It was then off to the state capital - Indianapolis. We had several days to spend in Indianapolis, and we filled them with lots of activities. One was trying my first Penn Station East Coast Subs - delicious chicken parm! From there it was off to the Racing Capital of the World...the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (home of the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400). We toured the museum and the track and took a ton of photos.
That evening I reconnected with a family friend who I had not seen in quite some time. We went downtown to the Weber Grill, where all the food is cooked on 'Weber' grills. I had "beer-can" chicken and a baked potato which were both delicious; much like the aforementioned menu items the ribs were also tasty. It was great to catch up and have a good meal.
The next day was spent downtown Indianapolis working at Union Station - which has now been converted into a hotel, banquet hall, and other assorted uses. After work we headed to Lucas Oil Stadium, which is out-of-this-world big. To fit the entire structure into the photo I had to walk across the entire parking lot. Afterwards, a trip to the center of downtown where a traffic circle is located. Around this circle are a unique monument decorated like a Christmas tree (dedicated to soldiers and sailors) and a building lit up to resemble the American Flag.
This evening we walked over to Conseco Fieldhouse. It was about 30 minutes to tip-off when we arrived and I bought tickets from the ticket-office for $5 on the club level. The seats were great, and I got to experience a wonderful arena. The corridors were packed with history of the Pacers - both historic and modern (including about 3 shrines to Reggie Miller). The game unfortunately was a blowout, with Danny Granger and the Pacers ruining Eric Gordon's homecoming and Blake Griffin's dunkfest. However, the other forms of entertainment were quite awesome. The Pacers have their very own Pep Band - who paraded around before the game and tooted their brass instruments throughout the event. The halftime entertainment was a 1-handed juggler who used bowling pins, tennis balls, rings, etc as props (pretty impressive). Lastly there were the Pace Mates (Pacers Dance Team) who were all very pleasing to the eye individually; however, not so much as a cohesive unit [perhaps the worst choreographed pro-team I have seen]. All in all the experience at Conseco Fieldhouse was a good one...but the people of Indy should really support that team - you have a great stadium, good young players, and a Pep Band for crying out loud. The reason I am calling out the Pacer fan-base is because they have a section of loyal Pacer fans 'Area 55' who attempt to distract/disrupt the visitors, but the only problem is that their entire section was quieter than one 12 year old girl sitting up in the nose bleeds.
Indianapolis was a great city, and can not wait to come back and experience even more...
