Indiana – Stranger Things Have Happened

September 1st, 2015

Indianapolis! Home of the Indy 500 and…uh…other…things…

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to find a visitor center upon arriving to the state, so my information on what was around was limited to trip adviser and random event pages. Armed with no idea, a camera and a bike, I wandered off.

Indianapolis is one of the smaller big cities around, only about 10 miles from one side of the inner loop to the other. The “outskirts” of town are within easy biking distance to see everywhere. I found that there is no real central thing to see in Indianapolis besides an art museum and the Colts field. But the whole inner loop portion of the city is adorned with some pretty spectacular neighborhoods. As well as the downtown filled with some amazing art. I started at the top and worked my way down, north to south. The high middle of town being the library, directly facing the central city park. I stopped to take some photos when a guy looks at me and says, “You know what would make those photos better?”

I respond, “…uh…no…”

“Me.”

So I oblige him, and he hops in frame to strike a pose. Looking like, “yeah, I run this city,” I made sure to get a close up of him. I forgot to get his name, but if anyone knows him, I have his photo. Silently laughing to myself, I took a few more shots, and wandered into the park. In the center is a huge obelisk towers high, with a fountain surrounding it. Capped on top is a layer of gold, I presume. Adjacent to the obelisk fountain is a grid of flags. Though I didn’t recognize most, I saw the Colorado flag, and assumed they were other states, but certainly not all states were accounted for. Next up, it was lunch/dinner time, and I wandered into the old market area to grab a bite. Unfortunately, everything was closed, as they were mainly a lunch place for the surrounding downtown businesses. Fortunately, one place was open, and it was a vegan restaurant. I asked what the chef’s favorite was, and went with it. He did not disappoint. Holy cow was it amazing! A small hint of spicy, wrapped in a sweet sauce with veggies, and I’m not sure what else. Not what I was expecting, but much better.

I continued on to explore some more. Wandering around downtown, it was a very bike friendly city. With large lanes on almost every street, as well as an extremely well kept trail from where I parked all the way across the city. I zigged and zagged around, checked out the football stadium, an outdoor mall, and other fun sights. One neighborhood was situated along what seemed like a man made river way. With houses extending right up to the river, and people using it for evening runs, or kayak along. It was also the home of the NCAA. A cool little town with fantastic art under all the bridges, and large ornate art pieces scattered about. Happy with what I had seen, I made the long and tiresome bike ride back to my car on the south side of town. There, as I was packing up, a lady wandered by. Wearing an over sized cotton t-shirt, jeans and carrying a half empty two liter of Pepsi, she saw me and asked for money. I figured a buck wouldn’t be bad, but as I reached for my pocket, she said she was short a dollar and a quarter to get a beer at the bar.

Nope.

I suddenly remembered, I had no money, at all. She instead asked to use my phone to call someone, and I happily obliged. She called a few numbers, repeatedly, but no luck. Through conversation and just trying to be nice but get out, she mentioned she was homeless and used the river to bathe. My ears perked up at this, but she mentioned sewage was leaked into the water. Nothing made sense at all about what she was saying, but I began to feel uneasy. Quickly bidding her ado in the evening light, I made my way off to the west.

What a strange day, and a strange turn of events. Indiana, say weird.