride ended the rain started. We didn't know if it would be a quick cloud burst or if it would rain the rest of the afternoon, so we decided to book it back to the car. We were soaked! And then the rain stopped. Oh well. It was a fun morning!

Cute baby geese!

Touching starfish in the aquarium.

Manatees and stingrays in the same tank.

Whoa!

Feeding time was fun to watch. The zookeepers
fill these plastic (maybe?) tubes with heads of
romaine lettuce which then sink to the bottom of
the tank. This is to teach the manatees to feed
from the bottom instead of eating the floating
pieces on the top, since the bottom is where
they will find food in the wild when they are
returned to Florida.

The coolest park ever!

This little baby gorilla was putting on a show.

I can't remember the real name of this creature, and you can't
tell very well in this picture, but we called it a Whingdingdilly
a la Bill Peet.

Train ride!

Bears!

Appropriate since that's where he served his mission as a young
elder.

The kids loved exploring the airplane display
near the lions.

A face only a mother could love. Ha.

Sleeping lions.

The savanna.

Sam loved "driving" this safari jeep, too.

No surprise there.

A little talk about warthogs. Fascinating, actually.

Plunging polar bear.

The LOUDEST carousel ever. But the baby
across from us who was waiting/watching
with his mother was louder, poor thing.

bonus video!

"carouseling"

(a taste of the loudness, perhaps?

it was definitely a sensory overload for me, anyway.)

After the zoo, Sam conked out in the car. We took a detour on our way back to the hotel to see the temple. I was surprised to see how small it was - it shares the same parking lot as the stake center next door, and I think the church building is bigger than the temple. But it was lovely. We picnicked in our hotel room for lunch and then the kids and dad hopped in the pool. Swimming time was definitely on their short list for favorite things from this trip.

Can you even handle that smile?

What about that one?

After swimming, we decided to check out The Ohio State campus for a little while. We first ate dinner at BiBiBop, which was super delicious. We then wandered through campus over to the football stadium (holy smokes! that thing is huge!) and through the oval and past some cool old buildings. Kind of fun to think that Mugs will be walking these same sidewalks (and watching football in that same stadium!!).

We finished off the evening on a little date. Haha. Emphasis on little. But it was fun. The kids got to hang out in Grandpa and Grandma's room, playing UNO and looking at pictures on Grandma's camera while Gregg and I walked across the street to Wendy's, bought a fifty cent frosty (they were on sale!), walked back across the street to an empty bench that looked out into a foresty area, and ate and talked and sat until it was almost dark. And then we walked back to our hotel and got the kids into bed. One thing that was actually quite nice about traveling two hours ahead of our regular time zone was that the kids could stay up "late" in eastern time, but it still felt like normal bedtime to them, and then we all got to "sleep in" a bit in the mornings. At least according to the clocks. I was worried about the time change wreaking havoc on our vacation lives, but it really was smooth and I was so grateful.