Blooms and Butteries

While I was in Florida, Franklin Park Conservatory introduced Butterflies into the North side of the conservatory. Once I returned I knew I had to find time to visit while the orchids were still in bloom. My opportunity came when visiting my mother and I asked if she would like to see the orchids and butterflies. Mom is 90 years old and is slower getting around lately. To my surprise she said she would love to visit the conservatory.

We had an early lunch at Knead just south of the short north and then was at the conservatory just before 1 pm.

We did not see many butterflies on our first walk through the north side but was told their would be more released around 1:30 pm. We also learned there was a glass blowing demonstration in the court yard. Off to the court yard.

We were able to watch the class blower and his assistant create a beautiful vase. Video highlights below.

Once we returned to the north side, we found many more butterflies. I got some good photos and every one had a good time. If you get a chance to visit the conservatory to see the butterflies you won’t regret it.

Living Large in a Small Space

We travel with a 28 foot travel trailer. That is about 228 square feet of living space. When we are at home, we enjoy 2300 square feet of living space on a lot of 100 X 150 feet. Our home and lot is small in comparison to some in the society we have become accustom to. We have many comforts which include air conditioning, indoor plumbing hooked to a city water system, hot water on demand, large screen TV, pillow top bed and many more. On the road, we have all these mentioned comforts in a much smaller space. Granted, our trailer TV is smaller but we sit closer to it. The hot water is contingent on having propane in the tank. When we set up camp to investigate the area we hook our trailer to a running water source.

At home we are limited in what we can experience despite the fact we live in an area of much diverse activities. While on the road, once we exhaust the places to see and things to do, we just pack up our small space and move on to the next place that interests us. I take much enjoyment in sitting in my back yard at home watching the banana trees, elephant ears and all of the wild flowers I have planted spring to life in the spring but that does not compare to the sights at the

many places along our travels. The natural waterways, forests, state parks and even the urban areas draw me back to the road. We miss our family and friends but meet

many friendly folks in out travels. Just the other day we were invited to a fish fry in the campground we are staying at. Some of the folks who stay in this park on a seasonal basis had saved up some of their catch from the yellow river to put on the fish fry. It was like a family reunion. Everyone brought a dish to share and the fish and corn hush puppies were fried and all enjoyed the food and company.

What makes people strive for happiness with large spaces? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. I have learned that much happiness can be achieved in visiting new places and meeting new people. I think I could do more of just that if I could lose the need for a large space and just learn to live large.

Winter Hike Alley Park

Nice day for a hike.

I only saw one other
hiker on the trail. He was looking for wasp nests. Baxter made
friends with the black lab who was leading this Man’s hike. The
weather was cold but very dry. The snow crunched under my feet.
There are a lot of elevation changes along this trail. There are
three changes of about 2000 ft.
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=931127″>Alley
Park Winter 2011

Mr. Squirrel Home Alone

About halfway through my morning hike, I found myself flat on my back with tree roots pressing against my back.

The morning was great for the hike. The weather was cool and dry and the sun was not covered by grey clouds as they often are this time of year in Ohio.

Baxter was ready for this hike. He had not been in the woods for a couple of days. I close Alley Park for this hike because of it’s proximity to my house and the fact I had not located the Twin Lakes despite the times I have hiked this park.

We started by circling Loretta Lake before taking a steep climb to the ridge of the hills which surround the lake. Once on the ridge, we had a easy going for about 1 mile. We came to the trail which lead to

the Twin Lakes and found a very steep down grade. I was as careful as I normally am while going down this trail as the tree roots and rocks were covered by leaves. I did not get far before I found myself riding hundreds of acorns down the hill until my ride came to an end with my feet going right out from under me. I was laying flat on my back looking up at the tree canopy. There in the upper limbs, was Mr. Squirrel with a smile like the boy in ” Home Alone”. I wondered if he indeed placed those acorns on the trail to trip me up like the boy did with marbles to those bad guys in the movie. I got up, shook the dirt off and proceeded on to Twin Lakes. I was, at last successful in finding the Twin Lakes despite Mr. Squirrel.

The way back to the parking lot was full of beautiful outcroppings of moss covered rocks and the silence of the woods.

This is a great park for hiking. I was able to hike over 3 miles of trails I had not been on before.

The Changes of Seasons

It seems I always enjoy the change of season. Be it spring, summer, fall and even winter, I enjoy the change but soon grow tired of the season and look forward to the next. The fall colors are at their peak this week then the leaves will fall and leave a mess to clean up. I will then look forward to the first snow.

To find great color I visited Hocking Hills
and hiked Conkle’s Hollow last Sunday. The weather was just right. We started our hike early while the air was cool. Our hike took us around the rim and then through the gorge. It was 3.5 miles total. The views on the rim were magnificent.

We finished the hike in time to make lunch at The Inn and Spa at Cedar Falls. This place is ideal to rest and recover. A light lunch in a restful atmosphere was a perfect ending to a great outing. We headed home feeling good about the excersize we had and the beauty we were able to view. Now bring on the snow.

Hoggy’s Blogers Dinner

This evening, I am one of seven local blogers attending a blogers dinner at Hoggy’s Bar and Grill 1370 Johnstown Rd. Columbus OH. They supplied the food, we tasted and agreed to blog about the experience. Well…Thats what I do. No requirements other than that. Ray Smith, Marketing Manager at Hoggy’s, hopes to bring some awareness to their new menu items.

I had participated in a similar event at the Grandview location last year. It was a great time and I have been looking forward to tonight’s event for over a week. Mark Turner talked with the group at last years event about the Hoggy’s philosophy in serving it’s guests. Watch the video here if you missed it.

We had the opportunity to listen to Cliff Cody perform while we dinned. Cliff is a local talent (New Lexington) who performs in Nashville one week a month. Hoggy’s Gahanna will have live music every Thursday night. Blues one week and Country on the other.

The new menu items we are trying tonight are St. Louis Ribs, Sweet Potato Fries and the NEW Loaded Nachos.

The Sweet Potato Fries were found to be crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and very tasty. The Loaded Nachos are described, in the video below by Alexis Webb the General Manager.
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHWJkykLZTE&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

The St. Louis Ribs were served dry so we could select from the many awesome sauces they now place on the table. The ribs were very meaty and cooked to fall off the bone.

Along with the new items Alexis served many of Hoggy’s famous dishes and toped it all off with their 3 layer cakes. All left very full and extremely satisfied.

A Tour of Roscoe Village

The ducks were happy this morning. It has rained all night and we awoke with rain drops taping out a drum beat on the roof of our home on the road. Without the benefit of our iPhone weather app, We did not know if it just might rain all day.

The rained continued through the morning tasks and during breakfast. We decided the walk to Roscoe Village would be replaced by a drive. This would allow Baxter to have the comfort of his kennel in the cab of the truck while we took in the shops in the village. We found the coffee shop, where we were going to do our Internet work, did not open until 11am on Sunday. It was 10 and there were a few shops open so we delayed our work to browse the open establishments. The village offers mostly gift type stores. Not places I can spend much time in however there is a neat leather shop that was open. This place was opened 6 years ago after the proprietor found himself without the shop he had at the Ohio Village. He offers leather goods made of Ohio hides in the way of the 1800′s.

I was on a mission to find out what had happened to the Sandpiper. I had discovered his shop empty and his shingle gone on Friday. Upon enquiring around, found he had passed about a year ago. I first met Sam Clow about 5 years ago just as I was undertaking the hobby of wood carving. His work inspired me and the man amazed me. He appeared to be somewhat frail but several times during his day he would make the drive to the nursing home where his wife was a resident to have a meal or just sit with her and have a cup of tea. His shop was filled with his magnificent works of art. He worked every day attempting to fill orders he had taken for work he would explain to the customer could not be filled for several years. On his passing his daughter tried to fill the orders with what had been on display in his shop. View some of his work in the video below.
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2G3NJgMZL8]

Come 11am we got our coffee and completed the work which required Internet access. We strolled the village taking in a few more shops and found an exhibit of a canal boat. You will find that in the video below. Rose found an exhibit of Quilts at The Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum. The museum was interesting and well worth the $3 admission.
[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Gdh-8tQ14&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

We finish our day with a driving tour of the town of Coshocton. The county fair was going on but with off and on rain we passed on that.

As folks packed up and pulled out leaving what firewood they were unable to use, we gathered it up and built a huge campfire. Though a little damp, it was a wonderful night for a fire. It’s nice not to have to be at work on Monday morning.

Posting of this will be done at home tomorrow morning. I do appreciate the high speed Internet service I have at home. More on that at another time.

Later

Robb
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Swiss Festival

Swiss Festival 2010
This morning brought a heavy fog throughout the area. Temperatures dipped into the 30′s. We were up before the sun’s light could fall upon the dew covered grass. Morning routines were completed early and we were on the road to Sugarcreek by 8:00am. Our GPS navigator took us about 20 miles out of our way through small burgs and along county roads. Not quite sure what the thing was thinking but the drive was nice if not a little longer than it should have been.

We arrived in Sugarcreek and found the McDonalds. That is where I can get good Internet service. The Service in Roscoe Village proved to be too inferior to send yesterday’s post and photos. I was able to post the blog, upload 28 photos and get breakfast in about 45 minutes.

We drove around to find a good place to park while attending the festival. We decided on a lot, run my the local amateur radio club, that cost us just $5 and was right next to the, closed to traffic, downtown area.

Rose, Baxter and I walked around to get a feel for where things were scheduled to be and the times they were to take place. The streets were noticeably void of the masses of people you would expect at a festival such as this. Temporary benches, two deep, lined the two blocks which was closed to traffic. There were a few blankets reserving a place for folks who were maybe taking in the offerings the vendors had in the Art and Crafts tent. There was a lone performer on the main stage playing his guitar and singing modern gospel to an audience of at most ten people.

We found the Swiss singers and the alphorns would perform at noon. The stone throw was not to take place until 4:30pm. This would be prove to be too late for us. I can only put up with crowds for so long. Rose was able to shop the quilt store before the noon performance started. This allowed me to listen to the alphorn’s rehearse before their performance. These horns put out an amazing sound when played in harmony. Make sure to watch the short video below to get an idea of what I am talking about.

We scored a couple of very comfortable chairs near the downtown stage. They appeared to be provided for tired shoppers by the business they were in front of.
As the clock, in a tower nearby struck noon, the people began to take their seats and the sidewalk traffic picked up with folks heading to the line of fair food vendors along the side street. As I have experienced before, most of the people in attendance were not at the festival for the stage entertainment. This makes it hard for the folks who are. There was a midway with carnival type rides and an alley of about 1/4 mile of food vendors. It’s this that, now, a steady stream of people filling by us were headed for. We watched the Columbus Swiss singers and the alphorns perform a magnificent concert despite the annoying people.

Walking over to where the Steinstossen was to take place I hoped we might catch the contestants practicing. No luck. They were probably saving their strength. Lunch time had passed us so the apple fritter vendor made a quick sale. Remembering a pub with a beer garden was near, we walked a couple of blocks and was able to consume a couple of beers and a sandwich while watching the last part of the Ohio State/Illinois first half.

With the three of us tired of all the people, we decided to made the much shorter trip back to our camp for some rest and catch the rest of the game on the radio.

Don’t forget to catch the video of the alphorns.

Tomorrow will be a short walk into Roscoe Village for a more in depth tour of the shops. Maybe, without all the photos of the last post, I will be able to send this out in the morning from the somewhat inferior Internet connection. On that note, I will be writing on how to get by without the advantage of 3G cellular or convenient high speed Internet in the next few days.

Later

Robb
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Our camp Lake Park Campground

Lake Park Campground

This is our second time at this campground. The first time we were traveling with the Shrine camping club. It been about 5 years and was chosen this time to it’s close proximity to Sugarcreek and Roscoe Village.

After our 1 1/2 hour drive this morning, we arrived at about 10:30 am and quickly set up camp. This campground has one drawback. There is no cell signal for us here. We have a short walk to Roscoe Village which has limited Internet service provide by two different locations in the village. One has a password which you have to obtain from the owner. Not sure yet who owns the service but may have to investigate because the other service does not require a password but has time and data restrictions. This would make a nice summer destination. There is a huge water park on the property that has closed for the season. Maybe we can enjoy it next summer if we can find an excuse to stay here again.

We took a walk into the village for lunch at the Uncorked restaurant and cafe. We scanned the shops to see what we wanted to concentrate on come Sunday when we return to spend most of the day. There are so many neat places in this small village. I was disappointed not to find The Sandpiper in his shop. He was a magnificent carver of birds of all kinds.

His shop was empty with no sign of where it might have been moved to. Not a good sign at all. I will ask around Sunday when we return.

Back at camp we just sat back and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. Friday evening was such a nice evening for a campfire.

Baxter enjoys the fire after playing ball. Of course he has his own chair. Would you like laying on the cold damp ground?

Our dinner consisted of fried Troyer’s Trail Bologna sandwich and home made vegetable/beef soup. For a long time I though they called it trail bologna because you ate it on the trail. Not so. It is made in Trail Ohio.

As the sun falls behind the trees, the smell of campfires fill the cool evening air. The sounds of insects almost drown out the sound of the fires crackle. The birds are nested and silent. This is a special time indeed.

Our intent was to take in some of fall’s color this weekend. It will surely come a little earlier this year but I think we might be about a week too soon. You can see yellow amongst the mostly green hillsides but no bright reds that we were hoping for.

Tomorrow on to the Swiss Festival. Learned the other day, there would be a large contingent of alphorns performing. Really looking forward to that.

I hope to send this out over morning coffee in Roscoe Village before heading to Sugarcreek and the Swiss Festival. Time to open a bottle of wine and put tis post to bed.

Robb
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Seagulls

While parked in a parking lot working to be present, I spied a seagull turning over white napkins laying on the parking lot. One after one would be lifted by his beak and placed to the side. After each had been moved the gull would scamper to the next. Just what was this bird trying to accomplish? After about 5 minutes the answer came. The napkin was lifted and low and behold, there hiding, a full slice of pizza. The bird grasped the slice in his beak and began to fly away.

In my peripheral vision I was aware of other gulls perched on the side of a dumpster. Once airborne with the pizza, the diligent gull was under attack by the observing gulls on the dumpster. It did not take long, during the aerial combat for our industrious gull to loose all but a small piece of crust.

I wandered what went though the mind of the industrious gull as he lost most all of his find. Did he see his work of the day successful?

What do you think? Did the gulls observing on the dumpster deserve part of what the industrious gull had obtained? One might say the Industrious gull did not need all that pizza and was being selfish to fly away with the whole slice. On the other hand, where was he starting to fly? Was he carting his find to a nest where dependent gulls await. We, of coarse, will never know.

These are fundamental questions we humans are asking about our species. Do the industrious get to keep what they work hard for? Is our slice of the pie subject to division among the observers?

Enough of my ramblings.
What do you think?

Robb
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