Day 2 in fabulous Columbus

Day 2 started out with a surprise.  I woke up and peeked out the windows and there was a blizzard going on.  We knew right away it was going to be a way different day than what we were used to.

The temperature at this time was about 10 degrees. 
Our first stop was for the breakfast downstairs in the lobby.  We feasted on OJ, coffee, bagels and made our game plan for the day.

Of course, you definitely have to stop and take a picture in a new city and it's snowing like crazy.  It was the wildest travelling weather we had been in yet.

Of course, Paul was quick to try and snap the pictures so that we could get on our way.  But this is a cute little "behind the scenes" look at myself trying to put my gloves back on for my big pictorial moment.

But a short moment later we got the money shot.  This picture sums up how fun it was to be experiencing this crazy weather.

The food show was being held in the Columbus Convention Center, which was just almost a block away from our hotel.  It was actually pretty fun to take the walk over there and back each day and a good way to BRIEFLY enjoy all the cold weather.  The Convention Center was HUGE.  It seriously was as long as 5-6 city blocks.  I have never seen so many meeting rooms in my life -- I don't even think the Las Vegas Convention Center is that big.  For some reason, Columbus must hold a lot of conventions......we're sure it's not because of their great weather.

Had to snap a picture to remember that we were here for learning how to be better and smarter pizza shop operators.  You always have to keep educating yourself so that you can continually try to do a better job.  And of course, to learn how to make more money.  Here's our fearless leader getting ready to spend from 11am-6:30pm locked up in this big building.

The first day here we each attended 3 seminars, talked to countless vendors, sampled numerous slices of cheese pizza, ate some really good ice cream, and learned how to make a few new specialty pizzas.  At the cocktail event, we sat with 2 couples who ran shops in West Virginia and Indiana.  It was fun sitting there and telling each other about our businesses and asking questions.  Always good to connect with people that are doing the same thing we are.

After our day, it was back to the hotel to take a little break and figure out something to do for the evening.  Searching on the internet yielded no results......so we decided to brave the elements and walk around and try to find some place to eat.

4 frozen blocks later it was just too darn cold and we headed back towards our hotel.  There was nothing open, there were no people on the street, and it was so freaking cold with the wind blowing.  We found a restaurant inside the hotel next door and decided this was where we were going to have to eat.  Thus, we had our first experience with Max & Erma's.

Nice restaurant, good food, and great service.  Plus it was warm and right next door from our hotel.  Due to the inclement weather, we were forced to go back to the room and entertain ourselves.  Which we did with reading, watching the Olympics, and getting a really good night's sleep.  Wow....we were actually relaxing on a trip away (that doesn't happen often).

A cold Day 2 is in the books.