Apart from an awesome night out, which included a Meadery, $3 Long Islands at Union, and “hip hop” night at Wall Street, everything I’ve seen so far in Columbus has been a park of some kind. And some day very soon I hope to get to another one, The Topiary Park, which reconstructs this painting out of shrubbery, in the next few days.
Thursday I walked up to Franklin Park. It was expansive and neat with outdoor exhibits on how to create a “deer proof” garden and other such things. Most of the plants had signs identifying them. I wandered up to the arboretum and then sneaked away again when I realized there was a fee to look around it. After that I lay in the grass, reading Fellowship of the Ring, as has been the way I pass time in almost all the parks I visit.
Friday I walked the Scioto Mile, an asphalt path that follows the course of the Scioto River where it runs through Columbus, although frequently the river was completely blocked from view by trees. The trees also kept the nearby highways out of view too though, so that was alright. Once you couldn’t see the highways anymore the constant rushing of cars and trucks became an almost pleasant white noise to compliment the nature sounds. At one end of the Mile was a nature center and a wooden platform overlooking the river and the one heron who was hanging out there. At the other end of the Mile (though I may be stretching the technical definition a little) was a 1-1 scale reconstruction of the Santa Maria; tours cost money so I snapped a few pictures and once again slunk away. The ship was surprisingly small. I tried to imagine huddling in it during a storm surrounded by ocean on all sides and suddenly had a grudging respect for Columbus and his crew that I’d never had before.
Between the heron and the Santa Maria I found a bench, settled in, and read about the fellowship arriving at Lothlorien.
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