Weekend Update: Fun Fall Getaway - Part 1

My husband and I did a little Fall getaway for two nights in Columbus, Ohio. Though the leaves had not started turning color, it was still a spectacular weekend. Come along for the ride:

We visited the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botannical Gardens. I had never been there before and now I'm just shaking my head that it took me this long. The place is enormous and stunning inside and out.

 

You are greeted at the entrance by a large Chihuly glass display overhead. It is very similar (just smaller) than the one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Dale Chihuly's art is scattered throughout the conservatory. If you are not familiar, please take the time to google him. His work is displayed all over the world, in all sorts of spaces. Fun fact: my college alma mater even has an outdoor piece of his in front of the polymer science center.

After visiting the desert, we headed for the jungle.

My husband's dream trip is Fiji. Seeing this Fiji Fan Palm is probably the closest we will ever get. Isn't it magnificent?

There were also rooms devoted to Bonsai trees. Some were hundreds of years old.

An unexpected delight was that the inside and outside were decorated for Autumn. I can't say I've ever seen a skeleton pick apples.

Tons and tons of pumpkins and gourds all over the property.

For the kids, there was an entire train village, with multiple trains running at once. Although there is an admission fee to enter the conservatory, the outdoor area is free to all.

Afterwards, we headed to Dublin, a suburb of Columbus, where our hotel was located. I chose to stay there because of its walkability factor. You can park your car at the hotel and walk everywhere. There is a long S shaped pedestrian bridge that connects the new part of town to Old Dublin. This view is of the new section, with our hotel on the far right. There are lots of restaurants, bars, game rooms, shops, and a marketplace, besides two hotels just in that area. We enjoyed some street tacos at Local Cantina for lunch.

This is what Old Dublin looks like. We were so impressed by the beauty of the buildings and the landscaping. We visited two breweries located there: North High and Getaway.

This is the inside of Getaway. We sat next to this gas fireplace and it was the perfect spot for our own personal getaway.

Near the restrooms were three windows designed to look like airplane windows. How cute is that?

That evening, we had dinner at our hotel's rooftop lounge, Vaso. My son and his wife took me here a year ago, so I was excited to go again with my spouse.

The restaurant serves Spanish tapas exclusively. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco and had the marinated olives and smoked duck cannoli . . . 

along with Thai chicken meatballs in coconut curry and a salad of cucumbers, beets, and tomatoes with burrata. Everything was fabulous.

I will post part two next time. I took a lot of photos last weekend!

What would be your dream getaway and a more realistic one?