Blogs from Columbus, Indiana, United States, North America

Many people have asked us why we have chosen to travel to New Zealand. Well, New Zealand was added to our bucket list on Thanksgiving 2010. We were still living in California at that time. Grandma Marj's dementia/alzheimers was advancing, and we knew that taking her to Indiana with us for Christmas wasn't going to be possible. So, we stayed in California for Thanksgiving that year, and took her to spend the day with her long-time friends Frank and Carol Walsh. Also at the Thanksgiving Dinner that day were Frank and Carol's relatives who were in the process of moving back to California after spending several years living in New Zealand. At that point, we had never really given any thought to ever traveling to New Zealand. It simply hadn't ever come up. But, after spending ... read more

Day 1-- We will drive to Charlotte over the next 3 days, where we will join thousands of other cars for the 2014 Hot Rod magazine Power Tour! We have loaded up the small trunk of the z28 Camaro to the brim. We've got the Iphone, the Ipad the Ipod, and an I-pass. The Ipod is loaded with 60's and 70's music: Beach boys, Bee-Gees, Turtles, Frankie Vallie, and a lot of others, as well as some good contemporary Christian music. Well, with windows down (no air conditioning) and the engine and road noise, you can kinda hear the music! Nice, leisurely ride to Columbus, Indiana, with a stop for lunch at Cracker Barrel. We are on vacation!!! I haven't seen Steve this relaxed and happy for a long time! Oh, yeah, we did have a ... read more

Columbus, Indiana is a strange place. It's an industrial, company town, home to Cummins Diesel, that happens to have some of the best architecture in the US. The philanthropist J. Irwin Miller offered to pay the architects' fees for the public buildings, not for their construction expenses. While this arrangement doesn't result in architecture on a monumental scale, it does result in clever solutions to architectural problems faced by many small, American towns. The best buildings in Columbus are Aero Saarinen's North Christian Church and Robert Venturi's Fire Station Number 4. Saarinen's church is a sublime piece of serious, formal modern architecture. The drive across the lawn and through the pew-like parking lot is also something ... read more