After a week in Indianapolis, my time in the city is wrapping up as I prepare to go to my next destination tomorrow. It was nice seeing my childhood best friend again, and it was an interesting experience driving through downtown Indianapolis and remembering seeing some of the shops and monuments when I was last here over 13 years ago for my cousin’s law school graduation ceremony.
Apart from the tourist attractions and destinations I already blogged about, we also went to a few other restaurants, mainly trying to hit ones with good ratings or recommended by food blogs.
One of the restaurants that Ed’s mom wanted to go to for brunch was on a farm. There was a cat outside on the farm property that was a bit scared of me at first, but warmed up pretty quickly after I swooped down, blinked slowly, and held out my finger. He started headbutting my hand and legs and wouldn’t stop, but I eventually managed to snap a photo.
We also visited Canal Walk. I wasn’t really too interested in renting a gondola, but we took a stroll up and down alongside the canal.
Canal Walk had a lot of miniature waterfalls along the side, which I liked.
This was also right by White River State Park, so we visited that as well.
As a Marriott fanboy, I obviously had to take a photo of the J.W. Marriott.
My hotel of choice for this trip was the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Indianapolis Northwest.
I didn’t really use the amenities because I was particularly active during this segment of my trip (e.g., I wasn’t hungry for breakfast because I would get so much food with Ed and his mom, and I didn’t use the gym more than once because I went to Ed’s apartment’s community center or just got exercise walking a lot from touring). But, from what I did see, the hotel was nice and resembled the other Fairfield Inns that are well-maintained—basic, clean, straightforward, and simple.
I always skip housekeeping throughout my whole stay, so part-way through the week, I stopped by the front desk to get a refill on shampoo and conditioner. I happened to run into the manager, who got me my bath amenities, and we also had a nice chat about my voluntary homeless adventure across the country. She seemed very intrigued and impressed that I took the initiative to do something so unconventional.
Overall, I thought Indianapolis was pretty nice. It wasn’t that crazy of a city, but it still had enough special traits and characteristics (like with racing) that it had its own unique identity.
It was also nice visiting Ed for a week. We used to see each other fairly frequently when we were in high school, then went to different undergraduate universities and usually would only meet up during holidays. It was unfortunate that my trip to Indianapolis was immediately following a month and a half with my parents, because I think having a week or two of alone time as a buffer period between the two visits would have made me appreciate the social interaction a bit more. But, nonetheless, it was a pleasant experience.
Tomorrow, I’m going to be flying to Seattle for a one-week break from my road trip to visit some friends and co-workers. I’ll be spending a week on the Pacific Coast, then flying back to Indianapolis to pick up my truck and continue on my journey to the next state. More tourism blog posts to come soon…