To Ohio

John and I traveled east and stopped just short of NY, in Ohio. That's right, we used our free SW tickets to go to Ohio. Can you sense my previously held bad attitude? It was snotty bad. But the good thing about snotty, low expectational attitudes is that they are easily dispelled. Columbus is in actuality cool. It was great to meet some of John's extended fam who as well are cool. We stayed with his cousins who live on this flat 2 acre lot surrounded by trees and gardens and trees and all in the thick of fall, it was outstanding. Especially with dog there to keep our throwing arm in check.

One of the main reasons we went out there was because cousin Mike played football for THE Ohio State University (THE is actually part of the college name now) and got us first class tickets to the game. I had no idea how big of a deal going to an OSU game was, but learning it is the biggest stadium in...the US? solidified the importance. We showed up promplty 3.5 hours before the game to participate in the tailgating festivities - well, mildly participated at least. There were parking lots after parking lots of people out gearing up for the game in their old converted OSU buses, trailers, RVs, and so forth. This is a completely new world. AND to top it all off, the marching band was amazing.

Great victory Buckeyes, and great job to this man on the left who snuck into our little family picture

And after a weekend of eating and talking football and eating, we ended the stay with a little frolfing through this..

But luckily the bush wasn't always so thick. The trees added a little break. and a little bust.

But check out this form.

Ohio, you did well.