In between stays at Springfield we had a brief trip to Columbus Ohio. The highlight of the trip was getting to visit my grandma, or Gigi as she’s known these days. We stayed at Cross Creek Camping Resort, and though it felt a little crowded (spots were small, and they packed us in even though there was room throughout the park), we enjoyed our time there. High points of the park include a nice hiking trail and the only outgoing mailbox we’ve yet to see (not that I remembered to send out any letters before we left). We met some nice neighbors who were traveling and doing ministry with school children, and had we’d stayed longer I would have looked forward to meeting some more of the park residents which included a tiny house and a skoolie (a lot of parks don’t welcome either of those!).

Time was limited so we didn’t do a lot around town. Aside from visiting GiGi we did take a trip to Cosi. Though I was born in Colubmus and spent a lot of time visiting my grandparents there after we moved to Cincinnati I have never been to Cosi. Tom went with boy scouts as a kid and had some really great memories from that trip. So we were both really looking forward to going! Sadly, however, we were sorely disappointed. Apparently we had such a bad time we didn’t even take one picture! It was by far the most expensive science/children’s museum center we’ve visited, and the only one we didn’t enjoy. Exhibits were run down, minimally interactive, and full of advertisements. Our kids were a little too young for the most popular attraction, the unicycle ride across the top of the building, nor did we pay extra for the planetarium or Imax movies- so maybe we missed out on the best they had to offer. The kids literally cried about being bored. Nearly the entire time. This has never happened at any attraction we’ve taken them to. The only time they weren’t complaining was when we played in the young kids area which had the classic imaginary scenes (farm, grocery store, etc) that are starting to feel the same at every children’s museum we visit. I guess the highlight would have been the display that allows you lift a car using a lever. This was pretty much the only specific memory Tom had of the museum. Minus an updated car, the exhibit remained unchanged, and he looked like a kid again hanging on the rope to pull the car up. The kids however, remained unimpressed. Maybe they were just having an off day.