On our itinerary were the State Museum, Children's Museum, NCAA museum, The Indy 500 track and Museum and the Zoo. As we were flying into Indiana and we were asking for advice for other places to see or things to do, all people kept saying was "you came to Indiana? For vacation????" The more people said this, the more nervous I got, but I have to tell you, they couldn't be more wrong! We had a phenomenal 5 days!
Our first day started a little rocky. In my mind vacation is about resting and relaxing, so we didn't get moving until 10:30. We headed out of the hotel and hit up the State Museum. Based on the website, I assumed this would be a full day trip, but figured, in case it wasn't we would hit up the zoo or the NCAA museum if we finished early. Unfortunately, life in Indiana is a little slower paced than in upstate NY. While we loved the State Museum, it only took us 3.5 hours to get through and so we headed out looking for an option for our afternoon.
The NCAA museum is closed on Mondays.... the zoo closed at 4:00 and it was already 2:30......what had been a great start to day 1 was quickly becoming rounds of "this is supposed to be fun mom", " now what are we going to do mom?" and so I had to find a quick solution......new city......my idea.....let's go for a drive and see where life takes us!
Thankfully, in downtown Indianapolis there are tons of major sports teams. We drove by the Colts stadium, the Packers Arena and stopped in to see the Indianapolis Indians stadium. I am not a major sports fan, but seeing a stadium is a pretty cool deal! I think I was likely way more excited than the boys!
As we then wandered through Downtown Indy, we realized life closes there around 4:30. While looking for the State house, we accidentally wandered into the court house ( one is located at 200 WEST Washington Stand the other is located at 200 EAST Washington St. I am certain I cannot be the only one to make THAT error!
In talking to one of the security guards I realized that during Jacob's adoption proceedings the judge had been on the phone with me from the very building we were now standing in. In Indiana the adoptive family does not have to come back to Indiana to finalize the adoption. Given the challenges of bringing 3 young children to Indianapolis for a 10 minute court proceeding, at the time I had decided to simply attend by phone. Now, suddenly 11 years later to find myself in the court house where Jacob had become a permanent part of my family brought up a lump in my throat. After taking in a moment to breathe in the complex emotions I was feeling, we wandered back outside and headed for 200 West Washington Street to try to get a tour of the State house. Of course, that had now closed as well, but on our walk we stumbled upon the Observatory which is located inside the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. While the observatory was closed, the boys loved climbing around on the monument with a group of kids and I was able to mentally add the State house and the Observatory to our list of "to do" activities for the week, and take a moment enjoying downtown Indianapolis!
We also walked through some pretty cool shops, a comic book store with an awesome salesman with self proclaimed ADHD who kept the boys busy for almost an hour, and a store called Soda Fizz which was awesome to see!
Finally, we decided no first day in Indianapolis was done without a milkshake from Steaks and Shakes, so with amazing milkshakes in hand, we headed back to our hotel calling Day 1 a success! The boys finished the day with a swim in the pool (or for David the hot tub), I used the chance to check out the hotel workout room, and then we took some time planning out day 2 in Indianapolis!
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