#528 Indy, the Super City

We L-O-V-E-D living and working in downtown Indianapolis.  

When we moved to Indy in 1999, we didn't know how much we would love it - just like today's out-of-town Super Bowl fans had no idea how much they'd love it!  It's tough winning the opportunity to host the Super Bowl when you're a northern city.  And it's so fun to read the national media saying things like 'best Super Bowl site ever'.

If I were in Indy today, I may not have zip lined across the crowds, but I would have loved everything else.  Here are our favorite articles, blogs, tweets, and videos:

City of Dreams

Downtown timeline for Super Bowl 2012

Every NFL official and media person I spoke with agreed Indianapolis should become a regular part of Super-Bowl rotation.  Super job, Indy. 

Indianapolis, the Bell of the Super Bowl Ball?'PREPOSTEROUS!,' Says 1980s Indianapolis, From the Grave  

Why Indianapolis is a Highly Desirable Super Bowl Host City

Totals=1,105,000 Village, 265,039 NFLX and 10,429 Ziplineriders. @SuperBowl2012 rocks!

XLVI Faces: Bev Meska, Super Scarves
 

Super Dashers flash mob at Indy airport



Jimmy Fallon opening in Hilbert Circle Theater

Jimmy Fallon closing night at Hilbert Circle Theater:



And the full-page thank you in the Indy Star:

I love you, Indy.  That's why I'm skipping tonight's Downton Abbey to see more of you!

Yours in congratulating Indy on a super job,
Mary 

#489 Hanging with the locals in Hong Kong

When traveling, local knowledge is a wonderful thing. Often on Semester at Sea, it comes in the form of a professional local guide who deals with thousands of tourist guests every year.

So in Hong Kong we are thrilled to meet up with our friends Toni and Brandon who live in Discovery Bay, just a short ferry ride (with free wifi) from Hong Kong.

Toni and Brandon are wonderful hosts.  After lunch, a stroll around Discovery Bay, and a sample of Brandon's home brew, we explore Kowloon's Temple Street Night Market

and dine at scrumptious Temple Spice Crabs-all suggested by the local experts.

We have a fun time catching up with our friends from Lockerbie while learning why they like their Hong Kong lifestyle.   It's good to be able to picture folks where they live.

Yours in wishing for local knowledge in every port,
Kelly

#424 In the Arena

All roads to the 2010 NCAA men's basketball championship lead to Indianapolis, so we followed them and enjoyed...

friends in the next (fast?) lane...

and friendly places to stay...

and welcome gift bags...

and friends wearing fancy blue boots...

and friends who created the fabulous Destination Indiana exhibit...

and friends at restaurants...

and friends sitting on suitcases...

and friends at the Mass Avenue Pub on Easter Sunday...

and the end of the road at Lucas Oil Stadium where we witnessed basketball magic and cheered with all our might for the bravura Butler Bulldogs. As Teddy Roosevelt said, the credit belongs to the [team] who is actually in the arena.

Check our Indy photos to see all those that wouldn't fit on this blog post!

Yours in counting ourselves lucky to have been in the arena,
Mary

#376 Friends in Indy

But the thing we like most about Indy is not the new stuff and not the old stuff. It's the humans.

Yours in thanking our Indy hosts,
Kelly and Mary

#375 Old in Indy

We like all the old stuff in downtown Indy.

... our favorite street in Lockerbie,

... the NCAA office,

... our favorite pizza place, (Here's Mary with our non-old friends Bobbi and Larry who are now fans of Bazbeaux.)

... the IDEM office next to the state capitol,

... the view from the library steps,

... the original lobby of the downtown library,

... the big head - my favorite street art - in front of Elements.

and my old friend Maeve. (We've been pals since 2005.)

Yours in appreciating the old stuff,
Kelly

#374 New in Indy

We like all the new stuff in downtown Indy.

... the bike lane on Michigan near our old Lockerbie home,

... the new quip on the One America sign,

... the cool IUPUI campus center,

...the expanded toy store on Mass Ave (That's our friend Melody who likes kites and toys as much as we do. Erika & Mark, that's your wedding present in the brown bag.)

.. the new condos under construction across from Bazbeaux,

... and the impressive Lucas Oil Stadium - shown here with the rubble from the RCA dome still in front.

But, hands down, the best addition to downtown Indy is the new public library.

Look closely through the arches on the 5th level and you can see the Indy skyline.

Inside you'll find maps!

And the new GIS for Dummies book!

All these wonderful things have happened since we left Indy less than 2 years ago.

Yours in suspecting they've carried on without us,
Mary

#373 Indianapolis

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For lots of reasons, we want to go to there. Come see us on Saturday at the Rathskeller from 2:00 to 5:00.

Yours in planning a road trip,
Mary

#368 Sailing the world...from Indiana?

If you're looking to pad your travel resume with an off-the-beaten-path sailing experience, try this. Catch a Polish-owned freighter at a Port of Indiana on Lake Michigan.

Climb aboard and you'll gain membership in a most exclusive club. The big ship has room for 35,000 tons of cargo but only 6 paying passengers. In 60 days, the ship makes the round trip from Amsterdam to Burns Harbor, Indiana stopping in exotic ports on the return to the Netherlands.

The cost? The Owner's Cabin is $100 per day including access to the officer’s dining saloon and lounge.

Yours in planning a trip back to Indiana,
Kelly

#355 Christmas trees

We don't have an artificial Christmas tree.

We don't have a silver tinsel, electro-dynamic, fiber-optic, multi-colored Christmas tree like our cool friend Matt. And we don't chop down a "real" tree either. All this leads to some funny looking stuff in our house at Christmas time. Our creative friend Joyce supplies us with chic holiday decorations that we use to add spark to our celebration. This Chrismoose door knob decoration is just the tip of the iceberg.

In 2003, Kelly found some sticks to make our own version of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree in our Indianapolis dining room. Hanging on the tree is a Joyce-created Santa made of okra.

In 2004 with sticks scarce in downtown Indianapolis, we converted a poinsettia into our Christmas tree by placing it in our living room and arranging packages under it. It seems just the right size for us.

And for 2008? We're using a red metal tree, slightly more than a foot tall. It combines the Charlie Brown stick-like characteristics of the 2003 tree with the red of the 2004 poinsettia tree. Perfect!

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Mary