Columbus is much more than The Ohio State University

Built between 1839 and 1861, the Ohio statehouse is one of the oldest working capitol buildings in the United States; in the foreground is the William McKinley Monument, which honors and remembers the Ohio governor and 25th U.S. president

Arnold Schwarzenegger won the Mr. World body building contest here in 1970; in 1976 he founded what would become the annual Arnold Sports Festival here in Columbus

Chris Evert; the Columbus Park of Roses is one of the largest public rose gardens in the US with 12,000+ rose specimens

Originally built in 1895, the Franklin Park Conservatory is on the National Register of Historic Places; it is surprisingly small and not nearly as impressive as others I've visited

Topiary Park is designed to depict figures from George Seurat's 1884 painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte; it is the only park known to be based entirely on a painting

This sleek, 100 ft high, cherry-red installation bridges the street behind the Columbus Museum of Art; a student at the nearby Columbus College of Art and Design had originally joked about the school needing a giant ART sign which led to this piece

The Columbus Zoo is home to more than 7,000 animals representing 800+ species and sees 2.3+ million visitors annually; it was absolutely packed on a beautiful Saturday in November

When the LeVeque Tower opened in 1927 it was the 5th tallest building in the world; today the building houses offices, a 150-room Marriott hotel, 68 apartments, 12 condos and 2 penthouses

Mister Lincoln; there weren't many roses blooming in November despite the warm weather at the 13 acre Columbus Park of Roses which was founded in 1953

Having just seen the original painting of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte in Chicago it was amazing to see a park created out of topiaries to mimic the painting; sculpted in 1989, this is one of the most unique parks I've ever seen

Sunset Chandelier; famous people from Columbus include Jack Nicklaus, Simone Biles, Archie Griffin, Jesse Owens and Dave Thomas (the first Wendy's was in Columbus)

Queen Elizabeth; when the park opened, the American Rose Society moved its headquarters here (but in 1974 the headquarters relocated to Shreveport, LA)

To this day, Franklin Park Conservatory is the only public botanical garden in the world to own a signature collection of Chihuly's magnificent glass artworks, which represents 3,000+ pieces of glass