Photo TR: larrygator's road to Cedar Point - Parks and Food

[larrygatorObsessive Overlord of the TPR Park Index]

An invite to take part in the Travel Channel shoot at Cedar Point coincided with me recently being laid off from work. It's never good to lose your job but it does create some free time so I said WTF and drove out to Ohio.

I had not been to the area for a while so I decided to include Kennywood and Kings Island on the itinerary to hit up some of newer coasters that I had not previously ridden at those parks. I also made a decision to visit a few highly regarded eateries serving awesome comfort food.

On Friday May 11th I drove my New York to Columbus where I stayed for two nights. Why stay in Columbus? For those that do not know there is a area of town called German Village that offers a couple of great places to eat. It's also a nice location between Kings Island and Cedar Point.

First stop was Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus.

[Philrad71Don't put that donkey on the floor!]

German food, beer and coasters...can't ask for much more there. I'll have to remember that area of Columbus the next time we venture down to KI.

Thanks for sharing, Larry...looking forward to more!

That's a great shirt!

[beatle11I prefer to mate with donkeys over humans!]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with employment. Nice that your making the most of it though. Anything with chocolate in it is amazing!

[STR8FXXXINEDGEJar-Jar Binks smells like Donkey]

I've been to Columbus a ton of times, and had no idea that this German Village even existed. My mouth is literally watering after looking at those giant peanut butter cups. Looking forward to the rest of your report, Larry.

[rollin_n_coastinDon't put that donkey on the floor!]

Larry, this is awesome! Looking forward to seeing more. Columbus...who knew? Glad there's a reason to not just drive by anymore.

[x2isawesomeAss is another word for Donkey!]

Was thinking of doing a road trip next year in the same area and will have to make sure I add this to my schedule when I am up there. Everything looked awesome.

[sspaz1000I prefer to mate with donkeys over humans!]

Larry,

I'm so sorry about your job loss. But I'm glad you decided to head out to Cedar Point and share the pictures.

That German Village looks fantastic! So did that food.

[accelerateI know more about donkeys than women!]

I have to say as a native, German Village is the only appealing part of Columbus. For the most part it's just "eh." It's nice to hear you had a nice time, though.

I've heard of Schmidt's, too, but I've never eaten there. The food looks great!

The next time you're in the Asheville, North Carolina area, you might want to check out the rather unimaginatively named Bavarian Dining Restaurant in Weaverville: http://www.bavariandining.com/. It's owned by an actual old Bavarian named "Doc" who makes his own sausage and sometimes offers "wild boar steak" as a special. I ate there last year, and it was great.