Columbus, Ohio: Sharon Woods Metro Park, Short North, and Steak 'n Shake

When we found out the Toledo Art Museum was closed for Independence Day weekend, we decided to head south to Columbus instead.

We happened upon the appropriately named Sharon Woods Metro Park and took a little hike.

It was beautiful outside.

Then Sharon took us to Short North, an up-and-coming artsy district of Columbus. It has lots of historic buildings and is known for its iconic arched streetlights, which come on at night and change color every few minutes.

 

The arches have a really cool history that you can read about here. They were originally made of wood and lit by gas lights; when the city switched them to electric power, Thomas Edison sent a letter of commendation. They were taken down almost 100 years ago but rebuilt in 1998.

The neighborhood was quite charming. Highlights included seeing lots of murals and being accosted by a creepy homeless man who had a permit from the city to talk to people (or something?).

This was my favorite mural that we saw, but I couldn't get a good picture because of the location (building right across the street, telephone pole, and people constantly sitting there looking at me like I was a stalker):

Elsewhere in the city, we passed what appeared to be Columbus's version of Times Square... it kinda made me laugh. (Sorry, Columbus.)

We got hungry for dinner and tried desperately to find the first Wendy's restaurant, reputedly located in the city of Columbus. We put "Wendy's" into the GPS and tried the first four or so locations, but none of them were Wendy's, or even restaurants. It was as if a killer had tricked our GPS into leading us to totally random back streets of the city! We eventually gave up (after calling two people for help and finding out the first Wendy's closes early anyway), but it turned out for the best because we found a Steak 'n  Shake outside the city, and I got to try it for the first time!

Grilled cheese, fries, and a strawberry shake with real strawberries! (It's probably good they don't have any Steak 'n Shakes around here.) The end of a great day in Ohio.