At 5 months . . .

This is my so called kitten at 5 months, raccoon tail and all. At the rate she's growing, I'm starting to think she's half coyote .

For Dinner Tonight . . .

I have to admit, I'm getting pretty awesome at this pizza making business.Garlic and herb pizza dough, garlic oil sauce, mozzarella, goat cheese rolled in herbs, tomatoes, and of course, avocado. Every dish should have avocados.

To celebrate my pizza skills, I included Prosseco with orange juice as my drink of choice.

Hiking in Yellow Springs

We did some exploring during our time in Yellow Springs and found Glen Helen, a preserve used and managed by the local college for Ecology studies. We decided to hike a trail while we were there that started (and ended) with the worlds most beautiful, but dangerous to the uncoordinated, stairs made of sheet rock. Half way down the trail was the Raptor Center where we got to see some of the local birds . . .

The stairs, in all their dangerous glory.

Monte spotted this tiny little toad! He was only about an inch long.

This is one of the barn owls at the Raptor Center. They have a collection of owls, hawks, eagles and vultures that cannot be released into the wild because their injuries didn't heal correctly.

This was part of the trail, and I was super proud that I made it across without incident. It looks like nothing, but for me crossing this was quite the accomplishment.

Super proud. Some moments just need to be documented.

Grinnell Mill in Yellow Springs

On Wednesday we drove over to a town called Yellow Springs. It's home to the famous Antioch College and has a fun, artsy, community atmosphere. Monte found this awesome Bed and Breakfast that was right off the beaten path. It's only been a B and B for a couple of years, but it had a crazy history before that. Grinnell Mill was built in 1812 and after a few rough decades (including a fire) before it was restored in 2006.

The view of the Mill from the road.

The basement of the Mill.

Our room. Notice the huge burned beams. Those beams are original and so are the burns, courtesy of the local volunteer fire department (they wanted to "practice" putting out fires so they intentionally set this fire and it got out of control . . . from what we were told).

The attic . . .


The awesome dogs that lived there.

The really stunning kitchen. A lot of the wood tables and shelves we custom made.

After having dinner at The Winds, Monte and I went next door to their wine store and got a bottle of Prosecco. We drank it that evening on the porch while I worked on jewelry and he read a giant hardback book about mills.

Food!

I know that Auntie Jan reads this, and after our talk before I left I gathered that she might just be a foodie like me. We have had some FANTASTIC food out here in Ohio. I try to document what I can, but I also try to avoid being that person that always has to photograph her meals. Not that I really care if people think I'm weird out here, I just tell them that I'm from southern California and that seems to clear it right up.

This is my absolute favorite veggie burger EVER. It's found in a place called Northstar in Short North (north of downtown Columbus in the hip area). As soon as I bought my plane tickets I started to crave this burger. It's basically just a blend of rice, beans, beets (hence the color) and spices. Instead of lettuce they give you spring greens!

For our anniversary we went to a little town called Yellow Springs (about an hour and a half away from Monte's mom's house) and the B and B we stayed at recommended a restaurant called The Winds Cafe. I had the three course meal deal . . . starting with black bean chili with white cheddar, Spanish tomatoes and sour cream, then ratatouille filled crepes (shown) with olive and goat cheese garnish sitting in a pool of olive oil and tomato sauce, and finally, brace yourself for this one, goat cheese ice cream with brazed cherries from the local famous ice cream company "Jeni's". They almost had to roll me out the door.

This was from tonight (Thursday). That goat cheese ice cream was so good that we decided to try the actual Jenis (yes, just like Jenny's) ice cream eateries. Apparently it's wildly famous here . . . every time we walked by the line was insane. I tried three different scoops with interesting names . . . going clockwise and starting from the top left we have Thai Chili, Salted Carmel and Stout. They were all really good. Monte got a rootbeer flout with Belgium Milk Chocolate and I have to say that it might have been my favorite. Except for the goat cheese ice cream with the brazed cherries, that was exceptional.

Other exceptional foods that I've had, but didn't photograph include all the food that Monte's mom made for the picnic, an extra fancy dinner of swordfish, crab cakes and the best tropical drink I've ever tasted, and others that I just can't remember.

Franklin Park Conservatory

On Monday (I think, I haven't made a post in quite a while) Monte and I went to the Franklin Park Conservatory to see the Dale Chihuly art glass exhibit. We watched a phenomenal PBS special on this guy when Monte was still in San Diego, and we were both mesmerized by his work. To check it out further click here. Each glass sculpture was featured in a different section of the conservatory's climate themed gardens. These are a few of my favorite pieces (and it was so hard to choose!) This one was in the tropical rain forest area, complete with lots of butterflies and 200% humidity.

This one was on one of the enclosed rooftop gardens. The glass balls are pretty large, I estimate that the large ball in the back had a diameter of 3 feet!

This one was also in the tropical rain forest area. You can't really tell here but it's surrounded by giant Koi.

This was the ceiling in a cave in the Himalayan section. They are all carefully piled on top of a thick glass pane . . . I actually laid down on the ground in front of the cave waterfall to get this shot :). The lengths I go for a pretty picture.

The Ohio State Fair

Unlike the zoo, San Diego's summer fair is not world famous. Or state famous. Or generally famous. The Ohio State Fair, on the other hand, is pretty famous and gigantic. I was told that at one point this state fair claimed to be the largest in the world, and after today it's not hard for me to believe that. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures from today, so I'll include some pictures from the zoo . . .

(From left to right) Monte, Eoin, and Dave, right before we went to the horse show.Clydesdale and Shire horse judging. Right before this group was the draft pony group, and things got a little crazy when the two lead horses of one carriage group panicked and reared. Perhaps they didn't like large screaming crowds and being dressed in metal for sport . . . ? Just saying.

The best picture of me at the zoo . . .

. . . and the best picture of Monte while at the zoo. It always happens that way.

Columbus Zoo

On Thursday we went to the Columbus zoo . . . and being a little bit of a zoo snob (San Diego has a World Famous zoo :) I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Actually more than pleasantly surprised, this zoo was awesome! Here are the highlights . . .

A giant bull moose! Last time I came to this zoo I really, really wanted to see the moose, but there wasn't even one to be seen. This time we saw this guy and his 3 female friends. As a little side note the Columbus Zoo has a fantastic North America area with, of course, North American animals.

The Flying Foxes are waking up. The wing span is unbelievable!



An Emerald Starling just hanging out. The aviaries are pretty neat here, they're smaller but have a great selection of sparkly, colorful birds.

A bored gorilla.