"Opening to the camper a new land"

For the maiden voyage of our new camper, we decided to stick to familiar (and nearby) ground so we could focus on any issues that arose -- and even bail out to a good night's sleep at home if necessary. It was a good thing, too, because when we arrived at Burr Oak State Park and attempted to plug in, the electricity did not work, even though it had been fine at our house. With some troubleshooting, we figured out that a fuse had come loose during transit, so we were able to get the refrigerator humming and the lights blazing, which was enough to convince us to stay overnight. 

To reward our (read: Scott's) problem-solving skills, we had dinner at the park's lodge then relaxed by the fire (left). In the morning, we had planned to cook a quick breakfast before setting out on a bike ride, and that's when we discovered that the camper stove wasn't working properly: the gas flow was so low that a burner would only stay lit for a few seconds. Not willing to waste our day with more tinkering, we picked up McDonald's on our way to the trailhead instead. A few miles into the ride, we met a friendly donkey (right), not to be confused with the ass I was for not packing our travel propane stove. Although we later resolved the gas stove problem by replacing the regulator, that Coleman is now permanently stashed in the camper as a back-up. 

 

Our next camping trip was farther afield but less pressure because it was a stay through Harvest Hosts, a subscription service that gives you access to non-hookup sites at businesses such as farms, wineries, and breweries. We didn't have to worry about any electricity or gas woes in the parking lot of Wiedemann's Fine Beer because all we intended to do there was sleep (top left). You pay to be a member of Harvest Hosts, but you don't pay anything directly to the host, with the expectation that you will patronize the establishment instead. We happily hit the suggested minimum bill amount with lunch and beer in the taproom (top right), whose vintage bathrooms seemed more of a fitting match for our camper than for a former funeral home (bottom).

 

Our main destination, however, was downtown Cincinnati. A bus that stopped right outside the brewery took us south into the heart of the city, where we wandered around a while before hopping on the Connector Streetcar to get to the Over-the-Rhine district (top left). The tram was full of murals by an artist whose name I recognized from high school: Brent Billingsley (top right). I enjoyed examining his work and the Queen Cityscape on our way to Findlay Market, where we picked up a snack from one of the many stalls (bottom left). I had visited Rhinegeist Brewery by myself on a self-guided brew-by-bike tour, and I was eager to check out the rooftop patio on a less rainy day (bottom middle). I was also excited to see that another taproom, Northern Row Brewery, had opened around the corner (bottom right). 

  

  

Northern Row was packed because it was hosting the pre-game radio show for the competition we had come to Cincinnati for. No, not the Bengals or the Reds, although we did mingle with some Jungle members in the bars on the strip between Paycor Stadium and the Great American Ball Park (top) before we headed to TQL Stadium for the Hell Is Real Derby (middle left). The name of the annual rivalry match between the Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati comes from a sign on I-71 between the two Ohio cities (middle right). The final was a 2-2 tie, resulting from a bad non-call for an offsides goal by the Crew (bottom). 

   

By our third trip in the camper, to East Harbor State Park, we felt prepared. We had addressed all the glitches and had even procured some site amenities, including a space heater, a picnic tablecloth, and an outdoor rug (top). However, we did not acquire enough spooky accoutrements because we had no idea that the park was going to be packed for one of its two weekend Halloween campouts. While other sites had full-on scary spectacles, we simply hung a couple skeletons on a tree (bottom left). Still, we got into the spirit by walking on a haunted trail after we rode our bikes to watch the sun set over Lake Erie (bottom right).

 

The next day, while trick-or-treaters took over the campground, we struck out for Put-in-Bay. We took the ferry to South Bass Island then rode our bikes around the perimeter of the island, stopping for a couple of hikes at Massie Cliffside Preserve and Scheeff East Point Nature Preserve (top left), where we saw a fellow ferry commuter hiking with some friends (top right). Then we hit a few drinking establishments, including Joe's Bar, a dive I can't believe I didn't know about sooner. Put-in-Bay was still pretty packed, despite being late in the season, much like our campground. We managed to escape the crowds with a morning stroll on the state park's trails, where the only life we saw were fishermen (top middle), butterflies (bottom middle left), woodpeckers (bottom middle right), and deer (bottom).

 

 

Although we cooked breakfast on our now-functioning gas stove, we ate dinner at nearby restaurants. When we headed into Port Clinton after our hike, we hit up the Clinton House (top left) before heading to a local haunt dear to our hearts. Bell Mell Tavern was just as laid-back and welcoming as we remembered from GOBA 2019, even though it seemed like some of its customers had been wasting away there since our last visit (top right). We watched the Browns and played a game of pool while we waited for our takeout pizza. We ate our pie by the fire back at the campground, which had cleared out upon the conclusion of the All Hallow's Eve festivities (bottom). Having the place basically to ourselves for one night was a nice final touch to our first fully problem-free camper outing.

 

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HUBBARD, HENRY V. “LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON CONSERVATION: AS PRACTICED IN THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE.” Landscape Architecture, vol. 29, no. 3, 1939, pp. 104–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44670859. Accessed 23 Jan. 2023.

"Involved in the countless concerts, large and small"

My personal summer music festival morphed into an autumnpalooza. As I recently told a friend: I have seen more concerts in 2022 than since I was 22 (and I saw my first concert when I was in college, so that is saying something). Luckily, it still felt like summer when BrewDog held its Annual General Mayhem (left) because one its headliners, Foxy Shazam, had a lead singer that eschewed tops amid many wardrobe changes involving tight bottoms (right). We honestly had only come for the beer, but this band was just so entertaining that we couldn't pull ourselves away from the stage.

 

The clothing and architecture were a bit more conservative and the weather a bit colder when we headed to The Bluestone to see the Old 97's (left). This was my first time at the venue, a renovated Baptist church that bills itself as a cathedral to country music (right). Unfortunately, I didn't get to take in the show from the closed balcony, but it wasn't bad being steps away from multiple bars either.

  

The next concert was a repeat in two ways. First, it wasn't my first time seeing We Were Promised Jetpacks this year (left). And second, it wasn't my first show at Scully's Music Diner this year (right). This time, however, I did enjoy that the balcony was open and relatively empty, so we hung out there before we headed down to get closer to the action. In fact, we stood right in front of lead singer Adam Thompson's wife, who is from the Columbus area.

  

I have seen other shows at the 9:30 Club in DC (top left), but whether I have seen Violent Femmes before remains in dispute. For sure, I went this year with a group of college friends (top right), one of which swears I went with her to see them at MemAud when were both students at Ohio University. I swear I blew off our concert date due to a bout of drinking, even though she had waited in line alone, overnight to get us tickets. I can't imagine how I would have been able to forget a performance that involves a Weber-grill drum (bottom left) and a superhuman-sized saxophone (bottom right). Back then, they probably weren't so performatively quirky, and I certainly didn't know their music as well. This time, much to my surprise, I knew 80 percent of the songs they played word for word. And I sang them -- loudly. 

 

 

The trip to DC was centered on the concert, but another OU alumna friend who hosted me made sure to show me a good time in general. She took me for a delicious breakfast at Zinnia, which is emerging as a local favorite after Mrs. K's Tollhouse went downhill (top left). I needed the fuel because I took a 7-mile loop hike through Rock Creek Park (top right). I took a slight detour from the Bridge Loop Trail route to see the Capitol Stones, literally a pile of materials that were removed and abandoned surreptitiously during a Capitol renovation in 1958. Being within the park, people soon discovered and, of course, climbed on them. Due to the danger of scaling the makeshift monument, they are now fenced in and guarded by a bat box (bottom left). It wasn't the right time of night to see any bats, but I did spy some deer, appropriately enough, by the park's nature center (bottom right). 

 

 

The one fall concert I had really been looking forward to was pre-empted by a trip to North Carolina. It's a bit of a long story. Originally, I was supposed to see They Might Be Giants at the aforementioned 9:30 Club in 2020, but COVID postponed the concert multiple times. The second reschedule date was during a planned trip to Mexico, so I bought tickets -- for a much higher price, I must say -- to a show in Pittsburgh during spring 2022. I gave my original tickets to my DC-based OU host, but that June 2022 gig was cancelled last minute because John Flansburgh got in a car accident. In the meantime, the Pittsburgh show was postponed till fall 2022, smack dab on the date of Scott's niece's wedding. 

Luckily, the trip for the nuptials was so nice that I stopped worrying about why the universe seemed so set against me seeing TMBG. We relaxed alongside Lake Norman (left) before taking a hike at Latta Nature Preserve on Mountain Island Lake (right). Besides some mist right before the vows, the weather was wonderful, I had fun with friends and family, and I danced the night away, albeit at a reception instead of a concert. And in the end, my own patient love and devotion was rewarded: TMBG announced more tour dates, including a stop in Columbus, for which I have purchased tickets -- for less than I paid for the original ones. Take that, 2020.

  

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Tompkins, David G. “The Concert Landscape.” Composing the Party Line: Music and Politics in Early Cold War Poland and East Germany, Purdue University Press, 2013, pp. 197–246. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wq3gn.11. Accessed 30 Nov. 2022.

"Make your staycation feel more like a vacation, even if it is in Ohio"

Just the other day, I was saying that I don't really know where the summer went. It seems like it is already over, and I haven't done anything. My photo roll would argue otherwise. Maybe I was just too busy taking pictures to notice the season passing me by. 

Either that, or I was enjoying some tunes. I'm not sure I've ever seen so much live music in so little time -- and for so little money. A friend gave us a last-minute tip that local cover band Popgun was playing for free as part of Pickerington's Summer Concert Series (top left). That same Friday, we were planning to watch Scott's cousins play, so we stopped by the excellent al-fresco entertainment before we paid $10 cover to see The 3 Speeds at Ruby Tuesday (top right). I am still surprised that we managed to see two national (international?) acts without shelling out a cent: We Were Promised Jetpacks at the Columbus Arts Festival (middle left) and Uncle Kracker at the Canal Winchester Labor Day Festival (middle right). Some other shows were worth every penny. How could we pass up seeing Spoon at KEMBA Live! (bottom left) and Willie Nelson at the Ohio State Fair (bottom right)? And one was even on a school night!

 

 

 

I hadn't been to the state fair since I was a kid, so I took advantage of the occasion to tap into my inner child. I beat Scott on a race down the Giant Slide, ate ice cream by the butter sculptures, and scoped out all the other food vendors from the SkyGlider (top). Back on the ground, we strolled through exhibits about Ohio's natural resources and agriculture, including a display of some prized zucchini (middle left). We agreed that some specimens from our garden could have put those ribbon-winners to shame; besides squash, we had solid, regular hauls of tomatoes and potatoes in our first foray into at-home agriculture (middle right). The garden was one of two new adventures for us this summer. We also bought a vintage Serro Scotty camper (bottom left). We found the 1976 Sportsman on Facebook Marketplace, and upon bringing it home we thought we might have bought a lemon because the electricity didn't work, but eventually (after figuring out the fault lay with us, not the camper), we got the lights on (bottom right).

   

 

Throughout the summer, Scott and I had regular bets over billiards that were related to improving the camper (top). I lost many times, but the Scotty (and Scott, too, I suppose) are better off for it. Besides shooting pool, rocking out, and planting veggies, we got active by rappelling at High Rock Adventures (middle left). The rope plummets were challenging, but a big part of the thrill was doing them in such naturally peaceful surroundings (middle right). Sometimes, we opted to watch sports instead of participate in them. Taking in a Clippers game on a summer night is becoming an annual tradition (bottom left). I just wish that ballgame had as fun "half time" entertainment as Bat-n-Rouge, where the Flaggots skillfully let their freak flags fly (bottom right).  

 

   

Other times we went out of town for some recreation. At Camp Akita we got competitive with some fellow OU grads about who was daring enough for the high dive (top left). Scott took multiple leaps from the board, even though his initial execution was off, but wussy me only did a couple of jumps off the platform. However, I was a contender when we drove into Athens and hit up some nostalgic haunts like The Pub, a well-known hub of competitive drinking (top right). But mostly, we enjoyed each other's company in a cabin above a calm lake (bottom).

 

Another weekend, I went further afield to catch up with my old OU crew at Wintergreen Resort (top left), whose location high in the Blue Ridge Mountains meant it was frequently shrouded by clouds (top right). When we descended to the valley below, we found better vistas, including at Veritas Vineyard (middle left), where the magic-potion bottles of a wine flight were just the medicine I needed (middle right). We also did a tasting at Bold Rock Hard Cider Barn (bottom left), where we sampled the refreshment of the creek that runs through its back yard (bottom right). The next day, we dined at Devil's Backbone Brewing Company Basecamp Brewpub. The lunch was delightful, but water droplets had dropped into the valley, creating a dreary downpour that was not worth memorializing in a photo.

 

  

 

When we weren't out calling on friends, we hosted some important visitors. Exchange students Dito (top left) and Sharla (top right), both from Indonesia, were supposed to do their senior year in the States, but their program was canceled due to COVID. By the time borders opened up again, they were already starting college and couldn't come for the whole year. Instead, they spent a week in DC, and a week with host families around the country. During their separate weeks with us, we showed them our mundane Midwestern life, but they did do some special activities with all the students being hosted in central Ohio. We joined the group on a field trip to Ruff Farms (bottom left), a huge soybean operation between Circleville and Chillicothe, where we got a backstage tour of Tecumseh! before watching the outdoor drama later in the evening (bottom right). 

 

The weeks we were home away from home for Dito and Sharla coincided with me finding a new home myself: a new job at the Supreme Court of Ohio. I proudly put the sticker for AFS-USA, the organization that arranged the exchanges, on my office window in the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center (top). As part of my onboarding, I got to take a tour of the building, whose rooms make a prima facie case of it being an artistic and architectural triumph (bottom left). I also was able to watch oral arguments in front of the top court, whose chambers are fit for a movie set -- which they have been (bottom right). After writing all this, I guess I have to admit that my summer was a bit of a blockbuster, too.

  

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State University, Bowling Green. The BG News February 26, 2018. Feb. 2018. JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.30732919. Accessed 9 Sept. 2022.