Lynn - Olentangy Indian Caverns

Hooray for Staycation. Today Timothy and I had a two-parted adventure. We started out at the Wasserstrom Restaurant Supply Store, which sounds kinda lame, but it was actually really cool. I totally want to work there too. If you ever wondered where you can go to buy a neon flashing open sign, or a years supply of chopsticks, or a fridge for you mini mart with "ICE COLD BEVERAGES" across the top, then this is the place. I suddenly felt like I was part of the world of Columbus chefs too, which was pretty fun. Ever wonder where people get those black baggy pants with the white pin stripes!?!? sheeeeit, man.

The reason we went there was to find some shallow dishes for a lil project I want to do, and we did in fact find the perfect one, unfortunately, it was just the one, and I needed several. They recommended Bed Bath and Beyond!! WTF?

Oh well, It would definitely be a good place to go for cheaper party supplies like mini umbrellas and things, and it was just fun to explore.

After Wasserstrom we started on our journey to the Olentangy Indian Caverns. We arrived and it seemed pretty dead, but if you know me, that is a good sign. It made me a little sad that no one was there, but I was still glad. We checked out the lil gift shop, but didn't buy anything but our tickets at first. I felt kinda lost at the beginning because there was no big sign that was like HEY ENTER THE GIANT CAVE HERE! instead it was a creepy cellar looking door at the back of a small house.

So we headed down and were pretty much down there by ourselves. It had old recordings in a lot of the cavey rooms, that told history and interesting facts n stuff. I turned into a kid in there though, Tim kept warning me that I was going to get us in trouble. There were all these tunnels that had been drilled out in order to find other rooms but actually led no where. There were tunnels only a few feet wide, but for some reason I had this outrageous need to explore them. Tim reminded me that we weren't allowed to leave the given paths or touch the walls. FINE! So instead we just shot flashlights down the tunnels and took pictures. I liked how not safe the whole thing was, there were some spots that a kid could easily topple down into cracks and break their head. I did at one point have a morbid thought of wondering how many people had died down in there... ooOOOooo... The chance of severe injury, arrest or death made it more exciting.

After the caverns we went back to the gift shop where things were surprisingly cheap. I got a hematite ring and we also got bags o dirt for the mining/washing/whatever its called you do to sift treasures out of dert. Tim got the various gems bag and I got the fossils one. It was actually really fun to do, we couldn't stop expressing how big of dorks we were. Not quite renaissance dorks, but still...

After the rocky fun, we kinda just walked around the area and took more pictures, we saw some creepy statues, and I apparently humped one of them. We walked through a woodsy area which kinda led to nowhere and took some pictures of a bluebird. It was such a perfect day for it, since it was the same temperature outside as it is inside the caverns year round. I ganked a brochure that lists other caverns in Ohio, and Tim and I have agreed to venture to some of the other ones soon. I do remember the stalactites at the Ohio Caverns from when I was little.

STAYCATION RATING:
Funness: **** - quite fun and interesting
Educationalness: **** - yay indians and rocks! indians chillin with rocks!
Cheapness: ***** - we had a buy one get one admission coupon, and the tickets were only 8.50 anyway. The gift shop stuff was super cheap. Some things I couldn't believe the price.
Journeyness: **** - short trip, with pretty stuff to look at on the way.
Busyness ***** - not busy at ALL, especially considering we were there on a Saturday afternoon.

Overall ***** - We both lurved it and had a good time.

Our upcoming staycation ideas: The Ohio Historical Society, Ohio Caverns, The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, Budweiser Factory Tour