{"id":11723,"date":"2013-08-13T22:00:40","date_gmt":"2013-08-14T02:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=11723"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:57:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T22:57:28","slug":"make-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=11723","title":{"rendered":"Make A Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"experience<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Columbus, Ohio <\/i>\u2013 \u201cPlan Your Visit\u201d is a category unto itself when you travel. It\u2019s also wise advice for living on this earth. \u201cIf you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going, you might end up somewhere else,\u201d is a sage bit of advice I\u2019ve passed along to my grandkids over the years. That doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t adapt, and change plans as necessary (or desirable); it just means you have a plan. Like a Journey<\/i> to 50 capital cities! Today I\u2019m ready to make a plan for my visit in Columbus, my 39th<\/sup> capital city. I always seek advice from the locals \u2013 residents, and those whose task it is to promote the city, such as the visitor\u2019s bureau; here in Columbus they go by the moniker \u201cExperience Columbus,\u201d which, to me, is good advice for residents as well as visitors. I have in hand the Official Visitors Guide<\/i>, complete with maps, \"13<\/a>and Columbus City Guide<\/i> (from Columbus Monthly), so I\u2019m going to read all about it, and make my plan. Neighborhoods and tours, historical sites and adventuring, eating and events \u2013 those are the basics. I see there are some interesting neighborhoods, such as Short North (so named because it is north of downtown, but short of the OSU campus); the Arena District (sports, natch); \"\"<\/a>German Village (historic, south of downtown); Victorian Village\/Italian Village (historic, north of downtown); Olde Towne (vintage Columbus); and of course, Downtown, home of the Statehouse, the Museum of Art, and COSI (Center of Science and Industry), a 320,000-square-foot facility that recently was named America\u2019s #1 science center. America\u2019s #1 science center and America\u2019s #1 zoo in one town? I settled in to read more. Jack Hanna is Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, I read. Well then, no wonder it is great!<\/p>\n

\"13<\/a>When Jack Hanna took over as director of the Columbus Zoo in 1978, the zoo had an annual budget of $600,000. Today\u2019s annual budget is $61 million, and last year nearly 2 million people came for a visit. Jack began to make his zoo famous in the 1980s when he\u00a0started appearing on national TV shows like Letterman<\/i> and Good Morning America<\/i> with his lovable personality and unusual animals; today his numerous books and award-winning TV programs like Jack Hanna\u2019s Animal Adventures<\/i> and Into The Wild<\/i> continue to promote the zoo, and a better understanding of the world of animals. The zoo is big on conservation and education programs, and offers countless opportunities for seeing animals in as natural a habitat as possible with Asia Quest, Australia and the Islands, The African Forest, and the animals of North America, from brown bears to polar bears to barnyard animals like goats and chickens. And did I mention it\u2019s an aquarium too? http:\/\/www.columbuszoo.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"cosi\"<\/a>COSI is a “center of science,” rather than a standalone science center; it has partnerships with WOSU@COSI, the only working television station in a science center; the Ohio State University (OSU) Labs in Life, working research laboratories created through a partnership with The Ohio State University and staffed by OSU researchers; Battelle’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Innovation Network, in partnership with one of the world’s leading research institutions; the Columbus Historical Society; and the STEM-based Metro High School, among others. Since its opening in 1964, COSI has engaged with over 30 million people from all 50 states and around the world, both on-site and through its award-winning outreach programs. The John Glenn Theater is home to Extreme Screen, with 12,000 watts of sound and award-winning films; in Space, a mockup of the International Space Station teaches about life \u201cin orbit;\u201d or you can watch live NASA TV. http:\/\/www.cosi.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"13<\/a>The Columbus Museum of Art started out in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, and was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. Its original building was the Sessions Mansion, replaced in 1931 by the current building. The museum historically focused on European and American art, but in recent years has branched into contemporary exhibits; today see works by Picasso, C\u00e9zanne, Boucher, Ingres, Degas, Matisse, Monet, Edward Hopper, and Norman Rockwell; the photography collection includes works by Berenice Abbott and Eug\u00e8ne Atget. The museum has the largest public collection of woodcarvings by Columbus folk artist Elijah Pierce, and the world\u2019s largest repository of paintings and lithographs by Columbus native George Bellows. Major expansion began in 2007; there is an outdoor sculpture gallery and “Eye Spy: Adventures in Art”, an interactive exhibit tailored for children. http:\/\/www.columbusmuseum.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"13<\/a>A few more museums catch my eye:<\/p>\n

Jack Nicklaus Museum spans the history of golf; Nicklaus is a Columbus native and widely regarded as the most accomplished golfer of all time, http:\/\/www.nicklausmuseum.org\/<\/a>\u00a0 Kelton House is a Victorian townhouse that traces the history of the Kelton \"13<\/a>family and urban life and arts in Columbus during the 19th<\/sup> century; beware, it\u2019s rumored to be haunted, http:\/\/www.keltonhouse.com\/<\/a>\u00a0 Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum covers the 75-year history of motorcycles, http:\/\/www.motorcyclemuseum.org\/<\/a>\u00a0 Ohio Village is a recreation of a Civil War-era Ohio town, http:\/\/www.ohiohistory.org\/museums-and-historic-sites\/<\/a>\u00a0 Thurber House is a living house museum in the restored home of James Thurber (1894-1961), one of the most popular humorists of his time, http:\/\/www.thurberhouse.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"13<\/a>And of course the Ohio Statehouse is at the top of my list; it is open every day of the week, hooray! They have self-guided tours, docent-led tours, school tours, IPod Podcast tours, monument cell phone audio tours, and \u201cMiss Emma\u201d tours. Miss Emma Jones was a socialite who lived on Capitol Square across from the Statehouse from 1850 to 1938. She and her family often provided gracious hospitality in her home and at her table, offering hearty food for the leadership of the Ohio House and Senate, legislators from all corners of Ohio, and officers of the Union Army during the Civil War. The Miss Emma tours of today offer a chance to sit at \u201cMiss Emma\u2019s Table\u201d and \"13<\/a>enjoy a Victorian lunch or supper of regional cooking served boarding-house style in the Capitol Caf\u00e9. After the meal, choose from two tours \u2013 the Classic Tour<\/i> gives a general overview of the history, art and architecture of the buildings on Capitol Square, and focuses on the rotunda, atrium, and chambers of the Statehouse which are still in use today. The Ohio Portals of History Tour<\/i> brings history to life as visitors meet first-person interpreters who portray prominent figures from Ohio\u2019s history \u2013 the historical actors talk about their experiences in the buildings. Packages are available for groups of 10-55 and reservations must be made 90 days in advance, I read. http:\/\/www.ohiostatehouse.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Rats \u2013 reservations must be made 90 days in advance! I would have so loved a Miss Emma tour, but that\u2019s what happens when you don\u2019t look far enough ahead, and make a plan.<\/p>\n

Experience Columbus @ www.experiencecolumbus.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Columbus City Guide @ www.columbusmonthly.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton posting from Columbus, Ohio \u2013 \u201cPlan Your Visit\u201d is a category unto itself when you travel. It\u2019s also wise advice for living on this earth. \u201cIf you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going, you might end up somewhere else,\u201d is a sage bit of advice I\u2019ve passed along to my grandkids over the years. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4587,1730],"tags":[3092,2614,2613,2615,2611,2616,2612,2617,2588,2618,2619],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11723"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11726,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11723\/revisions\/11726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}