Thanks for the list! I'll make sure to check out alll 10 things to do in Columbus.

The list is good.

If it's okay to add a few things, I'd say that there are also many cool places to go within an hours drive and most of the drives can be fun in themselves. But Dawes Arboretum which is east of Columbus just north of I-70 on state route 13 is a good short day trip or less. Definitely a great sight in the spring when the trees are blooming, especially the Crabapples. There's also Yellow Springs. And if you go there make sure you stop off at Young's Dairy on state route 68 just north of the town. Their ice cream is great!! Plus there are a number of cool parks around Yellow Springs.

I entertained a friend from out of town this weekend who wanted a tour of Columbus (specifically, "gay Columbus," but that's not so simple when you don't do bars).

Of course that meant German Village and the Short North...

It was Saturday, the day we had the truly glorious weather (and, for my money, the only really good weather day of the summer), so we knocked around Schiller Park, hit the Book Loft, and poked our heads in Katzinger's. He's Jewish and from New York, so I told him Katzinger's is the closest we come to that... He told me that his brother in Pickerington said exactly the same thing. But we ended up eating at Max & Erma's, which he thought was perfect.

Then I took him to Planet Smoothie on North High for dessert and showed him The Cap, which particularly piqued his curiosity.

We met when he called the Stonewall Center on a day when I was volunteering there, and he wanted to see the Center, which is usually closed on Saturday but was open that particular afternoon.

We began and ended our meeting at the Main Library. It turned out that he thought all my choices were excellent. That felt good, because I'm kind of compulsive about being a good host.

It was interesting that even though GV had the reputation, early on (compared to the SN), of being a gay enclave, I saw no rainbow flags at all as we walked around. I guess the area has successfully integrated, which is, of course, what BGLT activists have wanted to see happen all along. Although my guest liked GV quite a bit for its quaint, neighborly quality, he liked the edginess of the SN more.

Being a self-employed artist who's prejudiced against conspicuous consumption, I'm inclined to agree: in general, I think that million-dollar homes are unnecessary.

Many years ago, an artist-friend of mine stopped going to the Gallery Hops because he said he didn't like the feeling of the suburbanites slumming by coming to gawk at the artists. I don't know from that, but I suppose he had a point. Just because I'm unconventional doesn't mean anybody else has to be...