Road Trip: Ohio. Again.
Day 9: Wednesday, April 19, 2023 - Indianapolis, IN
Day's statistics:
Weather: upper 70s
Steps: Steve 10,362; Linda 8,394
Travel: 319 miles
Breakfast was light continental, with one of the pancake conveyor belt cookers.
This was the first capital we were going to revisit. Two reasons why: 1) we didn't get our selfie the last time
(because we started it after we visited), and B) the senate was closed last time and we weren't able to get in.
Since we were going to visit with Linda's high school friend, and it was on the route anyway, we decided to make
Indianapoils a stop.
After we checked out, we headed to the capital. The skyline on approach.
Once again we spent some time driving around looking for a decent place to park. We eventually decided to just park in the
garage next to the museum we were going to anyway, and that had a block that separated it from the capital.
The garage exit wound up being attached to the museum. We went up stairs and past the front door of the museum -
especially since it wasn't even open yet.
In front of the museum was a fountain that was not open for the season yet. It was deer running, and when the fountain is
operating, it must look like the deer are running through a stream.
We eventually wind up visiting the museum behind the deer on the right, the Eiteljorg Museum.
We continued our walk to the capital. The first crosswalk we used had some unique markings in it - ones for pedestrians,
wheelchair users, and cyclists.
An interesting what-looks-like pedestrian walkway.
We approached the capital and took our selfie.
Job done. Time to go.
Ha ha ha ha. Just kidding.
We continued around the capital to the front. it seems that we approached and entered the capital from a slightly
different direction this time than last time.
We saw some statues and monuments - including one to Vice President, Senator, Representative, and Governor Thomas Andrews Hendricks -
that we didn't see last time too.
Some blooming flowers.
The Soldiers & Sailors Monument from the capital.
We went inside the capital.
We didn't need to get a stamp because we got one four years ago when we went through
Indianapolis.
We headed straight for the senate chamber because it was closed last time.
We arrived to find that... there was another function going on and it was closed. Again.
Linda said "Let's go talk to the security guard and see what's going on."
We approached Jake and asked him... what was going on. He said it was the last day for the pages and interns and they had an
event with their parents. We told him why we were there, and all we wanted was a picture inside the senate. He seemingly looked
around to "make sure no one was paying attention", then nodded his head in the direction of the chamber and said "come on."
"<gasp!>! Really?!!? Sweet!"
He brought us onto the floor and gave us some history about the capital, most of which we heard last time we were here.
One item we heard new or didn't remember hearing what that the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches are all still housed
in this same building, believed to be one of the only ones in the country to still have all three branches under the same roof.
We were trying to be inconspicuous while we stood a little bit away from most of the others in the chamber. I tried to get a shot
of the gallery.
And I got one of the speaker's seat.
Jake then asked if WE wanted a picture there. "Sure, why not?"
We were in the chamber for about ten minutes talking with Jake, and he eventually said something like "Okay, let's let them finish
up in here." (Not that we were holding anything up.)
We thanked Jake for taking us into the chamber, and grabbed a selfie with him.
We proceeded toward the exit, used the facilities, and got a couple shots of things we most likely already saw on the way out.
We exited and started to walk in the direction of the car and museum.
Along the side of the capital was a plaza with a couple sculptures in it (and no, we didn't wait to see if the second one was
a portal to another dimension).
We walked down the plaza toward the museum.
And looked back at the capital.
We turned left at the end of the plaza, walked to the same crosswalk we walked across earlier, past the seven levels of candy
cane forrest, past the the deer fountain, and up to the museum.
We were visiting the Eiteljorg Museum of Amaerican Indians and Western Art.
An all wood statue of an Indiana native.
The entry doors were rather large.
We paid our entry fee, and started our tour on the first / main floor. We saw some very interesting works,
and some not so much (though with art, interest is im the eye of the beholder).
Migrations by Daniel Morper.
Beneath the Blue Moon Bench by P. A. Nisbet.
October Suite, Grand Canyon by Wilson Hurley, is a MASSIVE three piece work that was probably forty feet long, that
is presented here as a stitch (of only three images, so it isn't perfect, but pretty good).
The Agency Store by Joseph Sharp.
Visit to the Louvre XXIV by Walt Wooten.
Snake River Sushi by Ann Coe.
Lewis and Clark at Eagle Creek by Thomas Hart Benton.
The Bronco Buster, The Outlaw, and The Cheyeene by Frederic Remington.
Secrets of the Dark Forrest by Robert Griffing.
High Sierras by Albert Bierstadt.
Trappers Enroute to the Rondezvous by Alfred Jacob Miller.
Towering Aspen, Rio Hondo Canyon, New Mexico by E. Martin Hennings.
The Burial of Uncas by N. C. Wyeth.
We were done in the main paintings gallery. Across the hall, with stairs wrapping around it, was this
more-than-two-stories-tall totem. It is presented in two pieces because there wasn't enough of an overlap
for a good stitch - so it is the bottom portion, and most of the rest.
Here is a close-up of one section of the totem to see the detail.
There was a section of other works.
Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill by William Norman and son.
Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bull by Marcus Amerman. This is a bead-work version of the photo above.
We viewed a section of photographs that we were prohibited from taking photos of. So we viewed, and moved on.
Our visit to this floor was done. We proceeded up the stairs to the second floor which was probably about half the
size of the first floor.
Most of the placcards for this floor were not as convenient as the first floor - they were either far away from the
work, or they were buried in a book.
A floor-to-ceiling (or is it ceiling-to-floor?) contemporary art sort of thing.
A couple of wood carved pieces.
Sheath by an unrecorded Ojibwe artist.
A collection of works in a corner.
Top row, left to right: Dialog with a Deer by Harry Fonseca; Dance from the Deep by Susan Point; and
Parfleche for Bea Medicine by Robert Houle.
Lower row, left to right: Blessing a New Day by Allan Houser; Glass Bear Panel by Larry Rosso; and
After the Rain by Tammy Garcia. There is also a close-up of the Bear Panel.
The Lady by Tyra Shackleford.
This glass face object made an interesting projection on the floor.
Eototo and Aholi (Chief and Lieutenant) by John Fredericks.
A very large case with quite a few artifacts on display.
Basket by an unrecorded Ojibwe artist.
Apron by an unrecorded Ojibwe artist.
Blue Herons by Ronni-Leigh Goeman and Stonehorse Goeman.
Kneeling Warrior (skateboard deck) by Douglas Miles. (This was rotated because it got too small when fit into the
typical frame dimensions).
A carpet (?).
A canoe with some mats behind it.
Baby carriers.
There was a movie playing, but we chose not to stop and see any of it.
Our visit to this floor was done. We sat at the top of the stairs for a few minutes, then proceded down to the main level again.
Of course we paid a visit to the gift shop. After almost two hours, we departed.
We headed to the stairs just off the museum to the parking garage. In the middle of the stairs was this three story waterfall sort of
feature. It starts at eye level - or even a little higher - and trickles all the way down.
It was about noon, and time to head out to Fairmount. We used our validated parking ticket to get out free of charge.
We were driving to Fairmount to meet Linda's best friend in high school, Sue.
We met her at El Metate, a Mexican restaurant, down the road from her house, by about 1:15.
It was a nice restaurant, though at this hour - after the "lunch rush" (though I don't know if that exists here or not)
and on a weekday - there were about five times as many "to go" orders as there were tables in use (we were the only
customers sitting at the time).
While Sue and Linda caught up on the last forty years talking about kids, grandkids, living, life, and high school, I
was there more for arm candy and to provide the mundane details of the stories that Linda got wrong.
We were served a basket of chips and we each got a small bowl of salsa.
I wound up eating most of the chips because I was hungry and I pretty much had nothing else to do.
We reviewed our menus.
Linda had the chicken El Metate Fajita Taco Salad.
I had burritos deluxe.
After eating and more talking, we took a group selfie by the register.
We spent about two hours with Sue. We bid adieu, and headed on to Columbus - a three hour drive away.
We passed more wind farms in Indiana, this one with ten visible turbines.
And around this wind farm was also a large solar array, visible in the above shot, and clearer in this one.
At about 5:30, we crossed one of our last state lines, and spotted this blasé line sign (rhyme not intend, and
those two words aren't even spelled similarly).
A little after 6:00, we took a pause at Aldi to walk around a little, and pick up a snack for dinner. We got a block
of havarti cheese to eat with our rolls that we still had, and a choclate bar with almonds. We also still had the second
half of the bottle of wine. This is one meal - OK, snack - that I didn't get a picture of.
Apparently we were closer to home than we thought - or the Ohio DMV really likes our state. Or there is a town in Ohio called
"Delaware". We should have stopped there, gone into a store and said "Hey, we're from Delaware too!".
By 7:00, we arrived at the Double Tree in Columbus, with the expectation that we pretty much won't be leaving for four days.
We checked in, with all our luggage, and proceeded to the elevator bank to go to our room on the fourth floor.
And there was only one of the three elevators working. Hopefully this will be fixed soon...
We entered our room, got situated, and ate our snack.
After eating, I headed down to the Mind Games registration desk and picked up my packet.
I took my material back to the room to review what I was facing over the next three days.
We watched a little TV before settling in for the night.