MAZU

A nice lunch was had at MAZU, another interesting Yellow Springs restaurant. The fare was primarily Middle Eastern but also Far Eastern. As a lover of oyster mushrooms I couldn't resist the Yansu Mushrooms (lower left). The falafel balls (upper right, here called Fattoush) were also really tasty.

Buckeye Mocha

The cozy lobby of the Mills Park Hotel has a coffee shop and restaurant called Ellie's. It was here that I tried the Buckeye Mocha - not only the best tasting mocha of the trip, but one of the best of my life! Ohio has a tradition of combining chocolate with peanut butter and calling the resulting confections "Buckeyes". For me this combination is positively heavenly and perhaps connects to the Ohio in me.

Mills Park Hotel

Right next to The Smoking Octopus is the pleasantly grand-looking Mills Park Hotel. This is where we would have stayed had Yellow Springs not been in the grip of one of its festivals. It's a shame because the "newly constructed but made to look old hotel" seemed a lot more pleasant than the Springs Motel (their overflow lodging, where we stayed). At least at the Mills Park we had some good lobby time.

Smoking Octopus

 

This unusual building is apparently a smoke shop called The Smoking Octopus, but when we walked up to it there didn't seem to be much of anything going on. Nevertheless, as a strange piece of architecture, I give it a thumbs up. There's no doubt a story in there somewhere.

Y.S. stroll, part 2

Bookstore, cinema and old houses - generally signs of culture.

Yellow Springs stroll

After breakfast we went for a stroll. The street fair done and over, we were able to properly appreciate downtown Yellow Springs, free of crowds. There was plenty to appreciate. At bottom, to the left, is the outside of Winds Cafe where we dined the night before.

Sunrise Cafe

 

We more or less got up at sunrise to have breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe. It was decent and the colorful murals reminded us that Yellow Springs - home to Antioch College - is as close to a "hippie town" as one will find in Ohio.