Sister Trip- An Afternoon in Columbus/ An Evening at Tribal Connection

Sister Trip
An Afternoon in Columbus
An Evening at Tribal Connection Music Festival
May 12. 2012

I’ve tried unsuccessfully several times to recap our recent weekend trip to the Columbus area. I’ve just been having trouble coming up with the words to convey the kind of amusement that we have on these excursions. Fun has a way of finding me and Megan. We can turn a series of random events into an extravaganza of excitement.

We started the day rolling around in money and it just got better from there. I’m not exactly sure where the idea originated but before leaving for our fun-filled day in Columbus, we decided to ‘make it rain’ with about a hundred $1 bills. We had such a great time throwing the cash into the air and letting it shower down on us, laughing hysterically and posing for pictures. That comical diversion set the tone for our entire day.

We found a hula hoop lying in a parking lot as we walked to the North Market- of course, we were thrilled! Awesome groundscore! The North Market (59 Spruce St.), an indoor bazaar of produce vendors, patisseries, international and specialty food stores, offers many scrumptious selections but alas, we’d had breakfast at the hotel and picked up only a few pastries.

 

As we made our way up High Street into the Short North District a couple of boisterous gay guys stopped us to tell us we were looking good. This was about the third time that day that either or both of us had been complimented. We were feeling pretty awesome! We reluctantly turned down the guys’ proposal to be their zombie brides in the annual Zombie Walk parade later that day and set out to see a few of murals in the thriving artsy neighborhood by following a walking tour of the area.

There are so many eclectic little shops in Short North. We spent a little time shopping for vintage clothing and home items at Flower Child (989 N High St.), browsing high-end clothing at bargain prices at Savvy on a Shoe String (13 W 1st Ave.) and looking at jewelry and other accessories at Substance (783 N High St.). We stopped at Wine on High (789 North High St.) to peruse the bottle selection and have a glass at the upstairs wine bar. We were very disappointed to see that the bar didn’t open until later that afternoon but the gallant owner of the establishment said he was happy to run upstairs to pour us a few glasses of wine. We very much appreciated the effort and were quite pleased with ourselves- we may not be the kind of chicks that close down a bar but we’re certainly the sort of girls that get a bar opened for them.

I’d seen a feature on Sugardaddy's (11 East Gay St.) on a Food Network show ages ago so we were very excited to check out what all the talk is about. Basically, Sugardaddy's produces the most mouth-watering brownies and blondies ever. Several options to choose from made it hard to make our final picks and we each walked out with a few varieties.

At the Topiary Park (Town Street & Washington Avenue) we saw someone that was either an actor performing a moving monologue or a total nutcase flipping out. Still, the garden was a lovely spot to sit and relax a little.

We’d wanted to eat at Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace- who wouldn’t want to eat at a place with that name- but there was a large crowd surrounding the door, we were starving and decided to find a place in the German Village, a stop we make on every Columbus trip. We’re German girls, we LOVE German Village. As soon as I saw the sign for Olde Mohawk (821 Mohawk St.) I knew it was the place for us- upscale pub food, cozy atmosphere, great service. We had a delightful time!

After following a walking tour of German Village, we decided that we were beat and headed back to the hotel. We still had a big night ahead of us. As we pulled up to the Marysville Hampton Inn, we saw a helicopter sitting on a flat trailer in the middle of the parking lot. Megan and I eyed each other, asking the unspoken question- should we jump on this helicopter? We decided against it.


 

Our last destination was the Tribal Connection Music Festival, the event we’d planned our whole weekend around. We were there to see Waterband but The Stagecoach Robbery stole the show. While we sat on the hill listening to Waterband play, Meg and I were compelled to move as soon as we heard Stagecoach’s groovy guitar. We danced the night away with friends we’d met up with that evening, watching fire dancers and hula hoopers illuminate the night.

The hotel pool area was closed, the lights were off and the water glowed blue- it was too inviting not to spend a few minutes doing cannonballs into the pool and basking in the comfort of the hot tub after a crazy night. Megan and I had declared that this summer was going to be the best ever and this day was the perfect kick-off to months of fun!