A Staycation at the Worthington Courtyard Marriott

December 29, 2020

Like many families, we’re looking for ways to spruce up our kids’ Christmas break with safe activities both around the house and out of it. Options are limited these days, but thanks to the kind folks at the Courtyard by Marriott Worthington up at Crosswoods, we treated our boys to a little overnight staycation that focused on a lot of local activities.

We stayed early in the week before Christmas, so the hotel wasn’t busy. That gave us almost free run of the place.

The Courtyard by Marriott has all the appropriate protocols in place to ensure a safe visit. They generously gave us a small suite with two bedrooms.

We were able to check in just after lunch-time, so we stopped by Amano’s Sports Bar in the back of The Shops at Worthington Place to pick up a pizza, mozzarella sticks, and a giant meatball.

Did I say giant? It weighed one pound and was stuffed with cheese!

The pool is open at the Marriott, which is a big draw for our boys. They wanted to spend most of their time in it.

In order to maintain proper social distancing, guests sign up for slots at the front desk.

We allowed some screen time at the hotel, but we also tried to focus on other projects, games, and books. For the boys we brought projects from AR Workshop Worthington: a pair of banners with painted stencils that fit their personalities.

AR features a variety of take-and-make projects; as our boys are a little older, we let them do the painting themselves.

The end result: avocados and video games!

Continuing our streak of local meals, we ordered out from Sushi Ko in Crosswoods, barely a minute’s drive from the hotel.

We ordered a selection of crab rangoon, tempura vegetables, California rolls, the Christmas roll, the kamikaze roll, and the conical volcano roll. All expertly prepared. Highly recommended for the sushi-lover.

We brought a small stack of board games from home, including the always-delightful Throw Throw Burrito, a game from the creators of Exploding Kittens (one of whom is Matthew Inman from The Oatmeal).

Zaftig Brewing had just released some big barrel-aged beers, so I packed a bottle of their 2020 Big Barleywine, aged 22 months in Weller bourbon barrels.

The next morning we ordered breakfast online from First Watch inside the Worthington mall, just a couple minutes away.

We feasted on everything from breakfast tacos to cinnamon pancakes, eggs benedicts to breakfast burritos.

After one more swim in the pool (of course!), we checked out of the hotel and headed over to Play: CBUS. Play is tucked into a light industrial area in Worthington just north of I-270, and it is a sight to behold.

At 52,000 square feet, Play: CBUS has the designation of being the world’s largest indoor ropes course. The facilities include ninja courses, multiple climbing walls, ropes courses of varying difficulties, a kid’s play area, and even a full-service restaurant and bar. And because of its size, it’s ideal for socially distanced indoor play.

We’d never deign to call ourselves an athletic family, but we handled ourselves fairly well on the courses. Fairly well. Thank goodness for good padding on the courses.

After falling repeatedly tackling a couple of the ninja courses, we got harnessed up to take on the ropes course. They train you first on using your anchor line to move around the course; it feels perfectly safe – you’re never unhooked from the safety lines.

There are two levels to the course, the higher level being the more difficult. We stuck to the main level (which is still one story up).

It was an exhausting but fitting end to our staycation!

I also blogged a little more about Worthington-area staycation options at experienceworthington.com/blog/winter-worthington-staycation

To learn more about where we went on this trip:

Disclaimer: the hotel stay and visit to Play: CBUS were comped. We handled meals; photos and opinions are our own.

Spread the Word!

Related Posts

wake-up-with-commons-7

Coffee, Donuts, and Breakfast at the Columbus Commons Every Wednesday

martinys-bbq-2-1

Martiny’s BBQ is a Barbecue Destination Worth Seeking Out

glenlaurel-inn-dinner-18

Delightful Dining at Glenlaurel Scottish Inn & Cottages

Sunny-Side Up Egg Illustration

FOOD + TRAVEL WRITER

I go by Dr. Breakfast, but in addition to restaurants and recipes, I write about family travel, breweries and distilleries, the arts, outdoor fun, and so much more.

Follow Along

Sign up for my Weekly Email:

8 THINGS TO EAT, SEE, DRINK, & EXPLORE!

Please enter a valid email address.
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter 8 Things To Eat, Drink, See, & Explore This Week!