I went to Columbus OH this last Memorial Day weekend to observe a world-wide martial arts competition. I haven't been there for twenty plus years. What a lovely clean city it is! We have been so busy in Indianapolis building trails, developing our downtown, hosting conventions and supporting our sports teams that as a resident I am completely aware of all that Indianapolis has become. While Columbus is clean and pretty with some great old Victorians and other old styles of architecture, coming from Indy it made me immediately aware how far we have come from the days of being called "India-no-place" and "Nap Town". We have definitely awakened from our nap.

To begin with, the competition was held at the state fairgrounds, which was so easy to find. No map or navigation needed until you got to the parking lot. There were no signs anywhere directing you to any events. We ended up at a horse show and a graduation before roaming around and finding our event. Every event at the Indiana State fairground has signage and arrows.

After the competition we went to Franklin Park to the Asian Festival which is one of the largest of its kind in the country and it was free admission. That was nice and doesn't happen often here at home anymore. This park is impressive, big and gorgeous with a conservatory just off of downtown. There was an interesting bronze plaque paying tribute to the Asians who fought in the Civil War and then were denied citizenship. I noticed they had set up a temporary bike corral but there were only a handful of bikes. Indy would have had a ton of bikes. In fact the only bicyclists I noticed were the police.

The festival was packed and we were short on time because we wanted to drive home, which takes three hours, so I said let's leave through downtown and pick up dinner somewhere there. It was Saturday night, after all, and there was bound to be interesting activity to see in the heart of the city. Do you remember how downtown Indianapolis used to be? This was it. If it wasn't for my car's navigation system and its points of interest feature we wouldn't have found the Spaghetti Warehouse (similar to The Old Spaghetti Factory here). The foodie craze has clearly not hit Columbus Ohio.

But what has hit is digital billboards. They have a large running banner on a curved corner building. Actually, it is so large that it is three different running banners each on a different level. It put me to mind of the proposed huge video screen that is to go on the new development downtown here on Massachusetts Avenue when the fire department will be relocated and replaced. They had several digital running billboard banners on buildings downtown that were eye level. Our City Council is discussing it now and there is much remonstration.

Columbus seems to be the trendy Ohio city. I don't visit cities much. I tend to get on the freeway and exit off at the beach. The sea soothes my soul. But what I learned from this little escape was just what a good job our city is doing being progressive and engaging. It really is amazing how many things there are to do here. We can be proud of our home town. It really is something to howl about.

And while I'm in brag mode, can I just say that my Indianapolis daughter and 15-year-old granddaughter, Jennifer and McKayla McCammon who both are second degree black belts in Tae Kwan Do, each took gold medals in their divisions at this world-wide mixed martial arts competition called the Battle of Columbus. McKayla is a freshman at North Central. They are amazing women!