The Scioto Mile, Decked Out In Style

      Today is December 14 and the predicted temperature for this day in Columbus, Ohio is 61 degrees, which is around the general vicinity of where the temperature has been all month, and where it's likely to linger until Christmas.
       All everybody - me included - does around here is bemoan how warm and un-Christmasy it feels.  We've all given up dreaming of a white Christmas.
      But this past Friday night Tom and I discovered the up side of a warm Christmas when we went  to see the holiday lights along the Scioto Mile, the  walkway that winds along the Scioto River through downtown Columbus.

    We decided to first have dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse,

...a popular Columbus eatery  located in an old warehouse just west of downtown.

     The Spaghetti Warehouse has an awesome interior that rambles from room to room full of  pop/Tiffany glass decor,

...one room of which is a railroad car in the middle of the restaurant that's a big hit with children.

     Our meal started off with loaves of soft, hot bread, with herbed garlic butter,

.. and it took the greatest discipline not to devour the whole delicious  batch before the arrival of the rest of the meal.
    We opted next for the endless salad,  mine topped with yummy blue cheese dressing,

...followed by the vegetable-topped Spaghetti Pomodoro for me, really good with tons of veggies,

...and for Tom the spaghetti-lasagne combo, very meaty, very cheesy, very tasty.

   
   On our way out of the restaurant I had stopped to take a photo of this beautiful antique organ,

...when a young waiter came up behind me and said, "That's mine."
   "Oh,"  I said,  "well, it's gorgeous.  Is it alright if I take a picture?"
   "Sure,"  he said, then he cocked his head towards, I suppose, the unseen management and added,  "They don't know yet that this organ is mine.  But, believe me, it's mine!"
    As he dashed back to work I thought, maybe you ought to let them know?
   After we left the Spaghetti Warehouse we drove back to downtown,

...and parked along the river then crossed the street to the Scioto Mile promenade and commenced our stroll along the festively illuminated river in the pleasantly  balmy night air.

     We walked until we reached Bicentennial Park,

   ...which was alive with lights,

...and people of all ages out enjoying the displays and the unseasonably fine weather.

      The Scioto Mile will be beautifully twinkling every night until January 10. 
       We may not have a white Christmas, but in downtown Columbus that won't keep anyone from walking through a winter wonderland.