Indianapolis - a pleasant surprise

Well, the trip to Indy was better than I expected. The workshop I attended was ho-hum, but the city itself was a nice surprise. I found plenty of time to explore mainly by ducking out early from evening social events linked to the workshop or just skipping them all together. I felt it was in my best interest to get out, wander and enjoy the decent summer weather (since summer has been non-existant in Germany this year). I arrived in the city on a very bumpy and turbulent flight from Atlanta on the evening of July 4th, my first time in the US in a number of years on this holiday. I was looking forward to viewing the fireworks that night, but alas, the weather would not let this happen. It was plain nasty out, making it feel like I hadn't even left home. However, the next day dawned sunny and bright, ensuring that the show would go on that night.

Indianapolis, although the 14th largest city in the US, does not really feel like a big city. The downtown area was specifically designed to be pedestrian friendly and it truly is. One can easily walk from their hotel downtown to a number of local attractions in a matter of minutes. Conseco Fieldhouse (NBA Pacer's home), Lucas Oil Stadium (NFL Colt's home), Victory Field (AAA Baseball Indian's home), the zoo, the NCAA headquarters and the Hall of Champions, the state capital, the Indiana State Museum and many other sites are all within a 10 minute walk of central downtown. There are also many, many great restaurants in the area, offering up a diverse selection of food that would satisfy even the most discerning tastes.

One thing I did find odd about the downtown area, however, is that there didn't appear to be many people living there. It mainly seemed to be an area for business and tourism, temporarily housing the many people who visit the city each year for the Indy 500 and other auto races, swimming events (Michael Phelps was in town while I was there), tennis events, conferences in the gigantic conference center and pro sporting events. There were no farmers markets, no grocery stores and really none of the local flavor that you find in most cities. That was all fine and dandy though, since I essentially was a tourist on business. Worked for me!

I was only in the city for a week but got a good feel for the area pretty quickly. One of my more memorable experiences involved leaving early from a company social being held at the worst 'German' Restaurant I have ever been to and simply walking around with my camera, enjoying the warm summer evening. On this night I made my way out to the baseball stadium and enjoyed a couple of innings of AAA ball as the light slowly faded towards the horizon. I then wandered to the edge of White River State Park and witnessed a gorgeous sunset over the river from a bridge that doubled as a walking/biking path and outdoor art gallery. After snapping numerous pictures from this vantage, I made my way along the canal walk and towards the capital building where I was stopped by a state trooper and questioned for taking pictures in the area. After showing the officer some of the pictures I'd taken that evening, we ended up having a pleasant chat and I luckily was able to avoid being declared a terrorist and sent to Gitmo. The next day, a colleague and I rented some sweet cruiser bikes and went for a nice ride along the river. At least it started out nice. After a wrong turn, we ended up in a fairly seedy neighborhood and definitely got a workout pedaling the three speed bikes at maximum velocity until we came to a more familiar area of the city.

The trip concluded on a high note at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL football team. For the paltry sum of 45 dollars, workshop attendees were allowed access to the inside of the stadium where a buffett dinner was being served and a 'football extravaganza' was being held. The dinner was probably the worst meal I ate on the entire trip, but having the opportunity to play catch and kick footballs on the Colts field was well worth the price of admission. It was my first time on an NFL field and I must say, I was impressed. I made the most of this opportunity, running around wildly, throwing long balls to various acquaintances in the endzone and taking every chance I could to punt footballs from the 50 yard line. I woke up the next day more sore than I have been in months, but it was worth it.

Overall this was a great trip and I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. I wouldn't necessarily recommend planning your next vacation to Indy, but if you're ever in the area, definitely stop by and check the place out. It's different from a lot of US cities and is unique in its own way. More pictures from the trip can be found on my Flickr Site.

Off to Indianapolis for the week

Paris, Kathmandu, Sydney, London...... Indianapolis. Nothing against the city of Indianapolis, but I'm just finding it hard to get excited about this trip. Twenty hours-plus of travel, it's for work, and it's about as far from the mountains and an ocean as you can get. I have driven by the city before, as in seen it from a distance, and remember this thought going through my head; "There's Indy. Probably as close as I'll ever get." And I was fine with that. But, now I find myself traveling from Germany to spend an entire week in the heart of the city. It could be worse, I guess.

One thing that does cause a tiny bit of concern is something I read yesterday on Wikipedia about the city. There was a little factoid stating that is was the most conservative metropolitan area in the United States. I kind of find that hard to believe after visiting Texas last year and having lived in Alaska, both of which are pretty conventional and inflexible when it comes to some viewpoints. I don't think it will be a big deal and shouldn't affect me. Hey, as long as the food is good, I'm able to sleep well and the conference I'm attending doesn't bore me to death, I should be a happy camper.

I wasn't going to take my good camera with me on this trip, but Dawn convinced me that I probably should. Indianapolis looks like a nice city and it might be fun to wander around in the evening doing a little urban photography. It's better than staying in the hotel room watching the latest reality shows.

Anyway, we're off early tomorrow. Dawn is going to drive me down to Munich and then I'm off. I doubt I'll post much of a trip report after this one, but may put a link up if the pictures are decent.

Cherry Pickin'

I’m sure a few of you have seen the pictures of our house on our Flickr sites. Our back yard is full of fruit trees and bushes. We have apples, pears, figs, blackberries, raspberries, grapes, currants, black currants, strawberries, sweet and sour cherries. That is a LOT of fruit. Most aren’t ready until late June into July and some a little later.

We’ve excitedly been waiting for cherries since last summer. We have a huge tree that grows behind the garage, and it’s a perfect boost into the tree for prime picking. There were so many cherries last year that we were giving them away, because they would go bad before we could eat that many. Since German refrigerators have small freezers, if any, there was little we could do to save them for later.

This year we are ready. We bought a freezer with enough space to save a few cherries for late fall or winter, our mouths salivating at the thought of yummy cherries. With the weather not being so nice and sunny, July has crept up on us and the cherries are ready.

We went out picking Monday night. We could see all those shiny deep red ornaments hanging from the tree. To the top of the garage with our bowls, we began picking. It didn’t take long to find that most of the cherries have either become too ripe and split, or been attacked by bugs. After we finished picking for the night, we came in with one almost full bowl.

It was late and I didn’t really want to clean cherries, but if I let the cherries sit, they might get bugs through the day. With my new cherry pitter in hand (Thanks Jef!), I got started. It’s awesome! I love it! I really wish I had it last year with all the good cherries. Definitely beats cutting them in half and digging the pit out with my fingers.

Last night I baked a cherry cobbler or crisp, whatever you want to call it. It was good, but cherries not as sweet as remembered. Next time we’ll try a pie or just eat them from the tree, although Osu likes them all.