A few months catch up!

Hello faithful blog readers, it has been awhile since I’ve updated my activities so here we go. After returning from Spain and France I took a small breather until May when I flew down to Miami and spent a long weekend with Jennifer. This was an interesting travel because I flew from Columbus to Fort Lauderdale, caught a shuttle from the airport to the train station where I caught the train south to Miami and was met at the Miami International Airport stop by Jennifer. A rather complicated journey.

We spent the weekend lounging on South Beach and walking along Lincoln Street window shopping and making a purchase here and there. The weather was fantastic and I was truly relaxed. I bid Jennifer farewell and returned home to Columbus and immersed myself back into work.

That was short lived because I soon headed to Washington DC for a business briefing, visit with friends and check on the house. The tree in the front yard apparently was mourning my departure the year previous and finally gave up the will to live. The tree replacement is still a work in progress thanks to a bullshit homeowners association. But I digress.

In June it was Columbus Pride and the yearly Pride 5K. This was my second year running it and I placed in the top 20 again. I convinced or probably coerced my work out partner Les into entering and running the race. I was proud of Les for finishing the race because he had never run a race or that far in his life. My colleague Lyle and his family joined me in Columbus for the Pride parade and we spent a sunny day together that culminated with lunch at the Surly Girl Saloon. The parade was a large turn out and seems larger each year in my opinion.

After all the festivities settled down I was off for Minnesota and a visit with family. Summer in Minnesota is beautiful and my favorite time of year. Dani Steele had graduated high school so we attended her graduation party. Dani will be starting college this year and I wish her luck! I caught up with three high friends who I haven’t seen in 20 years or more…a shout out to Julie, Julie and Mary!

July arrived with a bang literally as I hosted a small gathering at the apartment to view the fireworks over Columbus titled “Red, White and Boom”. We crawled atop the apartment building and had the best seats in the city I believe. Just gloss over the whole atop the apartment building thing….

Lady GaGa was in concert in Cleveland so Colin and I headed north for the night and watched her concert along with 20 thousand of our closest friends. We spent the night and toured the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame the next morning. There was lots of memorabilia and factoids about musical artists that left a lasting impression on the art of music or somehow contributed to the advancement of music all together.

Colin and I decided that we traveled so well together that we should ramp up the intensity and flew up to Chicago for a long weekend. The first night we stayed downtown at the Hotel Allegro and that was really enjoyable. The hotel staff was friendly and the place was genuinely environmentally conscious. The first morning we took off for a run from downtown through Millennium Park and along Lakeshore drive. It was awesome and as we transited through the park there was a mass exercise class going on in the grass pavilion. There were numerous people out walking, running, biking and roller blading. The path along Lake Shore drive actually was a bit hazardous from all the differing exercise traffic.

We survived our run, got cleaned up and set out to explore the city. Our first stop was Navy Pier and the sun was beating upon us…yay, I love the sun. We then noticed that there was unusual activity around the canal and the Magnificent Mile or commonly referred to as the “Mag Mile”. Turns out, there was filming for a new Transformer movie. There were props in the form of wrecked cars along both sides of the canal and smoke would billow from the filming area. Of course, access was restricted close to the action but we did manage to get close enough for a few interesting pictures.

We moved from the downtown area north to Boystown and stayed at the Villa Tuscano guesthouse right in the heart of the action. After cleaning up and a quick nap we headed out that night to explore the nightlife of Boystown. We first visited Sidetracks bar and approvingly noted the modern atmosphere and different bars within the complex for exploration. We especially enjoyed the rooftop bar…a summer treat only. We then set off for Hydrate, a local dance club and were a bit disappointed by the layout and dingy atmosphere.

The next morning we did a jog through Boystown and back on Lake Shore Drive where the pedestrian traffic was less. We found a trail along the water and ended up along a small boat harbor before finding our way back to the guesthouse. We cleaned up and then jumped on the subway and headed back into the city for a fantastic brunch at Eve’s and caught a Cirque De Sole show at the Navy Pier. We then explored the movie filming again and Millennium Park more closely. That night we headed back to Sidetracks and enjoyed more time in the great atmosphere.

The final day we packed up and took the subway into downtown and then transferred to the line for Midway. The flight was uneventful and 45 minutes later we were back in Columbus vowing another trip in the future. The pictures are: a shot of the Chicago skyline, Colin on the canal wall, the gang assembled for the fireworks, my former high school classmates at breakfast, Mike at his his going away party in DC and finally two shots of me on the beach in Miami. I'll be off for Montreal in August!