Chrissy Adventures: Indiana

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Exploring Indy - Part 1

This post was originally published on January 4, 2012 on the old blog

Indiana!

: Funky Bridge

Exploring Indianapolis Indiana was another Adventure :-) It was also #106 on my bucket list: Visit a metropolis.

I was blessed again to have a small opportunity to travel away from home the day after Christmas instead of shopping. My friend asked me if I would like to take a small 2 day trip to Indiana. I jumped on the opportunity.

I had never been to a big city and Indianapolis is gigantic compared to Knoxville, TN. At home, we have mountains and valleys, but not a big city. I used to think it was large because...well, it was all that I knew. Downtown Knoxville is actually rather small in my mind now. I used to think that the hour drive I made to work each morning equated to living in a large county...until I was in one! Knoxville, TN has its draw and special characteristics, so don't take me wrong. I still very much love the Knoxville Valley from whence I came :-) I just love being able to explore other areas, cultures, ways of life, and thought processes of people from other areas.

I was told recently that I can be stubborn and need to be more open-minded. I kept my mind wide open on this trip...and my eyes :-)

:-) I took the boys to stay with one of their sisters for this first time trip. I wasn't sure what city life may be like and thought I should see it first to decide if they'd be shell-shocked in it or not. So, off my friend and I went! We traveled through Kentucky to areas I had never seen before.
I saw Louisville, KY from the Interstate and the Ohio River :-)

When we drove by Louisville, KY I thought to myself, "Wow, this is Awesome." When we got to Indiana, my Awesome turned into Fantastic enthusiasm! Here's what I saw along the way that caught my eye:

: 1st pit stop at a McDonald's for a Hazelnut Latte.

Louisville:

: Louisville as seen from the interstate

Entering Indiana:

: The Bridge to Indy!!

Hello Indianapolis:

: Coming up to the city

: Home of the Hoosiers

: Downtown Indy

: Downtown Indy

: Downtown Indy

: The buildings are absolutely beautiful

Stay tuned for part 2....

Exploring Indy - Part 2

This article was originally published on Jan 5, 2012 on the old blog

: Replica of the Washington Monument?

This post Exploring Indie part 2 is the continuation of the earlier post titled "Exploring Indie part 1 – Another Adventure :-)".

Driving all the way up the Cumberland Gap Parkway was a nice and scenic trip as opposed to traveling Interstate 75 the entire trip from Tennessee to Indianapolis, Indiana. We drove around and up the mountains in Kentucky and when we entered into Indiana, there were still a few hills there as well. At first, I thought perhaps Indiana wasn't flat after all, until we drove about 15 more minutes into Indiana.

The hills seemingly disappeared. Out of nowhere, corn popped up and the land flattened out! I saw corn, Irrigation piping, and more corn :-) This was pretty awesome. The corn fields I saw from the highway were not like the corn fields in Tennessee. These fields went on for what appeared to be miles and miles. (Without my glasses I couldn't really tell, but there was no end to the fields visually.)

In Tennessee, many farmers plant corn and hay to mix and feed their cattle or they plant tobacco. Not many people still plant tobacco anymore now though :-( Anyway, the corn fields and hay fields are planted on hills and they wave at the viewer from the roadside as the fields roll. Some are planted on the flattest land owned, which is still a hill or a swerving plot of land. The cattle even learn to graze while standing on a constant tilt. That's why all the cattle produced in East Tennessee is lopsided laying on your plate at dinner time!

Back to the trip, we drove closer to the city of Indianapolis and the land became more flat. The city buildings could be seen for what seemed to be many miles before entering it. I loved the old and new buildings in the city. Here are a few more snap shots of the awesome experiences and sights I saw: