Indianapolis, Indiana

The planning of our trip to Indianapolis had its genesis when we found out that the city is host to both the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library and the world’s largest children’s museum. Being less than a 5 hour drive from Nashville, we made Indy our final summer trip of 2016.

We were amazed. The city’s clean, compact, charming, and caters to a wide range of interests. It felt like we were discovering a secret since we’d never heard anyone in Nashville buzzing about Indianapolis.

We started off by heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where we took a tour and kissed the bricks as if we’d won a race. We had lunch at Harry & Izzy’s before taking in the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library and enjoying a gondola ride on the Indiana Central Canal with Old World Gondoliers. Then we checked out Mass Ave before going downtown to our hotel, the incomparable Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown Union Station, a train enthusiast’s dream–literally. The hotel is at the site of the world’s first Union Station and includes a limited selection of rooms that are housed in Pullman carriages, as well as standard rooms. The place is full of statues that depict passengers who would have frequented the station during its heyday. The location’s topnotch, too.

 

 

 

 

The next day we checked out the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site to see a former president’s house and take in some history on our way to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, where we spent hours, and could have spent hours more. Our daughter had a blast…and so did we!

 

We had dinner at Shapiro’s and then went over to Monument Circle before going back to our hotel, where we couldn’t resist posing for some photos with the statues.

 

 

Our final day started off at the Indianapolis Zoo, which is really more like the Indianapolis Zoo/Aquarium/Botanical Garden because it’s so incredibly vast and diverse. Then we went over the bridge to White River State Park, where we rode a family bike along the canal to get ourselves some exercise before getting in the car to head home.

 

 

 

 
We decided to go over to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to get a picture in front of the iconic LOVE statue by Robert Indiana before finishing our trip with a drive through Crown Hill Cemetery. Yes, we visited a cemetery. And yes, we enjoyed it! The place had all kinds of eclectic monuments and is a veritable attraction for visitors to Indy.

Visit Indy was an awesome resource as we planned our trip; we’d point anyone wishing to visit Indianapolis in their direction for help with anything pertaining to their trip.

For more about the Circle City, check out the links below to see the article that was published in Nashville’s Community Ledger newspaper.

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For the full text of the article from the Community Ledger, just keep reading below!

 

Indelible Indy: Magnificent Midwestern Getaway

Quick–name a great out-of-state city to visit that’s within a five hour drive of Nashville. Atlanta? St. Louis? Maybe even Cincinnati or Louisville? Those all have their high points, but name another one.

It has the world’s largest sports facility, the world’s largest children’s museum, the world’s first union station, and the world’s first institution to be accredited as a zoo, aquarium and botanic garden. It has a canal with gondola rides, a house that was occupied by the 23rd President, and Robert Indiana’s original LOVE sculpture. Give up? It’s Indianapolis. That’s right…The Circle City.

Indy’s native son Kurt Vonnegut (who has a free memorial library dedicated to him in the city) once quipped that Indianapolis is “the largest city not on a navigable waterway in the world.” But even without a navigable waterway as a conduit for commerce with the rest of the world, it’s become way more connected, complex and compelling than people outside the Midwest realize. Sure, it’s been the site of a Super Bowl, several NCAA Final Four basketball championships (with another one coming in 2021), and even hosts the NCAA’s headquarters, but it’s shocking that there’s not more of a buzz around here about Indy. Look into it and you’ll find that just up I-65 lies a beautiful gem of a city just waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. In fact, it’ll probably call for a return visit. So, what does Indianapolis have to offer? Well, some of just about everything. There’s sports, history, art, and tons of stuff for kids and families to do.

It’s well-documented that the sports scene in Indianapolis is rich and historic. Racing is almost synonymous with the Hoosier State, as is basketball. For racing fans, a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a must. Just setting foot in the world’s largest sports facility (that can accommodate over 400,000 spectators) is overwhelming, but adding a visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and a tour of the track is nothing short of vehicular Valhalla. There’s even a tour that lets visitors take a lap around the oval by bus in order to hear a bit of the history and see what it’s like to celebrate a victory by kissing the bricks of the iconic track.

For its sports teams, the city has three gorgeous venues right downtown–Bankers Life Fieldhouse for basketball, Lucas Oil Stadium for football, and Victory Field for minor league baseball. The grandeur of Lucas Oil Stadium was witnessed by the world during Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, and  Tennesseans looking for the closest road trip destination to support the Titans in 2016 will have a chance to see Andrew Luck and the Colts host Marcus Mariota and company in the state-of-the-art venue on November 20th.

While Indy’s sports scene is enough to make fans gaga with excitement, Indianapolis can thrill kids, too. At nearly half a million square feet, the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the largest of its kind in the world. And those hundreds of thousands of square feet are chock full of interactive exhibits that inform, engage, impress and delight. Dinosaurs, space adventures, science, historical and cultural experiences and hands-on activities are some of the things that combine to make this museum a smash hit for kids and adults alike. The Dinosphere exhibits feature larger-than-life fossil displays, and visitors might even get a glimpse of on-duty paleontologists working with real dinosaur bones. Storytime exhibits engage the imagination, and immersive experiences in Egypt and China help kids get a feel for life in faraway places. For stellar off-planet experiences, the space area has an interactive zone dedicated to the International Space Station and a planetarium that shows a visually stunning video about the exploits of the Liberty Bell 7 capsule. For the smallest visitors, the Playscape area lets kids 5 and under explore and engage their senses in all kinds of sensory activities.

Wild outdoor adventures await at the Indianapolis Zoo, which offers a triple combination of a zoo, aquarium and botanic garden. The zoo has all the animal attractions like lions, tigers and bears (and many, many more) that would be expected at a first-rate facility, plus an aquarium that hosts dolphin shows and offers the opportunity to touch…sharks! The botanic garden presently displays massive lego structures in the shapes of animals in the midst of the peaceful and beautiful gardens. The zoo is easily navigable, and is divided into Deserts, Forests, Oceans, Plains and Encounters. Visitors can see orangutans up close and witness their intelligence in the orangutan center, and there are a number of animal babies just waiting to be doted over.

For history buffs, the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is a splendid way to discover more about our nation’s 23rd president and his life and times, with a guided tour that spotlights furnishings, significant events, mementos and stories. Located in a lovely historical neighborhood, the house and its well-studied personnel help visitors imagine campaign speeches being delivered to spectators on the front lawn of the home by a president regarded by some from his time as one of the most eloquent ever. A visit to Indy’s Monument Circle will also appeal to the connoisseur of all things historical, with the remarkable Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument and a free Civil War museum. A drive through historic Crown Hill Cemetery presents eclectic memorials and a who’s who of Hoosiers.

To enjoy an extra special and unique experience, take to the waterway downtown, where gondola rides are available on the Indiana Central Canal through Old World Gondoliers. A singing gondolier steers the Venetian vessel while belting out operatic notes as the gondola peacefully cruises through the downtown area. It’s no wonder so many proposals, and even weddings, take place on these beautiful boats. Gondolas are available for public rides, but private rides can also be arranged.

As for accommodation, the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown Union Station is a train enthusiast’s dream–literally–as in the hotel is built in what was the world’s first union station and offers a limited selection of hotel rooms that are housed in old Pullman carriages on their original tracks. A saunter through the hotel’s grounds leads guests to encounter statues modeled after individuals who would have frequented the station during its heyday. With respect to modern times, the hotel is an ideal location for those looking to check out the downtown area, attend sporting events or book an excellent conference venue for meetings.

To plan your trip to Indianapolis, the best place to start is by visiting www.visitindy.com, where a wealth of information can be found about accommodation, special events, attractions, restaurants and pretty much anything you’d need to know.

Bring the family, check out the sports scene, immerse yourself in history. Learn and have fun. Get ready to be impressed and expect to be surprised. Go ahead. Start your engines. Visit Indy.

For links to other posts, click here for Atlanta/Stone Mountain, here for Destin and here for New Orleans.