Columbus to Boston, Part 1

This vacation wasn't a vacation, as such. We dropped off David at The Ohio State University and had to get back somehow. 

On the way there, Alex and David drove the loaded family car in one day from Boston to Cleveland, along Rte 90, spent the night in Cleveland, and on the following morning drove the rest of the way to Columbus. Meanwhile, Temma and I flew into Columbus, as there was no space left for us in the car. We all converged on the university campus, where David moved into the dorm along with 50 thousand or so of his closest friends. 

We stayed the night at the Blackwell, which is a very nice hotel right on campus. It seems to be mostly run by the hospitality industry majors from Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State. They are doing a pretty good job with the hotel itself, though unfortunately the same isn't true for the adjacent restaurant. Maybe we were there just on an off day, but breakfast in an almost empty restaurant shouldn't take an hour! 

In our case, Blackwell's location right on campus was especially important, because it let us maximize our time with David (who already had various meetings and activities planned) before we kissed him goodbye and started driving the now-empty car back towards Boston... 

This is the view from our hotel room towards the footbal stadium on campus. 

People below are the tail end of a very long procession, which was walking past our window for more than an hour that morning, to get loaded into 175 buses and go to the Crew Stadium (not to be confused with Ohio Stadium in the previous photo) to the President's Convocation. And this is a photo of President Gee, taken by Alex on the move-in day. 

Since most of my time in Columbus has been spent on campus and/or crying, I have no clear impression of the city yet. Hopefully, it will develop during my subsequent visits, in the next 4 years. 

But for now, I'll start our trip report with the following day, when we were driving across Pennsylvania along Rte 80. We've decided that Rte 90 has been explored enough during our multiple trips to Niagara Falls, and wanted to see new places. The first of which was our lunch stop, Denny's Beer Barrel and Pub, the Home of the World's Largest Burger. Here it is. 

Denny's is home not just to the humongous burger, but also to burger-eating competitons, or "challenges". Contestants (or even 6-8 person teams) each get a 2-lbs, 3-lbs, or even a 15-lbs burger, which they have to finish within a certain time. If they do, their names are posted on a Winners' list (on a wall, as well as on the pub's website), along with their personal time. If they don't - their names are also posted, but on the "Couldn't quite do it" list. 

In case you are wondering, why would we go to such an unlikely place? - here is the answer. Apart from burger monstrosities, their menu contains all kinds of regular-sized burgers - as well as wraps, salads, soups, etc. - and beer... Having to eat lunch somewhere along that stretch of Rte 80 anyway, we figured that a restaurant specializing in burgers should be able to do them well. So I ordered an ostrich burger, and Alex an elk one (1/3 lbs each), while Temma decided to go with a "pizza burger" (drenched in pizza sauce) - and we were all quite happy with our selections.