Columbus ’26 – Day 2

July 9, 2026 (written on July 12)

Did you read our first post of the trip? If not, please do. You’ll be caught up.

My love affair with Columbus, Ohio, began during my first marriage. My then-wife’s job took her there after the company announced it would be closing its Pittsburgh-area offices and consolidating them with several others—including Columbus, where the company owned the property. Thus began three years of back-and-forth trips between two cities in what I thought was a tale only Charles Dickens could tell. The company asked for a two-year commitment—or repayment of the bonus received. It ended up being 3 years and ending in divorce.

I tell you this because, if I’m being honest, I’ve had time to think about that period of my life. At the time, it was interesting. Hindsight, however, says it was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever been involved in.

Be that as it may, Columbus’ offerings were always a draw. There is constantly something happening. Festivals, museums and other experiences make the city—and its surrounding suburbs and towns—a hot place to be.

But when I went out there on weekends, which often stretched from Wednesday afternoon until the following Monday morning, I spent much of the time alone. Other than finding a bite to eat, I wouldn’t even think about the fun or even practical things I could have done on my own. I had plenty to keep me occupied at the apartment, but the fun would often wait.

So, for this trip, “spontaneous” was the magic word. Annie and I do spontaneity well, and this trip was a fine example of that.

The heat and humidity on this particular day were expected to be the worse of the two full days we had, so we decided to save the zoo for Friday. As we ate breakfast in the hotel lobby from a somewhat limited and unimpressive menu, I pulled out my phone and did a little research.

I considered Franklin Park Conservatory or COSI, but we decided those would probably be different versions of things we could do at home. While the experiences themselves might be different, we wanted to do something unusual.

Enter Google.

One of its suggestions was Prototype: The Experimental Museum, operated by Roto, a company based in nearby Dublin—the suburb where we were staying. The museum itself, however, is located alongside Scioto Audubon Metro Park, near the city’s German Village and Brewery District.

A side note: As our Uber driver approached the turn onto the street leading to the park, we saw a man riding a bicycle toward us from the opposite direction. He was carrying a chair by one leg over his left shoulder, and his rear bicycle tire appeared to be flat. For his third trick, he was smoking a cigarette to boot. A candidate for “America’s Got Talent” if I ever saw one!

We arrived at Prototype at the end of a structure that, from the front, looked like a misplaced strip mall. Inside, however, Prototype’s footprint consisted of more than 30,000 square feet of pure fun for anyone age 16 and older. Some of the experiences are not appropriate for children, and the museum says so upfront.

We would encourage you to check out its website for more information, but here are a few of the very few photos I took during the entire trip.

We spent about two and a half hours making our way through the museum’s six zones and enjoyed just about everything. There were a couple of exhibits we didn’t feel were appropriate for any age, but none of them ruined the experience overall.

The sixth and final section is a cocktail bar with a very long screen displaying a variety of videos in a continuous loop. The bar was not open that day, but complimentary soft drinks were available for guests.

Our late lunch would be at a place I visited often: BIBIBOP Asian Grill, specifically the location on Henderson Road in—with plenty of snob affect—Upper Arlington.

Henderson Road forms the northern border of UA and reminds me somewhat of McKnight Road. The closest BIBIBOP location to Pittsburgh is in Niles, Ohio, near Youngstown. If you’ve been to Roots Natural Kitchen, which is decent, BIBIBOP is 1,000 times better! You might even find some of its sauces in your local grocery store.

Meanwhile, as we were eating from our bowls, I developed an overwhelmingly bizarre need to get a haircut.

Talk about spontaneous!

Now, I could have waited for my standing appointment this upcoming Tuesday, but my brain suggested otherwise. I’m not sure whether vanity or practicality took the lead, but I convinced myself they were running neck and neck. No pun intended.

Friday had the potential to be spent in the very hot summer sun. I would have a hat on my head and sunscreen all over, but historically I have still managed to end up with a sunburn somewhere—usually on the back of my neck, the top of my head or both. If that happened, any haircut within the following week would probably involve clippers rubbing against sensitive skin. Even if I achieved a “perfect tan,” I could still end up with a tiny strip of white skin tracing the outline of my hairline.

So yes, vanity and practicality were working together.

With Annie’s agreement, I searched Google and tried to book an appointment at several places near the restaurant, but came up empty. It turned out that the one available appointment in the area was at what I remembered as being “around the corner” from where we were—the original location of Blue Star Barbershop.

It was, technically, around the corner. But after the corner came a lengthy straight line down the road.

We still arrived about 20 minutes early, but within five minutes, the barber to whom I had been assigned finished with her previous client and called my name. She asked what I wanted, and I gave her the formula. Marcia followed the instructions perfectly, adding a straight-razor neck cleanup and a bit of fancy perfume—“Eau de le Barbier Shoppee”—as a short-term, lingering souvenir of my visit.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that the barber visit would become something of a turning point in the trip—not because it changed the trip’s direction, but because it perfectly captured its spirit. It was spontaneous and the kind of choice I rarely allowed myself to make during those earlier years in Columbus. In that sense, the haircut was about more than just a haircut.

We next took a long walk up the road, again thinking we were much closer than we actually were, to Target. We were searching for trekking poles, a hat for Annie and gum.

One out of three ain’t bad. All they had was the gum.

Our Uber driver took the long way back to the hotel, giving Annie enough time to order the remaining items from Walmart for delivery.

The evening included a second visit to the hotel’s “awesome indoor pool,” followed by a “room service” dinner, the second from—you guessed it—Panini Opa! Annie loved it that much! We ate our deliciousness in the hotel courtyard before it was claimed by a group of individuals who were attending a conference intended to help them avoid jail time. There were some interesting conversations being had—as though we weren’t even sitting there and soon we weren’t. It was time to get to the room and rest up for our main reason for going to Columbus in the first place!