Reunions

My college friends got together this week in Columbus Ohio. I flew up then Leslie and Mark picked me up at the airport. They drove to Alum Creek State Park so we could hike and talk while we waited until we could check into the hotel.

They reserved a suite which became our “party room”. We spent every evening reminiscing, sharing pictures, telling stories, and laughing. Oh, and pretend flirting with the pizza delivery man until we found out he was still in high school!

We did a tour of American Whistle Corp. They are the only company in the U.S. who make metal whistles. As engineers we internally critiqued the tour guide’s talk (no, they didn’t extrude metal but were actually stamping, forming and shearing). Otherwise, it was a great tour even with the kids loudly using their free whistles at the end of the tour.

Our original plan was to go to the Columbus Zoo but it rained heavily so we toured the Ohio Statehouse. The end of the tour was quite memorable as we walked back to our cars that was a half a block away through heavy rain and ankle deep puddles. The time before supper was spent hanging up wet clothes and using the hair dryer as needed.

The next day started with a tour of Anthony-Thomas Candy. They have a ‘sweet’ set up with a closed in balcony all around the plant so tours can watch the operation. No pictures are allowed in the plant but it was quite interesting. There might have been excessive candy and chocolate purchasing at the end.

The afternoon was a visit to the Columbus Botanical Gardens. For me, I enjoyed the demonstration on glass making the best. You then find gorgeous glass sculptures among the gardens. We finished the day at Schmidt’s Sausage Haus Restaurant.

The next day most of our group left but Doreen and Bill drove in to stay the night. We haven’t got together since July 2018. We spent a day basically just talking though with a visit to the local mall just to walk around.

Great week!