Arriving In Ohio

“A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” -Laozi

^ Technically, ours is a journey of somewhere around twenty four hundred miles, and it started with a single truck: a moving van, to be exact, packed full of my second-born’s worldly belongings and headed east to Ohio. 

^ And for us, a red eye flight to Columbus and an early morning sky full of pale golden light and the promise of a hot Midwestern summer day.

^ We spent the first afternoon exploring shops in the neighborhood including an on-trend cold press juice shop called Zest. Their product was delicious but overpriced; I preferred the cool cave of their rest room.

^ Our arrival coincided with the Fourth of July; we celebrated with a bag of Red Vines, some borrowed bug spray, and our sweatshirts spread out on the grassy lawn at New Albany High School for a small town fireworks show.

^ Morning of the second day was equally as hot and steamy as the first. Towering thunderclouds rolled through the skies, offering the cooling promise of a drenching rain but refusing to break open. Sigh.

^ Afternoon of the second day I spent poolside, or more accurately, inside the pool. I caught this photo in a rare moment of solitude; 99% of the time, this rectangle was packed with water-crazed kids and their obliging parents. So fun to watch all the younguns put their folks through all the time-honored jumping, throwing, and catching antics that families play in pools, and after putting in my fair share of such parental workouts, so relaxing to simply float and watch.

^ Evening of the second day: after my daughter wrapped up her first day at work, we wandered through the shopping district of Easton Town Center and enjoyed the sights and sounds. Honestly, this place is like a retail Disneyland complete with shiny trolleys, vintage architecture, and loads of cutesy cobblestone streets.

^ Pink hydrangeas blooming just outside our hotel door. Mhmm that’s what I like.

^ Old Glory hanging here, there, and everywhere around town. Festive and fun and so quintessentially Midwestern.

^ Dinner on the second day: two plates of Pad Thai at Northstar Cafe. Beautiful, delicious, though perhaps not entirely authentically Thai. But that’s okay because this journey was not meant to lead us to Asia. We set out for the heartland country of Ohio, and that is exactly where we have arrived.