Segway Tour of Columbus

Benj and I love Columbus, but we felt like we didn’t really know downtown very well. We have avoided it mostly because it is hard to find parking, but we knew there were some cool things to see. We didn’t know where to start and didn’t really want to wear ourselves out in the hot sun walking everywhere try to see everything. So we found cheap tickets for segway tours through OSU. It was a blast! It was a two hour guided tour on a segway all over downtown Columbus. It was an absolute blast! I recommend it to everyone living in Columbus!!!

We started with a 15 minute training period where we learned how to ride the segways. They are very easy to learn and control. To go forward, you lean forward. To stop or slow down, you lean back a little. And you just steer with the handles. It totally beats walking! The helmets we were wearing have speakers inside so we could hear the tour guide talking inside our helmets. We had a great tour guide! He was funny and nice and he even took our picture for us.

Here are some of the sights to see in downtown Columbus. Now, we couldn’t get pictures of everything because we were using both hands to drive the segway.

We started at the Convention Center:

Le Veque Tower. At night it lights up at the top. It’s been lit pink through May for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s really pretty at night:

 

The State House:

The Old Old Post Office. It was really cool looking and ornate. I can’t remember what it is used for now.

The Ohio Theatre. I have never been inside, but I have seen pictures. It is beautiful and very ornate with a huge chandelier and a huge organ. In the summer you can watch silent movies there and someone plays the organ to the fit the silent movie. I would like to try that out sometime.

Christopher Columbus statue

Santa Maria replica. They were have a Pirate Festival the day we drove by and everyone was dressed up like pirates and like the rich people in Pirates of the Caribbean. One man in costume yelled out to us, “Did not God give thee legs?” It was kind of funny.

There’s me following the tour guide along the river.

We traveled through the Arena District and saw all the big arena’s including Huntington Park, where we went for the Clipper’s game.

This huge arch used to be a part of the Union Train Station. Now it is a part of historical downtown.

This house was designed and inhabited by a circus master. Hence the circus tent-like roof. It is rumored that kept baby animals in that house and the one behind it until they were big enough for the circus. The park across the street had a pond with a fountain. On top of the fountain are two baby elephant statues that shoot water out their trunks. I couldn’t get a good picture of it, though. We also got to do some off-roading at the park. We were all shocked when the tour guide led us off the sidewalk and onto the grass.

When all was said and done, we were sunburned, but felt proud to be living in this great city. Over the years downtown has really been cleaned up and improved. Now, it is a beautiful place full of history, art, and fun. Some of the other things we saw but couldn’t get pictures of were: Veteran's Plaza, Planter’s Peanut Shoppe, Columbus Commons, William McKinly Statue, Battelle Riverfront Park, The Cap, The Short North, Sensenbrenner Park, Nationwide Arena and Plaza, Palace Theatre, Wyandotte Building, Victorian Village, Goodale Park, Cocoa Manor, and the Mona Lisa Mural.

Afterwards, we walked over to one of our favorite places, The North Market.

And of course we couldn’t resist getting some Jenni’s Splendid Ice Cream! It is our absolute favorite because it always has very unique flavors. One time I got one that had peanut butter, toasted coconut, and cayenne pepper. It was delicious, but spicy. A very strange sensation. This time we got four different flavors and shared it all. On top you can see black current and mango lassi ice cream. Underneath those two there is grapefruit and lemon curd with juniper.

I couldn’t resist getting one last shot of Benj running down the street to get to our car in the parking garage before we were charged for another hour. We were 5 minutes too late. Haha. Oh well.

If you live in Columbus or are just visiting, we highly recommend this tour. It is normally $55, but you can get $15 tickets through The Union at OSU. Click here to see the tour webpage.