Jungle Jim's is one of my favorite places to go when I have time to go off and do my own thing. I have to have the time off because it's in Cincinnati which makes it nearly a two hour drive. On top of that the store is enormous. It is the only word that fits. I have trouble going there and not spending three or more hours just wandering around the store looking at all the neat stuff. To give you an idea of how big the store is do this: picture a normal grocery store. That normal grocery store would fit twice in the international section at Jungle Jim's. It's really that big. Heck, the produce (which is amazing in it's quality and variety) takes up more space than some grocery stores. Everywhere you look there is something new and cool to see.

But what I was going for on Friday was the chocolate.

Ok, the chocolate and the soda, but mostly the chocolate. And I was looking for Green Tea Sugar Wafers, too. But, really, I was going for the chocolate.

I can buy great chocolate locally. I have a Trader Joe's, a Wild Oats, and a Whole Foods Market all a reasonably short drive away (actually I can walk to two of them) so I have access to a wide variety of great chocolate. Really, I can, and do, buy great chocolate all the time without driving two hours each way. But there is always something that I want to try that I just cannot find, no matter where I look. And when I want something I can't find in Columbus I head for Jungle Jim's.

I'll skip to the action. Prior to the chocolate isle the highlight was finding a chocolate chipper and a little pack of dipping tools. Both were great finds and, once again, things I can't seem to find in Columbus so I headed off to the chocolate aisle feeling quite pleased.

Now, you might have noticed that I said chocolate aisle. If not, then take note. I said chocolate aisle, not candy aisle. The chocolate aisle at Jungle Jim's is as big as the candy aisle at a normal store and that doesn't even take into consideration all of the chocolate spread throughout the international section. There are chocolate products from all over the globe all through the store, but the main event is the chocolate aisle.

Talk about your kid in a candy store. It took me nearly a half-hour to try and figure out what to get. There were tons of different brands and varieties that I had never seen before and I was dying to try them all. There were a few surprising omissions from the chocolate aisle, though. For some reason there was no Chocolove, Green & Black's, and only two boxes of Dagoba (dark and chai).

I was disappointed. I had hoped to find some more variety in Dagoba since there are only four varieties at Whole Foods and I had really hoped to find the Chocolatour offerings from Chocolove. I actually thought that Jungle Jim had let me down.

Silly me. It was all hiding in the natural foods section. I thought I was in the organic foods but Chocolove was there so it must be 'natural' foods instead. Either way, they had all the varieties of both Chocolove and Dagoba including the Chocolatour bars. Ah, life is good.

All in all I found more varieties of chocolate than I could eat in a year. I'll probably post a few pictures of my massive haul tomorrow. I bought a ton of chocolate. A lot more than I could eat on my own. Thank goodness chocolate is better when shared.