Bison in Ohio
There are bison in Ohio—yes, bison!
In a different life, I lived in Columbus, Ohio. It's a wonderful city, and a place I still love dearly. For winter break, I returned to Columbus briefly to visit friends and to reconnect with the place I really consider to be my hometown, though I no longer live there.
One interesting bit of trivia about Columbus I didn't know before this visit is that, as of 2011, Ohio has had bison in its parks! I had the privilege of seeing a herd grazing bucolically in the pastures of Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park earlier this week.
They seemed unbothered by the cold, gloomy December weather. At least some of us are having a good (or perhaps just normal) time!
This isn't the first time I've seen bison in my life. I've been to some parks out west where they roam free. But to see bison, those mythical beasts which populate the folklore of the Wild West, lazing around in an enclosure surrounded by Midwestern suburbs is an odd sight, to say the least.
Are they worth visiting Columbus for? Probably not. But the bison are the sort of sight that make you go, "Huh, that's kind of cool, maybe I should write a short blog post about that," then promptly forget about the experience.