Spring Break Tokyo

Spring Break Tokyo! (Spring Break in March? That one? Yes, that one.) I know I'm behind the times, but this trip has to be documented. It was so much fun! And it took me about four whole weeks to get back into a routine after it, I'm pretty sure, because getting back into the reality groove is so hard after wonderful trips. 

Michael's oldest sister Shelley lives in Japan, and we wanted to visit her sweet family in their element before they make the move back to the states this summer. They've been there about six years, and it was so fun to see their routine and environment and just the life they've made in a foreign culture. Michael's parents also went, and we had so much fun being with family that week.

So, the travelogue:

Sake Barrels at the Meiji Shrine - read about the tradition here.

After a jet-lagged night, we went for a walk to Meiji Shrine on our first morning in Tokyo. The entrance is full of these Sake barrels that have been donated to bring good luck to people/businesses. The grounds were so beautiful - all the rocks were being raked with natural tools made of sticks, and everything was so well manicured. It felt peaceful, and so fun to just finally be in the place we'd been looking forward to for so long with family.

A bride in full Kimono, taking pictures at the same Shinto Shrine. Fun tradition facts here and here.

We were hoping to see some brides that day dressed in their full Kimono for their Shinto wedding ceremony. We were lucky and saw a few - this beautiful bride above was having her pictures taken that day. We also saw some bridal party processions and had fun watching part of their fancy, special day. They have special cars to drive the brides with a door that opens regularly, then the roof opens higher as well for their tall headdress.

Ema - prayers and wishes written on small wooden plaques and hung at Shinto shrines.

These prayers/wishes were hanging outside of the shrines we visited. Some in Japanese Kanji, others in English. It's heartwarming to read the wishes of strangers - some so sincere and full of heartache or others from sweet, hilarious children or even a picture. It reminded me of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, or writing a prayer in the temples I worship in. We all have the same God, we all have prayers or wishes. We walked home from the shrine through Yoyogi Koen (koen = park), and I wish I took pictures there! But I didn't, because I was so entertained by all the different groups and their community hobbies going on. People don't really have their own space to do their own thing in Tokyo, so their hobbies happen in parks. We saw choirs, karate, exercising, picnics, so many small cute dogs and I just loved the feeling of community there. Americans kind of stick to their backyards and homes and cars. 

Details on the shrines at Nikko.

We took a train outside of Tokyo up to Nikko and I loved being around mountains again. I'm telling you, mountains speak to my soul. When we were studying in Jerusalem I loved learning about the symbolism of mountains in the scriptures and the way they served as temples when no other was available. I was thinking about that while we walked through these beautiful shrines.

My favorite doorway of all the shrines at Nikko.

This was my favorite doorway. The wood against the white looked so beautiful. No pictures were allowed inside the shrines, and shoes had to always be removed.

Yakisoba - buckwheat noodles, rolled tofu, a sweet mushroom, and a "fish hotdog" (the white and pink thing).

This was lunch during our Nikko excursion - so delicious! Yakisoba - a buckwheat noodle soup. The rosettes are rolled tofu, which is my favorite way I've ever eaten tofu. The texture was so delicious. The mushroom tasted so sweet, and I kind of even liked the "fish hot dog" slice with the pink edge. Shelley said they make them into all sorts of fun shapes for kids.

The Five-Storied Pagoda - burned down in 1815 and rebuilt.

I loved the colors and details of this Pagoda.

Japanese saying: "Don't say 'kekko' until you've seen Nikko." (Kekko = magnificent, beautiful.)

The snow and trees and beautiful structure - doesn't even look real! Supposedly wild monkeys hang out around there, but I never saw one. They don't sound very friendly, so that's probably good, but I was on the lookout the whole time.

The Great Buddha of Kamakura

We rode the train out to Kamakura another day and saw the Great Buddha. Shelley made us delicious bento box lunches, with rice balls and all sorts of delicious things. Some watchful hawks even tried to get in on sharing with us, which kept Ella and Quinn on the edge of their seat during lunch. And the rest of us, really. Those hawks did not seem very afraid of us at all.

And, kissing that Great Buddha.

Kissing that Great Buddha... you can see my other traveling kisses here (with the Sphynx) or here (with my camel). There are probably some others if I thought harder about it. I'm a lover.

We saw some of the early cherry blossoms - Sakura.

We waited out a short rainstorm before we explored some more that day. This was one of my favorite stops, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. (We searched a long time on Google to confirm the name of this one... I would have kept a few more brochures if I knew my blog post was going to be written two nauseous months after the fact.) We caught our first sighting (and smelling) of beautiful Sakura, Japanese cherry blossoms. I loved seeing these - I have been to DC just before and just after its cherry blossom festival and was pretty bummed about that both times. 

I loved this tree - so old, and gnarled, and huge.

This tree was so awesome to me. That is most definitely partly due to the fact that there are many, many small baby trees growing in my house that Michael tenderly cares for, and so now I realize that it takes a long long time for a tree to look like this. A long time. Trees have seen so much!

I don't know how anyone could learn Japanese Kanji - but it looks like beautiful art!

Other Japanese prayers and wishes blowing under the Sakura.

Perfect apples.

Produce in Japan is so pretty, and so pricey! These apples were $5 each and just huge. It's crazy to hear Shelley's stories of the expensive watermelon or milk over there, and what she can or can't find. This trip to the grocery store was so much fun! We filled a cart with Japanese treats and curry mixes, and Shelley showed us all sorts of other things that we would probably never fill our cart with no matter how long we lived there... I thought I was a much braver eater pre-Japan trip.

Checking the tuna before the early auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market.

We woke up bright and early one day just to make sure our bodies didn't get too used to adjusting to that 13-hour time difference. If you want to visit the tuna auction at Tsukiji Fish Market, you have to get there before 6am and be in the first 120 people to be able to witness the auction. We may have speed-walked past a nice group of people who were turned away after us...it's a pretty brutal system. Our brother-in-law Tony was so nice to take us with Michael's parents early that morning before he went to work.

We watched the buyers walk around checking the tuna by stabbing hooks into the meat or feeling a piece between their fingers. We watched the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi after we came home, and learned more about the experts of sushi. It seems like that culture really values becoming the best you can at whatever you focus on, and truly achieving excellence.

Early morning market happenings.

One last shot of the busy, hard working routine of the Tsukiji market. I can't imagine doing this so early, every day. Wholesale seafood is their life.

Walking/Scooting the niece and nephew to Japanese School.

These two cuties are professional scooters around those neighborhoods. They tear down the street at a speedy pace and always made me hold my breath when they abruptly stop at an intersection, but they are all over the rules of the road. They know that no stop = no scooter, and that's a big deal to those little legs. You can never really get a good view of where you are in that maze of neighborhoods, so more than once miss Ella guided us home. The few times we ventured out on our own together, Michael and I just took a trial and error approach to various turns until we saw Shelley's house.

A delicious, full bowl of Japanese Ramen.

This is Ella's favorite food, Ramen. That bowl is full of such deliciousness. We stopped for lunch here after seeing Quinn and Ella sing in their school program. They were adorable, and all the kids played instruments and sang songs to celebrate the "graduating" class of their school.

Anthon and his new Orange Belt after his Karate test.

Anthon impressed us all that day with his Karate skills, and earned his new Orange belt. He told us he wants to become a black belt because then "you are officially a lethal weapon, and you have to register yourself with the police." Sounds intense. 

Michael and I ventured out to Shibuya one night on our own, and walked across the busiest intersection in the world a few times. All the lights turn red/green at the same time, so people pour into the streets from all directions every few minutes. It's insane. We watched up above from the mall walkway as well, where everyone just looks like ants. Such a busy, full city.

The busy market in Asakusa.

We walked down the long market in Asakusa and tasted all sorts of fun things. My favorite thing about markets will always be how quickly the smells change from one to another.

Chestnut and Red Bean Paste in a Crepe

This was a chestnut and red bean paste treat, in a lightly fried crepe. It was delicious.

Hand-making some of the many sweet treats we sampled.

At one shop in the market these treats were being made by a machine, and at this shop this man was making each one by hand. He had this down to a system, obviously. I wonder how long he's been doing it.

A Tokyo icon - the Asakusa Shrine.

This was our touristy shrine experience, and we went on a holiday so a lot of other people enjoyed it at the same time. Each shrine has a fountain outside of it so you can wash your hands and your mouth to be clean before entering. There are prayers hanging outside and small lightning bolts hanging as well as a symbol of the Shinto religion.

Another snack...

Another market eating experience... See the tiniest, crispiest leg up there? That's how much I tried of that. Like I said, Japan humbled my self-titled brave eater status. Humbled it quite a bit.

Sibling rivalry gets serious.

Michael couldn't back down from a challenge from Shelley, that would not be the Daetwyler thing to do. He ate a whole one, even the round body part which I can't even stop to think about on the chewiness scale. Especially since food has only recently become tolerable again to me, and it's still a limited list at that. Brave Daetwylers.

Cow piss/Calpis. Favorite Japanese drink, now matter how you say it.

This though, I had no problem with. Sounds like cow piss, spelled like Calpis. It's a dairy type milky sort of drink so, no surprises here that I loved it.

Beautiful Sakura.

Cherry blossoms, up close. The official Sakura season starts when a certain tree on the Emperor's grounds blossoms, but we saw quite a few that were ahead of that certain tree's schedule.

View of sprawling Tokyo and Mount Fuji from the Government Tower.

We went to the top of the Government Tower to get a view of sprawling Tokyo from all angles. We were lucky to catch it on a clear day and see Mount Fuji in the distance. We loved hearing Shelley's stories of hiking Mount Fuji and looking down over a thunder storm. Isn't it crazy how dense that city is? Subways under roads under roads under freeways. Layers and layers of hardworking, clean people. 

Anthon & Ella's piano recital at Suntory Hall

Anthon and Ella had a piano recital in a room at Suntory Hall while we were there. It was so fun to see them perform and dress up for that big day. Also, some of those Japanese kids just blew us away... there were literally first graders playing songs I learned in high school. Songs I felt proud of learning in high school, mind you. Like I said, hard working achievers of excellence over there.

Korean Barbecue at Mampuku Yakiniku

We ate so, so much good food in Japan between our fun meals out and Shelley's cooking. This night was a Korean barbecue experience with a grill in the center of the table. Ella was in charge and cooked all our meat perfectly. We also had Kaiten sushi, a tempura lunch, Japanese curry, a delicious grill experience, Shabu Shabu, "rare" cheesecake, and so many other yummy things. Actually I just read through this list and I'm pretty impressed with how much of that we ate in 10 days. That's what traveling and family time is all about, right?

Walking through the stalls at Tsukiji Market.

Speaking of yummy treats. Kidding. We did not eat these. This was from our second trip to Tsukiji fish market, because after the 6am auction tourist aren't allowed in the marketplace to walk through the stalls until 9am. So we went back a few days later to see the market at its busiest and look at all the catches of the day.

Such a busy environment at the world's largest wholesale seafood market. 

You had to constantly watch all around you in the market, as workers drove from here to there with huge loads and people moved their seafood from place to place as they prepared it to be sold. It felt so busy. They're currently building a new venue for the market that will let tourists watch from up above, which makes total sense. These workers are following their routine and trying to get the job done that they do every day, and tourists can't help but come and look at all that they're doing.

Sweet Ella and the terrifying fish head.

Yikes, right? There's something artistic about the juxtaposition here. I haven't used that word since AP English but obviously it was at least filed away for potential future situations. Glad it could be of use for this picture.

Exploring a neighborhood on our last morning in Japan.

After the market we explored a beautiful neighborhood, as well as visited Shelley's friend's art gallery. He paints in traditional ways and creates beautiful, beautiful pieces. It was so fun to look around at what he has made.

One of the enjoyable translations we saw.

Had to post at least one of the many enjoyable translations that we found. We didn't end up buying this, and so missed out on our momentary teatime.

Anthon's Baptism

We felt so lucky to be there the Sunday that Anthon was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That was such a special day for him and it was fun to share in celebrating his decision. Anthon's grandma and Uncle Michael both gave great talks, and Anthon had so many people from his ward family there supporting him. You can tell his family is so loved and will be really missed when they leave Tokyo this summer. The selfish part of us is so happy to have them back in our same country soon, but it's impressive to see the life this family has built in Tokyo.

The souvenir haul - no easy task of getting it here with no breaks or cracks.

We added to our Japanese dish collection while we were over there... that was way too fun. A special thank you to bubble wrap for getting these beauties across the ocean with zero breakage. Blew my mind, honestly. We brought back some fun treats and toys as well, and left this load on our table for probably a good three days. Putting it away would mean the trip was really, truly over, which was too sad.

I'm sure I missed so many things when writing this, but I wanted to post it before it's not timely anymore! Oh wait......

Still, though. I'll just come back and add them as I think of them because this trip was one for the permanent books! This blog started out as a travelogue when I lived in London, so it's fun to add to its original purpose here and there. Thank you, Cannons, for such a fun time in your home and your country! We had so much fun being there with family and experiencing so many new things.

Plus, our chopsticks skills have never been better. Gotta keep that up.

Coming This November...

Changes are coming our way! Our little Baby Daetwyler is joining us November 25th, or at least whatever day around that time he or she feels like it. This explains my blogging absence and a variety of other absences this past little while. I kind of feel like this baby has been trying to kill me, but we've been getting along much better these past few days. 

We found out this little baby was growing when we were in Japan over Spring Break, which was pretty surreal! I chose to not fully believe it until I could confirm that news multiple times after we got home. I remember thinking jet lag was to blame for any changes I may have thought I was experiencing, but then I had a dream one night that I had a positive pregnancy test in my pocket and I was showing it to all sorts of strangers on the street and telling them "Don't tell my family! I want to tell them!" So my subconscious must have been aware of this little one before the rest of me, and I took a pregnancy test that next morning before I even fully woke up. I mean, you can't just ignore a dream like that, people.

Speaking of Japan, that blog post is coming tomorrow. (Really.) It has been about two months in the making, so the suspense must just be killing you, I'm sure. But I haven't accomplished a lot the last few weeks. I can't even enjoyably read a book - it feels like I'm reading while carsick in the backseat of a windy road trip. And I don't even get carsick? So, it has not been fun. Low points have included: laying on the floor thinking I will never, ever want food again while still feeling grateful as Michael makes grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, and trying to remember the last time I cooked a meal. High points have included: hearing that speedy heartbeat just going, going, going inside of me and wondering who this little person is and what our family is going to be like.

So, absolutely no complaints here. Just explanations, and gratitude. We don't really know what we are doing. But we are happy, and in love, and ready to love a little person! I mean let's be real, we have both been giving our cat way too much attention lately. So it kind of just seems like the natural transition at this point, and I think our cat will be grateful. Or maybe she'll hate it. Like I said, we have no idea what is going to happen.

But, here we go... !

Two Years Today

I'm interrupting this month of blog-silence for a happy celebration. Today we have been married for two years! It's hard to believe we were married for just two months when we made our move to Indiana, and now our four years here are already at the halfway point.

Look at that beautiful spring day at the Jordan River Temple. April 21, 2012 was just perfect all around. It was the bluest sky I think I've ever seen, brightest flowers, happiest people. We are two lucky people.

You should know, my blog-silence is stemming from the oh-so-long post about our spring break in Tokyo that I need to finish putting together. Can't skip that. So, everything post-Tokyo has been put into the waiting line. Which is a shame, really, because we've been really living it up around here. Paint ball excursions, Thunder Over Louisville, Easter fun, and some hard core spring cleaning. But I won't blog about that last one.

But I couldn't let my procrastination skip over this happy day - two years is exciting stuff! And this Sunday will mark four years since the first time I ever met Michael Daetwyler, in the Salt Lake City airport. Love at first sight. Except not really because we spent a couple years making things way too complicated, BUT, now we get to look back and remember it as love at first sight. And he's still just as dreamy as ever. We're having a good time over here.

Happy Anniversary, Michael!

So You Married a Dental Student...

Let's talk about dental school. It's been a little while since we discussed that, right? We'll start with the big news... Michael passed his boards! He took them in the middle of January, which was pretty dang early, and he rocked it. I've been sitting on that happy news for a while now, unless you're hanging out with me over on Instagram. He studied so.many.flashcards. Sometimes I would read them to him while we were driving and I just cannot comprehend how he memorizes the things he memorizes. I'm so proud of him! He is, at this moment (which is after 11pm on a Tuesday), still in his lab at school. He has a lot to get done before Spring Break, and we just have not seen a lot of each other the last little while. I sure love this kid and how hard he works. 

And now, a couple of the random joys the dental school experience offers that no one tells you about...

Below you will see what was waiting for us on our porch last week. Bottles and bottles of mouthwash. A dentist's personal spam mail. Johnson & Johnson is already schmoozing him. Getting "fresh", if you will. I could not stop cracking up at this sight. I mean, for real? I was just loving it.

Also, I visited Michael in his lab bearing Chipotle a few weeks ago, to see him in his element. He looks so smart in his element! Am I right? The glasses. The beakers. He was using a machine that would stir his beaker for him when he pushed a button. I mean, he just looked like a natural up in there. My last lab experience was back in the AP Chemistry days of senior year in high school, with my best friend Kindal as my lab partner. We put a permanent burn mark on the ceiling. Our teacher still loved us though. As I stood there in awe of Michael's awesomeness that night, our conversation went something like this:

Me: "You look so smart right now. I'm gonna 'gram this."

Michael: "Nooo, no pictures right now."

Me: "When you married me you gave me copyrights to your life."

Then I 'grammed it.

And, what happens when the spam-mailed dentist is married to an Activity Day leader? Creativity, people... even if the activity this week was about budgeting, the mouthwash just had to play a role.

Today is your FRESH start...keep a budget!

Yeah, I know. I know. But I got rid of 16 bottles! And the girls were thrilled? In fact, one of them came up to me and said, 

"Do I do this in the morning or at night?" 

"What, budget?"

"No, the mouthwash!"

"Oh... I don't know. Do you want one for both?"

But she didn't. Just 32 bottles to go.

See, the poor and tired student life does have some random laughs and perks along the way. Perks being mouthwash, yes, but also much better things. Like just loving life with friends who are in your same boat. Or having a Redbox Saturday night after a test week (although in this week's version Michael fell asleep 10 minutes into the movie, but it's still going down in the books as a date night...poor guy). We are happy, and this stage of our life is flying by so fast. I knew it would going into it, and I feel it happening now. Almost halfway!

*This post is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson! (Sort of...) Simply become a follower of the blog and leave a comment below for a chance to win a FREE (and fresh and cool and minty) Johnson & Johnson product! Winners will be notified by email, and will receive multiple free products even though they only probably wanted to win one. Good luck!

Bits & Pieces

I've been contemplating life lately, and the different ways I can live it. I've summed it up as two opposing forces in my current life situation: Netflix vs. Culture. Granted, there is a place for both. But granted, Netflix finds its place with so much more ease, and wearing sweat pants. Culture requires planning and money and actively choosing to be active. And real pants. 

It's pretty crazy, though, how much happier I am on days and nights I get out and experience the world versus those days and nights I do it vicariously through a screen. I have been so tired of screens lately. Screen time all day at work. Screen time in my palm. Screen time when I relax at the end of the day. I'm amazed, sometimes, that my eyes still work. And maybe I should also be amazed that I blame my headaches on gluten? Because this screen pattern we're talking about has just got to be part of the blame here... So, living life intentionally. Even with an almost-always studying husband. It's worth the effort, and the pants.

I didn't come here to talk about that. I came here to gush about a play and a concert and how much they both made me smile this week. But the back story just kind of fell onto the page and so now you're up to speed anyways. My friend Kristin invited me to see Indy's own Kurt Vonnegut's "Who am I this Time" at the Indiana Repertory Theatre with her. I laughed so, so, so much. I want so badly for pieces of that play with the same seven actors I saw to be on YouTube so I can show those talented people to you all right here and now. There's some irony to be found in that sentiment, though, after my rant about screens... don't think about it.

Photo Cred to Kristin!

Here's the play's description, if you want a better idea of how dreamy it was: "With a friendly stage manager as your guide, some of Vonnegut's most endearing characters wander through three charming stories searching for love and identity. Taken from his first short story collection, Welcome to the Monkey House, Who am I this Time gives us the Indy author's unique take on Small Town America."

We just loved it. I'm grateful that I grew up just a couple blocks away from the Shakespeare Festival, and grateful for parents that always took me to the comedies on top of the other plays at the festival each year. There's something so genuinely fun in laughing at talented, real life comedic timing. I really wanted Michael to be able to see this, but we caught the play in its final week and we already had plans the night of its last showing... so instead, he had to listen to me do a poor job of repeatedly trying to reenact or describe all of the little things that made me laugh in this show. Sigh.

 

But he didn't have to miss out once the weekend came around - we bought tickets to see Josh Ritter again, in Bloomington this time. Oh he is so great. You can't help but love watching him sing, because you can tell he is just loving being there. I just sat and thought for a moment about which song to link to for you to listen to right now, but it was too hard. So many good ones. Just go get lost in his website on your own, and pick your fave. We hadn't been down to Bloomington yet (just 45 minutes south, home of Indiana University), so we went down a few hours before the concert and spent Saturday afternoon exploring.

We went on a date with our friend Chris, until his wife made it into town just in time for the concert (baby showers in Ohio kept her away). He showed us some bookstores and we walked around IU campus, and we found some Burmese food for dinner. Their menu came with a picture book of every item, woot woot. I love knowing what I'm getting into. We also bought our first children's book that night because I can literally still hear my little niece Lydia's voice when she came and stayed with us last summer: "Maddie, where are the books?" And I had to look her in her big sweet eyes and say, "Um... we don't... have any books." And she was sad, and so was I. 

So, we are now proud owners of a secondhand copy of Are You My Mother, from the beloved Dr. Seuss. Little by little we will remedy this bookless situation. Maybe until someday our house looks just like this: 

A girl can dream.

Oh, and we still have this cat. She still sleeps a lot.

Sometimes we find her in boxes, or in our dresser drawers.

That's really all I wanted to say about that.

The Midwest Experience: Columbus, Indiana

On Saturday we took a small road trip down to Columbus, IN. It's only about 45 minutes south of here, which is never an issue of distance for me - that's the equivalent of Cedar to St. George, which my friends and I frequently drove for a Cafe Rio salad or a line dancing fix.

Initially we planned on going for the one day showing of The Saratov Approach, a movie that I've heard a lot of good things about from friends and family back in Utah. But we had also heard multiple times that we needed to see the architecture in Columbus, so we added in a tour to our excursion. I'm so glad we did - it ended up being the best part of the day. For the full experience you should make your way there some day! But for the partial experience, read on...

To give you an idea of how impressive the design in this city of 44,000 is, you should know that they are ranked 6th in the nation for architectural design and innovation. The five cities ahead of them are New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington D.C. And then, Columbus, IN. Crazy hidden gem, right? Our tour had 5 people on it that day: the two of us, our two friends Chris and Kristin, and a furniture designer from Denmark who came here just to research and tour. Our guide said she frequently has designers and architects coming from Europe and all over, because Columbus is on their bucket list.

Pictured above is the First Christian Church, which was built in 1942 and was the first contemporary building in Columbus - and one of the first churches in American to be built in contemporary style. There is so much asymmetry there, which was almost unheard of among church buildings at that time. The cross, the altar, even the clock on the tower outside are all off center and balanced with other elements. There is so much natural light in the chapel, and the hanging lamps you see on the right are in the style of Christian oil lamps.

This is a close up of a door in the First Christian Church. If you could see it closer, you'd notice that every single screw is turned with the line exactly vertical. Details like that were all over inside. The architect, Saarinen, was hesitant to build the church at first but was then intrigued by this request from the reverend's daughter:

"Our town is small and there are all sorts and conditions of men. While we should like the church to be beautiful, we do not want the first reaction to be, how much did the church cost. We want the poorest women in town to feel at home there and able to worship her God in those surroundings."

He was told that the church should show that the people in Columbus were focused on a rich inner life and a simple outer life. So, the minimalist modern design came to be, and put Columbus on a forward-thinking path. Cummins, Inc. is headquartered in Columbus, and a program began in which the Cummins company would pay architects' fees if the client would select an architect from a list provided by J. Irwin Miller (the CEO of Cummins behind the initiative). So, schools, businesses, the hospital, the post office - they are all art. Guys, even the jail is beautiful. There are also public art pieces throughout the city that bring a lot of character.
 

Our tour guide was adorable. She was living in Columbus, OH when she and her husband visited Columbus, IN for a weekend. They went on the architecture tour and loved the city so much that they moved there just three months later. And now she's volunteering as a tour guide on the tour she loved back in 2000. The tour is a two-hour bus ride with stops in the First Christian Church and the hospital. There were countless sites to learn about - just glance at the list of National Historic Landmarks in the city and you'll get an idea.

Lincoln Park in Columbus is a beautifully landscaped public space with an amphitheater, pond, observation tower, playgrounds, skate park, etc. It used to be nicknamed "Death Valley" because it was basically a swampy mess, but volunteers from the community cleaned it up and then it was landscaped into a beautiful hilly area. We are so ready to take our bikes down there! The snow was beautiful, but we're definitely looking forward to going back down on a day with more sun, and more green.

Our tour ended full circle at the visitor's center, where the "Yellow Neon Chandelier" hangs, designed by Dale Chihuly. It was a gift to the town, and hangs beautifully over the staircase at the center. So many gems throughout Columbus!

This arch was sandcast in 50 sections in Germany, then arrived in Columbus in one piece. It stands in the library plaza, and if you catch the right angle it perfectly frames the First Christian Church and clock tower.

After two hours of architectural wonder, we went to lunch at Zaharakos, an ice cream parlor and museum. One of the best parts was a restored Orchestrion from the 1870s that played us loud, incredible tunes while we ate and tried to hear each other. You can read about the restoration of it here, which is intensive and fascinating. Another music machine is pictured above - this one had banjos. We were just having a lot of fun in there.

They also have a collection of marble soda fountains. Aren't they so pretty? Now I am questioning the legitimacy of the year of my life I spent working at an ice cream parlor/soda fountain in Cedar City. It just didn't compare, guys. But we did have killer Providence Crunch ice cream which you don't even know about because it was a signature recipe that now no longer exists. So at least there's that.

We had so much fun exploring Columbus that day. After the tour and fountain, we went to an early showing of The Saratov Approach with a few other friends who drove down from Indy. I thought the movie was great, and it made me realize how out of the loop kids are. How do I not remember missionaries being kidnapped in Russia? I feel like I was old enough then to at least be aware of it. But I was just playing with my friends, eating Providence Crunch ice cream. That's probably exactly what I should have been doing, actually.

So that was our Columbus day! Definitely a highlight of our midwest adventuring. Come visit :)