Back in November I decided to go see my friend who recently moved to Indianapolis, Indiana for a job. I love to travel. My least favorite part of traveling is the flying. Usually I will just got with the cheapest airline because lets face it, I am a radio personality, not a millionaire. Southwest airlines is usually my airline of choice but not this time, Delta was much cheaper. Needless to say my goal in Indianapolis was to see the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the new Stadium and one of my favorite country artists.
I arrived in Indianapolis and it reminded me of my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, lots of interstate (minus the road construction) and industrial buildings. As we drove to my friends house, I couldn't help but notice an over abundance of undeveloped land, which is weird to me I guess since Jacksonville is mostly concrete. My friend lives about 50 miles north of Indianapolis in a little city called Kokomo. It was your typical suburb loaded with lots of great places to eat, retail outlets, and business parks.
I arrived in Indianapolis and it reminded me of my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, lots of interstate (minus the road construction) and industrial buildings. As we drove to my friends house, I couldn't help but notice an over abundance of undeveloped land, which is weird to me I guess since Jacksonville is mostly concrete. My friend lives about 50 miles north of Indianapolis in a little city called Kokomo. It was your typical suburb loaded with lots of great places to eat, retail outlets, and business parks.
That night we went to a country (western) club called 8 Seconds Saloon to catch Luke Bryan in concert. It was a fun place, it held a couple thousand people, my only complaint was the lack of bars in the actually venue. There was a over abundance of pop up beer stands but when you want to get a mixed drink or a coke, you had to wait at least 20 minutes, you think they would be more stocked up during a concert. Regardless the concert was a blast and the bars are open really late there. A perfect place for partiers. I want to say the bars were open until 3 AM.
- Luke Bryan and me
Downtown Indy was breath taking, never before have I felt at such peace in a city. I really thought that I was in a miniature NYC. Theaters, restaurants, book stores, and bars lined the streets. Everything was in walking distance and the cool air made everything better.
Right in the middle of downtown was White River State Park, which I thought was extremely unusual having a state park in the middle of the city. Within the park was a canal walk. The layout was basically a long concrete river that stretched far. Along the river was a memorial wall, a museum, sculptures and a series of bridges. If you are up for excitement, you can rent little paddle boats along the canal walk and take your loved one for a little stroll. Another cool feature downtown was the round about in the middle of the city -- it had a radio station cluster with all the studio windows facing the street so you could look in.
If you didn't know this, the Indianapolis Colt fans are hardcore. The colts were playing their rival the NE Patriots and there was definitely a party atmosphere. What was fascinating was that it was a night game and at 10 am they fans were already getting hammered.
If you didn't know this, the Indianapolis Colt fans are hardcore. The colts were playing their rival the NE Patriots and there was definitely a party atmosphere. What was fascinating was that it was a night game and at 10 am they fans were already getting hammered.
- Lucas Oil Stadium at night
Lucus Oil Stadium which opened in 2008 is a masterpiece. No wonder those folks sell out year after year, the stadium has a retractable roof, movable window wall, over 100 suites, and can sit around 70,000 screaming fans (depending on the configuration). I didn't get to see the game because it was a night game and I had a flight, but I could check that off my list!
After leaving downtown (it started getting really busy with the game), we headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One thing I did notice about reaching the speedway is that it is off the beaten path, I bet traffic in and out of the raceway during race days suck. Being pretty much off season there wasn't much going on there. I still got to see it, stand at the gates and take a picture. Nothing spectacular on that day but it was another check mark and the final check mark off my list.
After leaving downtown (it started getting really busy with the game), we headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One thing I did notice about reaching the speedway is that it is off the beaten path, I bet traffic in and out of the raceway during race days suck. Being pretty much off season there wasn't much going on there. I still got to see it, stand at the gates and take a picture. Nothing spectacular on that day but it was another check mark and the final check mark off my list.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
It was time to leave Indy and catch that bird back to Jacksonville, Florida. One thing I have to say is that the airport is very easy to access and get in and out of. They really have it streamlined. The airport resembles Jacksonville, Florida's airport, a lot.
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