Mark and I have a goal to see all 50 states. All 50- even the ones we know will be crappy. We also have always wanted to go to Lollapalooza in Chicago. We try to go to a music festival every year. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and do a road trip through Indiana on our way driving to Chicago.
We usually go on vacation for 10 days. When I was researching things to do in Indiana I cut the trip short by a few days because I wasn’t finding much to do.
We left after work on a Friday to head towards Indiana. We stopped in Ohio to sleep and would continue the drive towards Indiana early Saturday morning. We bought a one day ticket to Lollapalooza for Thursday so we had 5 days to explore Indiana before then. Let me tell you- 5 days felt like an eternity. It felt like forever. Time stood still. The clock froze. I have been to 20 states and Indiana has been the worst so far.
Friday night we arrived at our airbnb in Ohio so late, around 2am. We didn’t think we would make it because we were so tired. We needed to blast music in the car just to stay awake. When we got there we were so happy because our host had 3 dogs! They were so sweet. One slept in bed with us and two slept next to the bed haha. We are huge animal lovers so we were in doggy heaven.
Even though we didn’t get to our airbnb until 2am we needed to get up very early because the drive to our first destination, Indianapolis was another 5 hour drive! Ugh!
We drove to Indianapolis where we would spend the day. We were starving when we arrived. We parked in a museum’s underground parking lot and walked passed a TGI Friday’s so we stopped there to grab some lunch.
This was a cool fountain outside of the museum.
Our first day in Indianapolis was our nicest day we had in Indiana. It was all down hill after that. We spent a few hours walking around the Central Canal.
The canal was very pretty and we lucked out because it was a beautiful day.
Walking under the bridges was beautiful because there was all cool art work.
It must be so nice to live in this area. These apartment buildings looked amazing!
There were so many people running and walking their dogs- or riding with them in their backpacks.
The fountains and plants were some of the nicest parts of the canal.
You are able to rent boats or kayaks or canoes or take a guided boat ride through the canal but we just walked it.
We got great views from the top of the bridges too.
After the canal we didn’t have much to do. We walked around Indianapolis which was so small. It seemed like a tiny, fake city to me.
There were some nice things to see but we were mostly trying to pass the time.
We got some lunch at a crepe shop, Pearings Cafe and Frozen Yogurt. YUM! But not super filling. I was hungry right after eating it. Maybe best for dessert.
Something that is shocking to me is that even though Indiana was boring and there was nothing to do, the food was incredible! I never would have expected it but every meal we had was amazing. I still think about some of the meals I had in this state and long for them.
We checked into our airbnb in Indianapolis and looked for things to do the next day. A friend of mine from grad school lives in Indiana and we made plans to get dinner the next day. I was looking forward to it and this was definitely the highlight of my trip! We looked for something to do before we met my friend for dinner.
We found the Indianapolis Zoo which I was super skeptical about. I love animals but I am an animal rights activist and I just don’t know about zoos. Some are obviously all for conservation efforts and are really great environments for the animals but I wasn’t so sure about this zoo. I looked up many articles and found some that had good things to say and some bad. The biggest criticism being the dolphin enclosure. Mark and I decided in the end to go and check it out for ourselves.
We got to the airbnb so early that we ended up watching Netflix the rest of the night. We watch the CW show, Supernatural. We got through almost an entire season on this trip because there was just never anything to do. We finished our days so early that we got to our airbnb’s so early in the night.
The next morning we headed to the zoo. What we found was that there were indeed many pros and cons.
Some of the animals had great enclosures and seemed very happy, playing and eating, while others seemed bored and depressed, pacing back and forth. One lion in particular seemed miserable.
Dolphins are very intelligent animals that need a lot of stimulation. Once I walked into the dolphin area I could see where all the criticism came from. The dolphins were in a large, empty tank. Nothing but water. No plants, no toys, literally nothing.
I assume they want the dolphins to be bored so they play during the dolphin show. We decided to skip the dolphin show because we didn’t agree with the treatment of the dolphins. They definitely need to fix this for the welfare of the dolphins.
Many of the snakes and frogs were in tanks so small that they wouldn’t be able to move.
Oddly, some lizards and iguanas and the meerkats had an abundance of space.
The birds also had a lot of room to roam around.
This bird was hilarious and tried to eat my keychain!
Elephants are very social creatures so I wasn’t sure why this elephant was kept by himself. I didn’t see any other elephants in his enclosure.
It was obvious while walking through the zoo that they do not fully care about the well being or overall happiness of the animals. It seemed they put in the basic and minimal effort to make some of the enclosures and environments. The zoo has much room for improvement. Also, it was not clear if this zoo rescues the animals or purchases them or takes them from the wild. I think it is better when the animals are rescued.
The butterfly conservatory and gardens were just okay. Not too impressive. Luckily this was included in the ticket and we didn’t have to pay extra for it.
After the zoo we got lunch. Again the meal was amazing. We went to Mikado and got some delicious soup and vegetarian sushi rolls.
After lunch we had time to kill before we met my friend…too much time. We drove to The Ruins and I napped for like an hour or so in car.
The ruins were cool. They were interesting to see but besides my long nap in the car, we were here about 10 minutes.
It was funny because there were many kids running around and playing in the fountain.
The plants were pretty. We saw a dead bee on a flower, ya know, exciting stuff.
We then headed to have dinner with my friend from college. I was so happy to see her and it was the highlight of my trip through this horrid state. I don’t know how she lives there!
After dinner we headed to our airbnb in Elkhart, Indiana. Well…these people were crazy. The door was open but we knocked anyway. A dog started barking its head off and no one came to the door. We were hesitant but walked through the door. The couple were sitting in the living room to the left of the door. “Ummm hello?” They both walked into the doorway between the living room and front door and just stood there staring at us. The man was tall and the woman was very tiny. Much shorter than he was and frail. The dog walked over to me. I went to pet it but the woman yelled and picked it up and held it in her arms. She said the dog was scared and didn’t like new people. The dog was clearly excited to see us and was desperately trying to get to us to get pet. It’s tail was wagging furiously.
The four of us stood there staring at each other for a while. I said, “I’m Des, this is Mark.” They nodded at us. This was the most awkward and longest few moments of my life. I didn’t know what to do or what to say. The man said, “Your room is through there.” And he pointed past the living room. The woman stared at us so intensely, I don’t think she blinked. I honestly in that moment felt she was possessed by a demon. It was so creepy. The man then walked us to the room. The room was small and plain besides dolls clothes hanging on the walls. I felt like I was in a horror movie.
He called us to the kitchen to show us around and the food we were able to eat. I didn’t dare take a single thing from the kitchen, not even water. The woman didn’t say a word. She stood close to the man, looking up at him the whole time we were in the kitchen.
In the bedroom I pushed all of our luggage in front of the door. They seemed harmless, just weird and creepy but you can never be too careful. They had a folder of things to do in the area as well as a whole page dedicated to their dog. Where they got her, her age, her nicknames, snacks you could give her, ways to get her to warm up to you…this dog seemed extremely friendly but okay. The whole experience was strange.
Again, we watched Supernatural the rest of the night.
The next day we decided to go to Linton’s Enchanted Garden. I was excited. It looked liked a cool place. The brochure said they had a shooting range, bumper cars, a railroad you could ride around the property, go karts, a petting zoo, and even a swan paddle boat in their koi pond.
I wanted to go early because they had a yummy looking cafe. Their “Authentic Belgian Yeast Waffles” are even featured on a television show and the site says they sell out quickly so I wanted to get there as soon as they opened to ensure I got the waffles. We walked in a few minutes after 8am and I was relieved because we were the only ones there. Well they still didn’t have the waffles. I was extremely annoyed and got oatmeal instead. Very disappointing but I didn’t know what I was in for just yet.
After breakfast we decided to explore the grounds before we bought tickets to the different attractions. The grounds themselves were cute and I loved the parrot.
He was very cute. There’s always something sad to me though seeing a beautiful bird in a cage that should be flying.
While exploring, what we saw stopped me dead in my tracks!
The “shooting gallery” was a video game type thing with fake little nurf gun looking things where you shoot small light up targets and the guns were broken. The game looked like an old, antique, rusted, broken down game from an abandoned amusement park in the 80’s.
I guess I was excited when reading the brochure and missed that the go karts were actually “peddle go karts”. They were tiny little bike looking things with about 12 feet to ride up and down. The railroad was like a tiny toy train. The place was ridiculous! I was so upset and disappointed. I was hating Indiana more and more by the day.
To try to salvage our time there we decided to at least do the swan paddle boat. Mistake.
We sat in the paddle boat and got immediately soaked. The seats were completely wet but we didn’t notice before we sat. Then the woman hands us the life vests that we have to wear and they are smelly and full of mold. I could have vomited. The pond was tiny and it took us 2 minutes to get back and forth. Not the best $8 we ever spent.
Luckily I am an animal lover. The petting zoo saved my sanity.
We didn’t have quarters at first for food but the animals wanted nothing to do with us unless we had food.
We went to Mark’s car and got about $10 worth of quarters to feed the goats. It really lifted my mood!
There were also a donkey and pony that we fed.
We left this horrid place and headed to University of Notre Dame to see the Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes. The campus was nice and we needed to pass the time before checking into our next place so we walked around to waste some time.
It seemed that most of our trip each day consisted of wasting time somewhere before we headed to the next place. I had estimated each thing would take a few hours when in reality each thing took less than a half an hour.
After walking around the campus we went to a plaza and got lunch at Yats. It may not look like much but the food was again- SO GOOD!
Check in at Blue Jay Manor was at 2pm. We arrived at 2:30pm and all the lights were off and there were no cars in the driveway. The place looked totally empty. We knocked on the door and stood there for a few minutes. Nothing. We knocked again. I called. No answer. Unbelievable! I was getting very irritated. I decided to circle the house to see if anyone was in the yard.
Now I booked Blue Jay Manor because it looked very pretty from the pictures and they had a nice looking pool. I figured that we would lounge at the pool for two days and just relax. I figured it would be a nice part of our vacation because I love to swim. Well, I circle the house and make it to the backyard. The pool it completely closed! It is covered and looks like it hasn’t been it use. It looked filthy. I was just about to lose it.
We sit on the front porch for a while when I see a dog in the house. He looked like he was looking at something moving around past the wall. I decided to knock again. An elderly man opens the door. He looked like he just woke up or something and he was dressed in bummy clothes. He says, “Check in is at 2pm.” I said, “It’s 2:50pm…” He says, “You’re in a different time zone now, it’s 1:50pm.” I mean, okay we were early for check in…by only a few minutes! Not like it was hours.
He shrugs and decides to let us in 10 minutes early. Thank you oh so much….Ugh so we walk in and the entire place smells like cigarettes. Apparently the elderly couple smoke in the house which was just horrific for my allergies. I felt like i was suffocating and my eyes watered and I couldn’t stop sneezing. This was a nightmare.
The elderly man was nearly completely deaf. “What’s your name?” “Desiree.” “Oh, nice to meet you Denise.” Okay.
He didn’t have any of our check in info. He had no idea what room we booked. I had to look it up on my phone to tell him. He takes us upstairs and the room was not done up at all. No sheets or anything. He says it’s because we checked in early… Yes, I’m sure the 10 minutes really would have made the difference.
He asks us if we want to wait downstairs for his wife to make up the room or if we want to be in another room. We said another room was fine so he walked around looking for a room that was made up. He brought us to a room and told us he would open the pool if we wanted to swim. I was not about to ask an elderly, deaf man that could barely walk if he would open the pool. He went downstairs and I lied in bed in absolute misery. I slept for like 2 hours just out of mere depression. This trip was such a disaster. We were here for two nights. We watched so much supernatural. Like so much. Well I had had enough! I was done with Indiana. I decided that we were leaving early.
That night we went for dinner at Bridges Waterside Grille. I was skeptical because it looked like a shit hole but once again, the food did not disappoint.
On our way back to the B&B we got caught in the middle of a high speed police chase.
We are sitting at a red light at a 4 way intersection. The light turns green for us. We are about to turn left but as we are turning into the lane, a car speeds out of our lane and runs the light at the 4 way intersection. Thankfully mark has fast reflexes. He slammed on his breaks before the car crashed into us. He pulled over to the side just as a bunch of police cars chased the other car. We are both catching our breath when I hear screaming. We look left and there are about 20 people in the street screaming. They are jumping into a car. The car is driving off as the doors are open and people are hanging out of it. They are also trying to chase the driver. I don’t know what the hell was going on but if we got into a car accident in Indiana I think I would have had a nervous breakdown.
The next day, Tuesday (Can you BELIEVE it is only Tuesday???) we slept in because there was just no reason to be awake. We took our time and went to the sand dunes to get our last Indiana thing in that we had planned to originally do Wednesday. I wanted to leave as early as possible the next day and spend all of Wednesday in Chicago. I told Mark I wanted to leave this horrid place no later than 7am.
I originally wanted to do Chicago as it’s own separate Illinois road trip but I quickly changed my mind. I looked through some plans I had on google drive for Chicago and came up with an itinerary for Wednesday. I was so excited to leave I could hardly contain myself.
I suffered through our last day in Indiana. I had already paid for the B&B so I didn’t want to lose out on that money and have to pay for another hotel in Chicago.
As you can imagine from the theme of this blog post, Tuesday was disappointing
First we went to the Indiana Dunes State Park. It was nothing like the cool pictures I saw online.
The beach was pretty ugly but I was amazing at how much Lake Michigan seemed like the ocean. It had everything but the smell and the sticky air. I am looking forward to going to Lake Michigan on the Michigan side.
After we struggled to walk through the lame sand dune we went to Michigan city’s East Pierhead Lighthouse.
It was pretty to walk to the lighthouse. Shockingly I didn’t have too much to complain about! haha
After the lighthouse we went to an outlet and walked around some shops. We got some yummy hot chocolate and chocolate covered Oreos.
We then went for some dinner at Shoreline Brewery. The food again was just SO delicious! We got this huge soft pretzel and I got some roasted veggies. Everything was just amazing. I wish food everywhere was like the food in Indiana.
The night was finally over, which meant the trip was finally over. 4 days of pure hell and torture. Okay, okay, okay, there were some good moments and highlights. It wasn’t all bad but I was really looking forward to leaving! I’m really sorry if anyone reading this is from Indiana or loves Indiana and is offended by my hate. Don’t worry, I won’t go to your state again.
The next morning we woke up early and headed to Chicago! We had an incredible time and saw so much more in just one day than we did our entire Indiana trip! Check out my blog on our magical day in Chicago:
http://wpexpertasia.com/dev/1-magical-day-in-chicago/