Indianapolis, Indiana

We arrived at the Indianapolis KOA east of Indianapolis on Tuesday, October 12. We spent the evening on the web looking for things we'd like to see while we're here. On Wednesday we ventured out to find a Hardees (thank heavens for the GPS system!) and ended up finding a Wal-Mart, a Panera, a Kroger Grocery Store AND Hardees! After breakfast at Panera's (we changed our mind), we went to the White River State Park -- a metro area with many attractions to explore. We decided to visit the Indiana State Museum as our first stop. We enjoyed the museum, but when we came out it was raining...and we had two blocks to walk. Jack had left the truck windows open, so we came back to wet seats as well as our wet clothes and hair! Found our way back to the KOA and had supper.

Thursday we had breakfast at Hardees (best cinnamon-raisin biscuits I've had in YEARS!) and then headed into downtown Indy to the James Whitcomb Riley Home. It seems that Riley, the Hoosier Poet, lived for 23 years as a guest in the home of a baker and his wife and their daughter and her husband. Riley wrote over 1000 poems including Little Orphant Annie. The house is one of the finest Victorian preservations in the US (according to the travel magazine). The furnishings were beautiful and were all authentic to the home!

From the Riley Home, we drove to the Benjamin Harrison home (23rd President of the US) and toured the house. Another couple was on the tour with us, and the tour which should have taken about an hour extended into over two hours. At that point the other couple was arguing over whether to buy one or two candlesticks (one was cracked), and at what price would they be sold. After 20+ minutes of waiting while they argued, we excused ourselves and went to lunch (2:30 p.m.!).

Today we toured the Morris-Butler House. This house was in the north east section of Indy, and from 1959 - 1963 was deserted and very run down. Eli Lilly and a committee of like-minded people bought the house, repaired it, and filled it with beautiful Victorian furnishings . We enjoyed the docent who led the tour -- very personable. She suggested we tour the capitol

so we drove into downtown and were lucky to find a parking meter about a block from the capitol. It was tough to get in -- the security was very strict. Jack was wearing his big western belt buckle and his hat with all the pins both caused the alarm to sound. He was "wanded" and even had to raise his pants legs to show the tops of his socks! We spent a couple hours looking through the 4 floors. From there we went to the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument in the center of downtown. It's 284 feet tall and is a tribute to those in the armed forces who died in the Civil War. Eli Lilly has provided a free Civil War museum under the monument with the focus on those from Indiana who served.

Tomorrow we're off to the Hall of Fame Museum, which houses one of the most diversified collections of antique and classic passenger automobiles and racing cars in the world. Stay tuned!!!!