Ohio Part 1 - Columbus (Lancaster)
In February and March I traveled to Ohio a couple of times and went over quite a bit of the state. This is a huge state for manufacturing, especially in automotive, so there is a lot of testing going on there for hardness and related things. Columbus was my first stop, though I didn’t spend a lot of time in Columbus proper, I will say the airport and surrounding area is very nice - modern and clean looking. It’s easy to get around and find your way if your new to the area. There is also a lot of parking - I’m sure there must be times when this airport is very busy based on how much parking is available, but when I went the amount of parking outweighed the amount of people actually there - but that’s not a bad thing since some airports don’t have good parking options *cough *SYR.
Columbus airport - arrivals entrance
So, my main stay was in Lancaster, which is outside Columbus about 30 mins or so, its a small town though it seemed to always be busy with traffic and people coming and going. There were several manufacturing places around that seemed very nice and probably bring good jobs to the area. I stayed at a hotel that was unfortunately under construction for renovations, so I was a little annoyed that I had to sort of search for the current main entrance and there was no automatic doors to help me get my stuff in the door. (I usually pack light but I thought the job would take longer than it did so I packed extra). The people at the hotel were very polite though and the location of the hotel was convenient.
To go on a short tangent here - I have had a few people recommend Hilton hotels to me saying they are the best but so far out of 4 Hiltons I stayed at one was very good and the rest were average at best. I know they have many different types of hotels but I have tried a few different ones and so far Homewood suites was excellent and the rest were just not great. I might go into more detail on hotels another time - just wanted to put in my 2 cents.
Anyway, back to Lancaster - the area I stayed in was full of chain restaurants and fast food, and I mean full of them. I’ve never seen so many places to eat in a 10 mile radius. Burgers, chicken, pizza, tacos, diners, italian, cheesesteak, etc etc. Typically I like to eat at local places, and there were a couple of those as well,I decided to try a place called Roosters, which is at least a local chain.
Roosters restaurant
This was a casual bar type feel place, but definitely family friendly. Staff and patrons all seemed to be friendly and having a good time. The food options are a good variety, mostly wings but they also have some salads, burgers and other bar style foods. I decided to get the grilled chicken fingers with Cajun seasoning.
Cajun chicken fingers
I also got a side of curly fries and got it with a dipping sauce of my choice - garlic wing sauce. It was just the right amount of spicy and the grilled chicken was moist and delicious. I recommend going there if your in the area, I know I will when in the area again.
All in all the trip to Lancaster was pretty good, the food and people were nice, I might just stay at a different hotel next time, or maybe stay in Columbus and just drive out to the job. Either way it wasn’t a bad trip, next I’ll talk about Cincinnati!
