Racing around Indy
Indianapolis, Indiana’s capital, is best-known for auto racing, in particular, the Indy 500 that takes place each Memorial Day weekend.
It is also home to the NFL Colts, the NBA Pacers, a Triple A baseball team and, since 2000, headquarters for the NCAA.
During a 14-month span in 2021 and 2022, the city will play host to the NBA All-Star game, the NCAA men’s Final Four, the Big Ten football championship, the college football playoff championship and the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament.
While Indy is serious about sports, a recent two-day visit showcased a city we hardly recognized. We hadn’t set foot in downtown Indianapolis for nearly three decades but the change was a real eye-opener.
Sporting facilities, restaurants, apartments, museums, hotels, a state park and a zoo are clustered in a downtown that once appeared to have little going for it.
Downtown Indianapolis was for many years a place to work before hustling back home to the suburbs. Upscale department stores were gone, theaters were vacant and restaurants closed following lunch.
Downtown Indy is now not only a location for work, but also a place to live, eat and enjoy leisure time.
Our visit included two nights in the world’s first Union Station located four blocks south of city center.
The majestic train station now serves as a Crowne Plaza hotel with guest rooms in the station’s renovated freight section. The hotel includes regular hotel rooms plus a series of deluxe guest rooms in 13 Pullman cars.
The adjacent old Romanesque Revival red brick passenger depot is utilized for conferences.
During the first day in town, we visited the Indianapolis Museum of Art, but not before stopping for Indiana’s signature cuisine, the breaded tenderloin sandwich.
In Indiana, breaded tenderloins must be sufficiently large as to make the bun appear an afterthought. Ours was of such superior size we split the sandwich between us and still couldn’t finish it off.
We also stopped at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University. Built in 1928 as Butler Fieldhouse, this is one of the country’s great basketball arenas and served as the site of Indiana’s high school basketball championships (including the fabled game won by Milan in 1954) until 1971.
Walk into the fieldhouse and you get the feeling the Hickory Huskers of the movie “Hoosiers” will soon be on the floor shooting hoops.
Then it was on to Newfields, a 100-acre art and nature park where the Indianapolis Museum of Art is a component. Ranked as one of the country’s 10 largest art museums, the complex is home to the original LOVE sculpture.
According to a promotional piece, the museum is ranked among the world’s best museums to propose. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour, both inside and outside, even though our proposal days are long past.
Before an evening meal at Bluebeard that we were told was a favorite of Colts’ quarterback, Andrew Luck, we strolled from Union Station to the Circle that serves as city center and is highlighted by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
The following morning was spent at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where we toured the museum and enjoyed multiple laps around the two-and-a-half-mile track in a new Corvette.
Visitors can choose a narrated bus ride around the historic track or, for the more adventurous, experience laps at high speed in a two-seat IndyCar as part of the Indy Racing Experience Driving Program.
Upon leaving the speedway, we stopped nearby for a tour of Dallara IndyCar Factory where IndyCars are made. The factory offers numerous exhibits, a video, and the opportunity to watch as the cars are made.
Then it was back to the hotel and another walk around downtown before dinner at St. Elmo Steak House, one of the city’s iconic restaurants that has been around since 1902.
The following morning was spent strolling through White River State Park, a 250-acre downtown recreational area that includes a zoo, museums, NCAA headquarters, the Indianapolis Indians baseball stadium, an IMAX theater and a concert venue.
People were walking, boating, riding bikes and just sitting and enjoying themselves. And in the middle of a large metropolitan area!
So, that’s a summary of our trip to a city that has reinvented itself.
Two days wasn’t nearly enough time to take in more than a fraction of what the city offers but we were scheduled to be in another town and had to leave.
That’s the life of travel writers.
David and Kay Scott are authors of “Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges” (Globe Pequot). Visit them at mypages.valdosta.edu/dlscott/Scott.html. View paste columns at www.facebook.com/DavidKayScott. The Scotts live in Valdosta, Georgia.
Getting there: Indianapolis International Airport is about 20 miles from downtown.
Lodging: Major hotel chains operate in the downtown area. We had a comforable stay in an original Pullman Carat the Crowne Plaza Hotel at Union Station.
Food: We enjoyed breakfast at Cafe Patachou and brunch at Milktooth. For a gigantic breaded tenderloin try Aristocrat in the South Broad Ripple neighborhood. Bluebeard offers unusual dinner specials while St. Elmo Steakhouse is the iconic Indy place for dinner.
Additional Information: Phone (317) 262-3000, or visit www.VisitINDY.com.