Snapshot of America: The Blog is Back!

Road Trip America 2.0 is underway! The first time we traveled the perimeter. This time we are hitting the middle. The fly over states. We didn't plan to, but we left on the same day both times. June 11. Timehop tells me that June 11 was also the day we left for Ireland, spent time in Alaska, and went to the beach. Can't wait to see what June 11, 2017 brings!

We are driving a Jeep Patriot. Her name is Patty.

Our first stop on this adventure landed is in Indianapolis. Our friend Kristen, who lives in Louisville, joined us for the weekend. With Indy being so close I'm not sure why this was our first visit. What a treat! We were very excited to begin our visit at the City Market. The website promised local food and vendors with art, jewelry, etc. What a disappointment. There was food, most of which was closed (at lunch time on a Saturday) and one artist booth that was also closed. We will not be recommending this to anyone.

From there we headed to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the middle of the city. This brought a free Civil War Museum (yes, please!) and 33 flights of stairs that were closed due to heat (darn) forcing us to take the elevator to the top for the views.

Serious faces because the Civil War was nothing to smile about. :)

We still had to climb three flights of very narrow, very skinny stairs!

We walked to White River State Park next. This is where we discovered a canal complete with paddle boats smack in the middle of the city!! Sign us up!! For an hour we paddled through the sights and dreamed of living in one of the townhouses where we could walk out and do a run, bike, free yoga on the lawn, or kayak the canal. We learned rent is at least $2000 a month so we had to rethink that dream.

We had plans to go to the Indianapolis Indians baseball game. But then we sat down for dinner (on Mass Ave which was lots of fun!) and realized we were all day in the hot sun tired and just couldn't do it. We had s'mores instead...a great plan b! I chatted with a fellow camper walking his dog. After learning I was from KY, he told me that his wife had gotten wind of some Moonbow info so they had just come from Corbin. What a small world!!

We are not racing fans. No NASCAR, no Indy, no Formula One. Nothing. However we are great tourists and a trip to Indy wouldn't be complete without a stop at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Brickyard has different tours each day and we were offered the "Kiss the Bricks" tour. We had no idea what this meant, but sure, we want the full experience! After putting on our "kiss the bricks" button, we boarded a bus and set off for a lap around the track, at a safe 10 miles per hour pace. This was exciting enough but then we got to get off the bus and walk on the track!!! We were at the start/finish where the line of bricks were. We kissed and learned where this tradition came from. We also learned why Indy winners are given milk in the winners circle. We are happy to tell you about these traditions! We are also full of car racing knowledge thanks to museum workers and a fellow museum goer who realized we had no clue what we were looking at. Needless to say, attend a race at The Brickyard had made its way to our list.

We ended our time in Indy at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis!! It. Is. Amazing. It's the largest in the world and has incredible things to explore. While in the dinosaur exhibit, we noticed this room behind the staff only doors that appeared to be where they housed all the items not on exhibit. It was also where they were working on cleaning off dinosaur fossils. I made the comment that I wished they had a behind the scenes tour. A bit later we stopped to chat with a lady who was working on a fossil and was there to show you some things through a window and let you touch a bone. And guess what??!! She asked us to come behind the scenes!!!! She opened the staff only door and in we walked!!!!! She let us touch the triceratops skull and feel the difference between the real bone and the plastic cast. And then she gave us a tour of the room we had spotted. It was amazing! How lucky were we?! She also told us that the museum does dinosaur digs in South Dakota. Tickets go on sale the day after Thanksgiving. I'm ready to purchase one! We had so much fun and would tell anyone, young or old, that the children's museum is a definite must.