Days 7&8: Magic Kingdom + Home

I guess it’s finally time to post about our last full day in Florida  The crowds in Disney always drive me nuts but no less than one day later, I want to be back!  At least the dog missed me while I was gone so coming home to his stinky butt was semi-rewarding.  Returning to work on the other hand…not so fun.

A few days before we had run through this Castle!

So anyways, our last full day in Florida was on Thursday and it started out warm and sunny like all our other days in the Sunshine State…

BLUE SKY!

We actually got going early for us (9am!!) and made it to Magic Kingdom by 9:30 or so.  Due to Walt Disney’s genius, you don’t actually get to the MK park when you get to the parking lot.  You have to pick between arrival via sky or water so that’s another 10ish minutes of travel time before you actually get there, get there.  We could tell this park was going to be busier today than any of the other parks had been in the previous days due to the crowds.  (Or maybe that was just us getting to the park earlier?)

We started out by getting Fast Passes for Jungle Cruise and then sitting through the Enchanted Tiki room bird “show” (Word to the wise, miss this one…the room wreaked of mold and the show was missable)  Magic Kingdom was kind of falling apart… bathrooms were looking rough and rides were having all kinds of issues.  Hopefully they are planning to put some remodels on the schedule sometime soon.  After Tiki birds, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean (which we got stuck on…)

See, scary…

And then on to the Jungle Cruise!  Fast passes was a good call on this ride, we would have had to wait 40+ minutes for this one without them!  This ride is corny (shocker) but cute

Same jokes, BACK SIDE OF WATER!

Once we were done in Adventureland, we headed into Liberty Square to wander around to find some lunch.  Sister heard rumors of gluten free chicken tenders at Columbia House Tavern and she was right!  These were super, super delicious!  I still dream of them

Once we were lunched, we headed over to Fantasyland to ride on It’s a Small World.  The weather also started to change for the worse at this point… the temps started f-a-a-a-l-l-l-l-i-n-g and the clouds were filling the sky.  But at least everything was happy in It’s a Small World!

Creepy Dancing Dolls.

After IASW, we went to check on Space Mountain (it was closed earlier in the day) but found it was open now!  Sister and I waited for one ride and grabbed Fast Passes for another later in the afternoon.

No more blue sky…

After our Space Mountain ride, we went into Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor show (pretty cute! And actually funny!).  By the time we came out of that show… the weather was gross!  Windy, rainy, COLD!  It literally dropped 20+ degrees in less than an hour.  You’d think we were in Wisconsin or something…

We remembered about Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so headed for that next.  Man, that’s a rather rough ride!  We also had to try Dole Whip!  Oh, so, so good! (Although I think we were the only ones in the park eating ice cream!)

We had another hour or so to kill before our Space Mountain Fast Passes were ready so we walked through the new Fantasyland that was not really as “open” as they made it sounds in the ads.  It was still pretty “under construction.”  Maybe in a year or so it will actually be “open” open?

Looks like it will be cute!

It was then finally time for our Space Mountain FPs so we went to do that and then kind of waved the white flag for the park that day.  We were in tanks + shorts and it was 60.  That’s a little cold even for this MidWesterner…  We’d pretty much seen everything anyways so we called our Disney time quits.  It’s always so hard and sad to leave the parks for the last time on a trip down there!  No more magic.

We went back to our condo to warm up + get sweaters and then went to find dinner.  We tried to go to a Red Brick Pizza for gluten free + dairy free pizza (Dole Whip did me in) but after driving for 20 minutes, realized it was now “Tuscan Pizza” and they “had everything as RBP!”  except not really… like no Daiya and I didn’t trust the whole gluten free cooking system… so we walked away.  We ended up at Bonefish Grill and had a delicious dinner though!  We have one in the Milwaukee area but I had never been.  Seems like I will be going back!

Fish + Rice + Scetti Squash

Then it was onea second to last trip to Downtown Disney for Babycakes and souvenirs!  (I was good and only bought one dog t-shirt + one coffee mug!) And then it was back to the condo to pack a little and go to sleep for the last night in Florida.

Want more now!

Friday we got up, swam and hot tubbed a little, ate one last lunch at Sweet Tomatoes + one last cookie sandwich from Babycakes and then it was back to Wisconsin… another trip comes to an end.  And another post-vacation depression begins  Welcome back to reality… grrr.

Day 6: Hollywood Studios (day 2)

So I thought we were going to Magic Kingdom on Wednesday but our morning started with  a broken camera fiasco that we tried to replace at Target and Walmart with no luck… Oh well, that’s what iPhone’s are for right?  But since our morning was very interrupted again, we decided to do day two at Hollywood Studios to save the longest day for Magic Kingdom.

I think we were finally at HS by 12pm and again headed right for Tower of Terror!  The wait was a whopping 10 minutes again…

Too many stupid faces made by me on this trip..

After ride number one, we grabbed fast passes (just in case) and headed to find some lunch.  We went to the Backlot place which is what we thought we went to last year but turned out to be different but we were still successful in the food department.  We all went the healthy hot dog route today + french fries + a cantaloupe/green pea/champagne vinaigrette dressing salad (strange but good!)

After we’d been lunched, we headed back for the Tower Hotel for another ride.  Turns out our fast passes were not required today because the wait was literally zero minutes by this time of the day.  So we went twice in a row!  (Pre TOT, we also grabbed Rock ‘n Roller Coaster FP!)

After the three rides on TOT today + one yesterday, I think we were all officially elevator’d out so we retired that ride for this Disney trip.  Then it was on to the Aerosmith one to wear that one out!

One trip through the stand by line (15 minutes, maybe?) and then a trip through with our fast passes and we were ready to call this ride quits for this trip at well.  Those lead in videos get SO OLD!  Gaaaahhhh!

Since we’d had all the fun we could stand on the rides, we switched into show watching mode!  All the signs and brochures said that the Beauty and the Beast show was down for refurbishment but they must have opened it back up early because they added show times for late afternoon!  So we walked right in for the 3pm show and got to watch that performance.

Then it was on to the American Idol Experience!  That is really a fun one – they bring in actual park guests and I guess the last season of AI, 5 of the top 13 started out in DisneyWorld?  No idea if that is true but that’s what the host said!

We had a quick snack after AI and then waited for Star Tours.  I don’t know if I have ever been on this one before… in a way I think maybe?  But it also seemed so unfamiliar that maybe I have not!  We had a little technical difficulties before our “flight” could take off but everything turned out just fine

We were going to go on the Backlot tour but it turned out that ended at 4:45 so I guess we missed that one this trip… oops.  But we though we lucked out by bumping into a new Jack Sparrow ride.  Turns out we totally should have missed that one.  We waited for about 45 minutes (longer than all our waits this week combined) for the stupidest “Jack Sparrow Experience” thing.  Why someone thought this was a necessary addition is beyond me… ouch.

I will remember this view, not the horrific new thing we had to wait forever for.

After that horrific thing, we called it a day.  Standing for an hour in line/in the “experience” put my knees over the edge.  So back to the tram and car it was.

We decided to do Whole Foods sushi again tonight since sister thought she “didn’t like sushi” but then tried mine on Saturday  We also got some ice cream and Crispin cider.  YUM!!!

After dinner, we did some more swimming and hot tubbing and then crashed (after watching the kind of awkward Dr. Oz/Charlie Sheen interview).  TOMORROW we will finally make it to Magic Kingdom!  We have been thinking ever since Monday that we would go there… ha!

Day 5: Hollywood Studios (day 1)

We had to switch from our Disney hotel to a condo today so we lost our entire morning again but decided to do a bonus day at Hollywood Studios today and then spend a full day when we go back on Thursday.  I can never ride Tower of Terror too much even though that stupid lead in video gets old really quickly…

Having to pack up everything to move to another place was a little annoying but since our condo has two bedrooms and is really nice, I’d say it was totally worth it!  Plus, the Disney “value” resorts don’t have hot tubs and our tired legs NEEDED hot tubs so everyone was glad we’d planned this move off Disney property.  We will have to pay to park now but I think that’s worth it.  It’s a must to stay on Disney property for a race though if you don’t want to spend an hour+ waiting parked on a highway to drop off your runners… hence our choice to stay on property again this year!

By the time we finally got to Hollywood Studios, we went straight for Tower of Terror!!!  No wait at that point of the day, yes!  And then we wandered over to pick up a Fast Pass for Rock ‘n Roller Coaster.  Since it was only about 1pm, we decided to walk back to the Lights, Motor, Action Stunt show to watch that today since it always takes up a big chunk of time.

I was glad to see it was slightly different than in past years but still gets a little redundant after 20 minutes.  Sister and I left early so we didn’t miss our fast pass return time.  R’nR was as fun as ever though!  I wish the wait was not always SO long on this one for stand by…

We had a 2:55 Linner reservation at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano that was part of the Fantasmic VIP seating package and also served as our post Marathon celebration lunch/dinner.

We started out with a Bellini

gluten free bread + oil for dipping

and then caprese salad

and then I had the most delicious Fish Piccata

topped off with this flourless chocolate cake!

And the best part is how awesome Disney can be about allergies when done correctly.  Everything was gluten free and everything was delicious!  Gold star, Disney, gold star!

To say we left full would be an understatement

We walked around for awhile and then decided to check out the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show.  After the show sister decided she needed her sweater (it was 76+ degrees) so we headed back for the car and then back in the park to wait for Fantasmic!.

Having the VIP seating is AWESOME!!!  We had a whole section roped off until 15 minutes before the start and didn’t have to wait in any line to get into the show.  They also say you are supposed to get in the general seating line 60-90 minutes before vs our 30!

The show was really cool and really crazy if you think about all Disney goes through every single night of the year just to entertain people for 30 minutes!

We eventually got out of the park and made another stop at Babycakes… (I mean how often can we get gluten free, vegan baked goods that taste amazing??)

 

and then headed back to the condo to hot tub, swim a bit and then go to sleeeeeeeppppp! Disney World is really so much fun but also really so tiring!  I find myself wondering why children are still awake and in the pool when I am past ready for bed… don’t they ever sleep?  An uninterrupted day at Magic Kingdom is on tap for tomorrow!

Day 4: EPCOT

We got a super late start this morning… we woke up at a decent time but by the time we did some stretching, I wrote yesterday’s post and we had our coffee in the room, it was 9:30!  We walked over to our resort’s breakfast place for some Waffles + bacon + fruit (YUM!) and then on the walk back, wandered all over our resort to check out the different areas (Carsland, Nemo, Lion King and Little Mermaid).

By the time we were showered and on the road, it was like 12pm – oops!  EPCOT was a little bit busy in the morning but got less so as the day went on.  We started our day with the plan to just walk around the World Showcase area and come back another day for Future World but since the crowds were so minimal late in the day, we got all the Future World rides done in about 2 hours!

We walked into the Mexico pavilion first and did the little boat ride in there. Nothing super spectacular but still cute.  It’s amazing how they really transport you to the various countries with their buildings!

Next up was Norway for a ride called the Malestrom!  It was another water ride and sort of a roller coaster type one but you weren’t buckled in if you know what I mean… Then came China, Germany and Italy with no real rides or shows or anything like that.  We were trying to find lunch at this point and striking out horrendously so we ended up just walking back to a place in Future World we knew had options for a quick lunch break.  I actually found a goat cheese + beet salad – ha!

Once we’d lunched, we started in Canada on the opposite side and watched the Oh, Canada! Circlevision show that was really cool! Then it was a stop in United Kingdom for a Strongbow for sister and then on to France, Morocco and Japan for some quick pictures and a walk around.  We did stop in the American Adventure for the show there that is kind of creepy + interesting at the same time (thank you animated robots).  Only thing to note from that show is Disney needs to be informed that Lance Armstrong needs to be removed from the American icon montage at the end (and Justin Beiber added to the Canadian one!!!)

After walking the world, we ended up waiting for GMChevy Test Track and were surprised to find a new ride!! (Sort of).  Same concept, different effects and NO PRE VIDEO!!!!!!  I think we waited 5 minutes for that one?

I hope these people appreciated my photo bomb

Mission Space was next door so we did that as well and waited another 5 minute wait to get on the ride.  I’d forgotten how that one really gets your Gs going

We waited for Test Track one more time but that still did not kill enough time for us to get in the Fast Pass line so Mom and Sister stopped in a gift shop and I went on the Living with the Land ride in The Land.

We ended our day with a flight over California in Soarin’ and then we were ready to go find dinner and go to bed!  Since it was already almost 8pm, we opted for Sweet Tomatoes again (shocker) and then back to the resort to crash…

We change hotels on Tuesday so that will kind of cut into our day but hopefully we can still have some fun at a park in the afternoon!

Indianapolis: Day 5

Um, yeah, I have not been in Indy for the past three weeks.  I’m actually just a total blogging slacker and have yet to post my final adventure that I had in Indianapolis.  And actually it was one that Sister got to partake of too!

On Thursday morning before we left to head back to ‘Scony, we signed up to take a Running Tour!  (see now why it is applicable that I post this here even though it took place forever and a day ago?)  The same company that led my bike tour on Monday led this running tour and once again I was not disappointed. We ended up being the only ones on the tour again and it worked out well because we got to leave a little later than the typical 7:15 am start time.  I think we selected to head out at 8am and the tour guy met us right at our hotel so it was doubly convenient.

We started out running around the canal area that I had explored on Sunday but it was Sister’s first chance to fully see the area as she had been working on Sunday when I was out exploring.  As a side note, we told the tour guide that we wanted to take it easy but apparently we were not descriptive enough about our definition of “easy” because I don’t think we ever ran a slower than 9:30/mile pace for 4+ miles.  Luckily we had lots of stopping breaks for photos and stories so it was Ok but man, I realized I am really out of running shape and really slow.  Not that I really care but it still opened my eyes a wee bit…

We continued to run past quite a few memorials, my favorite being the September 11th memorial.  By far my favorite tribute I have seen in any big city.  They actually purchased some of the burnt beams to be placed in the piece to represent the towers – very cool and considering our trip fell the week of Sept 11th, even more special we were able to pay our respects there.

 

We ran, ran, ran some more and saw some more memorials, memorials, memorials and before we knew it, our four miles was up!  I was actually quite surprised how quickly the time passed when we were actively listening to a tour while running.  Too bad they don’t offer running tour marathons.  Might be a new business venture for me!  No fair stealing it

 

Trees planted by all the Gov’nas!

My favorite things about this vacation were the running tour and biking tour.  My eyes have been opened to searching out experiences like these in future towns I visit because it really is an awesome way to stay active on vacation but still have fun and see the sights!  Plus you have the added bonus of not wandering around feeling lost all the time.  Active Indy has a really cool mission in their city and I hope if you ever are vacationing in Indianapolis that you check them out!  I know I wish I could start a business like that here in Milwaukee.  Too bad I am so horrible at small talk that I would likely scare people away before we even begin – hehe!

Even though it’s been three weeks, I sill really miss the laid back feel of vacation and really wish I could find a way to live in permanent vacation mode.  Oh to dream big!

Happy Friday!

Do you have a favorite active vacation pastime?  Do you still exercise on vacation?

Indianapolis: Day 4

I feel like a broken record but Wednesday was another busy day!  I’ve never been good at resting on vacation and this vacation turned out to be one of the busiest active-wise!  But it was pretty fun so I’m not complaining.

On Wednesday, Sister and I headed out on a 4 hour bike rental.  She’d gotten some free coupons with her conference so again I lucked out by being her tag-along.  We set out to explore the Broad Ripple area.  It was about 8 miles from where we picked up the bikes which didn’t really give us much exploring time but that ended up being ok because we really just ended up aimlessly wandering again…

If there was fun shopping here, we missed it…

We did stop in a couple of store but the kind of shopping district I was picturing was not quite what met up when we got there.  We did find a couple of dog store to try to find something for our pooch but were not successful in finding something his picky little butt would appreciate…

He probably would have shared this cookie with us…

We also spent about 20 minutes trying to get our bikes locked together and to a bike rack… sounds easier than it ended up being when we just had one solid U-lock to try to use for two bikes + bike rack…

We wandered around a health food store in the area that was pretty cool and reminded me of one we went to in Kauai.  It had floor to ceiling supplement and healthy foods!  We found a few scores – namely peanut butter ginger chews!!! – and a good granola + some cookies and then ventured on to try to find a cupcake place that had gluten free cupcakes, called The Flying Cupcake.  (It sounds like we eat nothing but sweets on vacation and to be honest, that’s kind of the way we like it – lol! Not so healthy but live’s too short!)

Our cupcake after it’s 10+ mile bike ride to our picnic location!

We just took one to split later when we had our picnic lunch, a Maple Pecan.  Then we headed back since we were not sure how long it would take us to bike and we were quite a  ways away and figured we could eat lunch after we’d returned the bikes.

The not as paved part of our journey…

We made the 10ish mile loop back along the trail (the Monon Trail) and realized this trail was not quite as pretty as the downtown Cultural Trial but it was still nice to have a trail to ride along.

Almost back… just wanted to make it at least 20 miles!

We made it back to the Bike Hub, turned in our bikes and then walked the City Market real quick to try to find some drinks!  We ended up with just some Snapples but they tasted so good!

Most beautifully photographed lunch ever!

We ate our little random picnic lunch outside the Bike Hub – lunchmeat turkey, pretzels, sweet potato/carrot chips applesauce + our cupcake/cookie desserts.

Then we made the 1ish mile walk back to the hotel to rest a little and allow sister to shower and get ready for a few hours of working this afternoon.  I typed up a few posts, watched a few episodes of Angel and lazed around for awhile to wait for sister to finish working.

Once she was done, we went out walking again and decided to climb this monument but it closed at 5:30 so that will have to wait for another trip.  So we walked around a little more and then ended up at dinner at Adobo Grill Indianapolis.  They had a specific gluten free menu which initially brought me to their website but the very unique set of offerings convinced us we needed to give it a try!

I

We shared the guacamole to start and then I had pumpkin and black bean enchiladas.  They were really good but I’d eaten so many chips + guac that I could hardly eat any of my main meal… oops!

After dinner we walked around some more and then ventured back to the hotel for an early bedtime.  Sister was beat from working so hard and I was tired from being lazy so it worked for us – lol!

After dinner, we strolled the canal a ways and got to view a beautiful sunset!

Only a small portion more to recap and then it’s back to regular vacation-free posting for awhile

Indianapolis: Day 3

I missed posting yesterday but I’ll try to catch up eventually… this recap is from yesterday but I’ll have adventures from today to recap at some point also.

Yesterday was another full day but it included sister as she had a much longer break from work on Tuesday! She had to help with some morning items but by lunch time, we were free.

Boring + Healthy Breakfast

We started with lunch at cafe patachou. This place was excellent!! It was a farm to table type place that made most items from scratch or were as locally sourced as possible. I had split pea soup + half a turkey sandwich. It also came with a little side salad. Everything was fantastic!

After lunch, we head off to check out the zoo. Sister knew she got in free but I was planning to pay but when we went to get her voucher, the checker asked if I was her guest and said I’d get a free ticket too! Score.

The zoo ended up being kind of boring and it was really hard to see the animals.

One of the good exhibits.

I think we have one of these at home. We call him Crosby.

But it all became worth it when we saw the baby elephants!!!!! Elephants are my favorite animals but I’d never seen a baby one at a zoo before so this was extra cool. I think sister and I sat there for like 10 minutes saying “awwwwww it’s a baby!”

The two smallest ones are sisters I think!

After the zoo, we headed to find Whole Foods and lululemon in a mall in north Indy. Both turned into major busts… Whole foods was so run down and small and lulu was just not worth it to us today. No shirt there seemed worth their ridiculous $80 price tags. They all seemed worn or weird or something… I know that’s probably sacrilegious to say on a blog but oh well.  The mall was also a total dump construction zone. Total waste of a trip.

Then we spent about 20 minutes trying to find a dinner location. So annoying. But ended up at Cheeseburger in Paradise so we were pleased in the end! I had an all American cheeseburger, fries, side salad + a piña colada! Yuuuum!

I’ve missed cheese

Even though we’d had a largish dinner, we both still really wanted ice cream but struggled again with finding a good place so we ended up getting sundae makings at the grocery store. We ended up throwing a lot away but oh well, it was delicious and still cheaper than going for froyo or something like that. And was exactly what we wanted!

We had our “little” sundae back in the hotel room, watched a few castle episodes and hit the sack. Lots of steps again even though I was shooting for a rest day… Try 12,600!

Only one more full day

Indianapolis: Day 2

Today was an exhausting day… but fun!  I had another laid back morning, eating breakfast in the hotel and also doing a little Jillian Ripped in 30 (in the hotel room – lol).  I decided to attempt the 3rd week on the DVD and man, it was a butt-kicker.  My legs felt dead which was not my intention at all when doing the DVD because I was supposed to have my bike ride this afternoon that I needed my legs for… I swear the other weeks I’ve tried are more tiring to your upper body…

Crunchy Flax Cereal + banana + banana bread + almond butter

I had to shoo the housekeeping staff away mid DVD so when I was done, I decided to let them get in the room and go for a little walk.  I didn’t end up walking too far but ended up just chilling in the park for a few minutes.  By the time I got back, they were done with the room though so it worked!  I showered quick and ate lunch and then wandered towards my afternoon biking tour starting point.  I left quite early but it ended up working out fine and I think we got to leave early since I ended up being the only tour-ey.

Lunch – Lettuce + turkey + almonds + sweet potato chips + Mary’s Gone Crackers Pretzels + applesauce (actually consumed this part today!)

DESSERT!

I found Active Indy kind of randomly by just looking on the Indy tourism site but it ended up being a very good find!  They offer bike, walking and running tours all around Indianapolis.  I chose to do the Automobile Heritage tour because I wanted the chance to get to the Indy Speedway Museum without having to drive there.  I suppose driving would have been a lot less work but it was pretty cool to bike this tour instead.

Time to bike!

We started out in Downtown Indy and took a tour of their awesome urban trail system.  I am seriously so jealous of this path system!  It’s so nice to be able to walk and bike downtown without the fear of traffic (which for me is very intense…).  Our first stop was the Stutz building which used to be a car manufacturing plant.  Now it’s being repurposed as a rental space for small manufacturers, artists, etc.  The building is really massive, a whole city block + four floors.

Some of the oldies.

After that is was a longer trip on the bike path and then we got to Marian University which happened to have acquired the mansions of the 4 men who founded the Motor Speedway. Their houses were incredibly ornate… don’t think I will be taking any decorating advice from these fellas…

Top left – outside of the Wheeler Mansion; top right – inside the Allison Mansion, a creepy large aviary room; bottom left, Wheeler mansion walkway to what used to be a heated 7 car garage; bottom right – inside Allison mansion

A few miles of biking later, we came upon the back side of the Speedway and biked up one of the straightaways.  It apparently took us about 4ish minutes to do that small .6ish of a mile portion of the track when the race cars can do the full 2.5 mile loop in about 40 or so seconds.   And here I though bikes were as fast as race cars Kidding!

 

Then it was a brief walk through the Motor Speedway Museum.  They have many of the winning cars from all years since it first began in 1911.  One thing I found kind of funny is that the first year’s winner averaged about 75ish mph and now that speed limit can be found on regular highways (or close to it!).  Now if only we could figure out how to get rid of traffic, I would say we are really making technological progress  We also watched a short video on the history of the area which was kind of a summary of what I’d been learning all day.

1911 winner + 2011 winner; row of cars

After that it was a quick trip back to the starting point to drop off the bike.  This tour was really an awesome way to see the city and I would highly recommend it if you are ever in Indianapolis.  I am trying to figure out how to possibly fit in their running tour in my week!

By the time I got back to the hotel, I was tired + hungry.  I had a bowl of cereal to tide me over until Sister got back which ended up being a really good thing because Sister and I wasted way too much time trying to figure out what to do for dinner so we didn’t have time to eat before she had to leave again which put me on my own for dinner again.

Snack time! Chocolate Chex + almond butter <3

Dining alone is annoying, dining alone + dealing with food allergies when you are trying to eat it is so depressing and overwhelming.  Sometimes the thought of not eating sounds much more appealing…

I did end up finally coming up with a good option!  Weber Grill Restaurant!  I got carry out and they had a gluten free menu which is awesome!  I am pretty sure they take food allergies pretty seriously at this location because the manager type worker ended up bringing me my food and assured me it was gluten free.  It’s also so nice to get that kind of respect when you know all it takes is someone at a restaurant picking croutons off your salad to make for a very sick couple of days…

So good! Chicken Chop Salad + Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon Maple Butter

After that, it was just chilling in the hotel room because I am incredibly exhausted and a little headachey likely from dehydration + lots of sun today.  Not sure what I will do tomorrow but I am thinking it’s going to be a little more low key than today!

Total steps for the day = 14,500 + 20(+/-) miles on a bike!

 

 

Indianapolis: Day 1

So late last night after my long bike ride and sister got home from her yoga training, she and I headed to Indianapolis for a few days.  She’s actually here working but I just tagged along for a relaxing getaway from work in a new city!  We left at 7:30pm so we didn’t make it to Indy until 1am-ish Eastern.  Blech.  Needless to say, neither one of us was in a spectacular mood on the drive because we both just wanted to be in bed after our busy day!

Sister’s conference is at JW Marriot Indianapolis and this hotel is ridiculous!  Even though it was 1am, we were met at the door with a luggage cart and were helped to our room.  We also were able to request a fridge right away since I’d packed food to eat this week and non-feather pillows!  It really worked out pretty cool!  I am not used to this kind of service at a hotel, that’s for sure

Clean room!

After a few very short hours of sleep, the day had to get started for Sister and by default got started for me because Sister was repeatedly yelling at me this morning, thank you very much, Sis!  But oh well, we’ll catch up on sleep later this week (me more so than her ).  I had a very leisurely morning with breakfast and lunch in my room from my packed food and a quick 20 minute swim in the hotel pool + 5 minute soak in the hot tub.

Chocolate Chex, Flax cereal bits, banana + almond milk for breakfast (banana bread did not get consumed at this point) – Salad with tuna + carb sampler for lunch (applesauce never got consumed)

Then it was time for me to get to venturing for the day!  I am not used to traveling alone but after wandering around today and just doing whatever the heck I wanted without having to worry about pleasing/displeasing anyone else, I decided it’s not really as bad as I thought it would be.

On my way!

Indianapolis has this really beautiful path system for walking, biking, jogging, etc. that runs all along this canal that is right downtown.  It’s super close to our hotel so I walked all around that this afternoon and took tons of pictures.  This walkway area is so beautiful I could really get used to working near this so I could walk it every day at my lunch break!  The loop has to be pretty long because I ended up walking over 5 miles doing what portion I did and I didn’t even walk all the paths in this area, I will explore those later this week!

As a side diversion from my walking, I ended up stopping in the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.  Don’t ask me why I picked this one today but I think it had to do with how cool the building looked on the outside!

I am not normally one to explore museums but I figured it would be a good way for me to kill some time and I ended up really enjoying it!  Something I would not normally think I would enjoy but that’s what happens when I look outside my comfort zone – shocking, right?  The museum was mainly Native American art on the bottom floor and then a small portion on the top level that had more artifact type exhibits with the history of settlements in this area.

The better pictures are on my phone…oops.

I ended up walking around there for about an hour or 90 minutes and then made my way back to the hotel.  I ended up back in the room right before sister got in for a short break so we had a little snack and then walked around a little bit more so she could get some fresh air and wind down from her busy morning.

After out little walk, she was off to a special dinner thing and I ended up ordering PF Changs and eating it in the hotel room – classy stuff right there!  But honestly, I don’t really think I would be up for much else after the busy last couple of days anyway.  Even though we are on Eastern time vs our normal Central, I still think I will be in bed pretty early tonight.  Being a party animal is not something I have ever been accused of, unfortunately!

So good!

I’m excited for my day tomorrow!  I booked a bike tour through the city and out to the race museum so I will be sure to take pictures and recap that tomorrow!

Daily steps = 14, 500 + 20 minutes swimming!

Tennessee Living.

So when we went to Nashville to run the Country Music Rock n Roll Half Marathon, we quickly learned that Nashville gets over run with runners…it was nearly impossible driving around downtown so sister and I decided to head out to the country and get a different view of Tennessee.  I looked a little online and found a place called Franklin, TN so we headed that way after cleaning up after the race.  Franklin is about 30 minutes from Nashville and the drive was beautiful and very scenic.  I officially want to buy a plantation and live here.

As our luck would have it, it just so happened to be a Main Street Festival in Franklin and therefore not quite the quiet experience we were hoping for but still a far cry from Nashville congestion.  We didn’t do much but walk around and look at a few of the craft tents and then find a nice sunny spot to sit down and people watch.  Oh, also we had a little Starbucks tea/water break!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

The Festival

Coolest building ever!

This water tasted SO good!

A medal photo shoot also took place!

I want to go back to Tennessee soon and explore some more! Life definitely has a different pace in the south and I think I kind of like it