Happy Holidaze!
Happy Holidays!
Boy, was I naïve to think that two weeks off from school was
a long time.
The time went by quickly as
I embarked on a trip to Ohio to celebrate my sister’s 30th birthday,
Christmas and New Years. While traveling
during the holidays is not anyone’s cup of tea, the benefits of being home late
in December win out as old friends and classmates also make the trek so
everyone can rejoice in Ashtabula’s glorious splendor for a few days and catch
up on what everyone had been up to!
But, first, it is important to mention that we had our 6th
grade Christmas program on Friday, December 20.
This year, 6th grade chose to sing cultural Christmas
songs. They delighted families with
renditions of “Feliz Navidad”, “Mele Kalikimaka”, my personal favorite,
“Dominic the Donkey”, and “The Twelve Days of Christmas – Native Style.” Have a listen and look here, if you wish:
I flew to Columbus, Ohio the next day. I was met at the airport with news of
delays. Luckily, my flight to Denver was
delayed but so was my flight to Columbus so it all worked out. I landed at midnight instead of 9pm but was
thankful to have made it.
On Sunday, December 22, my little sister turned 30! Wow. We
started off the day at the Short North’s Northstar Café, our favorite brunch
spot and meandered around the Short North shops our favorites being Tigertree, Big Fun and Homage, Homage is the place to get all of your Ohio sports team t-shirts
and I was overdue for a new script Ohio shirt J
Before heading home, we stopped for a cup of the always delicious Jeni’s ice
cream.
My sister and I decided it was a must to see Anchorman 2 and that Studio 35 was the place to see it. This might be the first sequel to live up to
its hype – it was hysterical and fun to see the ensemble cast all on the big
screen together again.
Monday rolled around quickly and my sister, brother-in-law
and I hopped in the car to head to our parents’ house. But first, a stop in Cleveland for a
Cavaliers basketball game! My friend
Beth from NYC met us at Bar Cento in Ohio City for an awesome pre-game dinner –
We tried the famous Sunnyside (read about it being the #1 pizza in Ohio
here: 50 States, 50 Pizzas - Zagat) and it definitely lived up to its hype!
Let’s be real, who wouldn’t love bacon and eggs on pizza?!
The Cavs game was a blast despite their loss to the Pistons
and it was fun to get into the Cleveland sports team mentality again of always
hoping and praying for a win despite the odds!
An hour drive led us to our parent’s house in
Ashtabula. The same house we both grew
up in, amazing. I was greeted
dramatically by my mother who exclaimed, “Can it be I haven’t seen you in a
whole year?!” Nope. See post,
Summertime. Thank goodness for this blog
sometimes!
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| Mom and me, Beach Glass Festival, June 30, 2013! |
Christmas at the Rich’s is mellow and
centered around food. First course,
coffee and mom’s famous sugar cookies. We
then use that little sugar and caffeine burst to open presents.
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| Merry Christmas from Spencer! |
The big event on Christmas Day is Christmas dinner (more
like Christmas late lunch) when mom prepares homemade wedding soup and
ravioli. The ravs were great this year,
as usual and definitely worth flying across the country for!
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| Table's all set! |
As the evening wore on and our food comas wore off, we
hopped the car and drove to Lake Shore Park’s Lights on the Lake. We also drove over both the longest and
shortest covered bridges in Ashtabula County.
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| Lights on the Lake, Lake Shore Park |
No trip home would be complete without at least one
Cleveland Fun Day! I met my friend,
Beth, at the newly renovated Cleveland Museum of Art. I had wanted to see Ai Weiwei’s Zodiac heads
and they were conveniently on view in the Atrium.
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| The Cleveland Museum of Art |
Beth and I hopped over to Tremont for a late lunch at
Lucky’s and then walked over to The Christmas Story House! 2013 marks the 30th Anniversary
for The Christmas Story movie making it a fun year to visit.
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| Leg Lamp proudly displayed in Ohio City |
We learned so much about the history of the house and
movie. Turns out, most of the interior
scenes were done on a sound stage but the exteriors and the scene where Ralphie
is writing his theme and looking out the window were filmed inside the house.
Across the street, you can find a museum with memorabilia
from the movie as well as a massive gift shop for all of your leg lamp needs.
Upon my return to Ashtabula, I was invited to see my friend,
Nicole, who was visiting from England.
It was decided that I would accompany her on a trip to Niagara Falls the
following day!
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| Niagara Falls, New York |
Niagara Falls is about three hours from Ashtabula and I
haven’t been since I was in high school so my memory is a bit poor. We didn’t have a ton of time so we took
pictures, had lunch and drove back to Ashtabula. I was surprised at how many people were
visiting the falls that same wintry day but seeing the water’s mist and the
snow was beautiful. The only bummer was
we couldn’t find that photo booth where you take the classic going over the
falls in a barrel pic, we will find it next time!
I decided that instead of crashing my parents’ New Years
plans, I’d head back down to Columbus to spend more time with my sister and
friend, Natalie.
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| Happy New Year! |
We spent the day wandering about our old haunts on Ohio
State’s campus and reminisced about classes we had in this building or that all
while marveling at the renovations and new buildings.
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University Hall, The Ohio State University
|
My sister remembered the best views are from the 11th
floor of the Main Library so we wandered in, astonished at the sleek, modern
feel of the new first floor lobby.
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| Main Library, The Ohio State University |
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| Inside the Main Library, The Ohio State University |
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| View of the Main Oval from Main Library, The Ohio State University |
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| View of Ohio Stadium or The Shoe from Main Library |
Due to the crazy storms in the Midwest, I ended up with an extra two days in Ashtabeautiful.
Being stranded was a-ok as I was able to grab one last cup of coffee at the Harbor Perk and catch up with the neighbors. Oh, and watch Ohio State lose to Clemson in the Orange Bowl in the comforts of the Locker Room. Go Bucks!
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| Treated to a gorgeous sunrise at Cleveland Hopkins Airport on Saturday as I waited to board. |
Traveling to Ohio is always a trip. It’s interesting to be a tourist in my home
state. To Ohio’s credit, there are
always new places to explore, historic sites to visit, restaurants to check out
and old favorites to frequent for the sole reason to make sure they are still
as great as I once remembered. There
will always be more sporting events (next year, a Lake Erie Monsters’ game is in
order) to attend, shoreline to comb for beach glass and spots to catch those
famous Lake Erie sunsets.
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| Lake Erie |
Thanks, Ohio. See ya next time.
Happy 2014!
Natalie
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