Indianapolis, IN to Madison, WI

We left Indy mid morning on Friday, September 28th, 2007. We are headed to Minneapolis, MN for a Viking/Packer game thanks to our favorite niece and nephew Michelle and her husband Doug (this honor may be changed or altered without notice). The game is scheduled for 1:00 Sunday and we are forever grateful for the opportunity to see the game. We are willing to get them tickets to any Muscatine High School/North Scott game of their choosing for the rest of their lives, as a token of our appreciation. To get to Minneapolis from Indianapolis, Herm printed out driving directions off of an unknown website which turned out to be a bad move. Traffic was bad enough on I65 to Chicago, but getting from Chicago to Minneapolis included non existent turns, make believe exits and just a quandary of stress inducing moves. As a result, the trip was very quiet after the second or third navigator comment about "just pull over and why are you acting like a mad man?" It is part of every Herm driving trip (can be verified by any member of the family) and usually happens around the 250 mile marker. Once the layer of tension had lifted to the safe level, we decide that we would spend the night in Madison Wisconsin and drive into Minneapolis the next day. This would break the trip up and allow us some mending time. It took a little over 6 hours to get from Indy to Madison with very little scenery to admire. Herm did find three new favorite words to add to his collection, "road construction ended" (he could care less about the thank you part). We do have to add that the skyline coming into Chicago on I90 was very impressive, especially when we had a chance to admire it for as long as we did. Crawling at 25 mph in bumper to bumper traffic, it was not hard to be mesmerized by it.

We arrived in Madison around 5 pm and stayed stayed at the Marriott Courtyard on the NE side of Madison, 10 minutes from downtown. We had found a restaurant that we wanted to eat at thanks to the guide in the hotel room, but we had two issues to resolve. The first was that we wanted to eat outside and we didn't think we had warm enough clothes. The second issue was that we were going to the game the next day with a couple that would be wearing viking attire and we wanted to make sure that if anyone saw us with them that they would not assume we were suffering from that same malady. We found a mall just down the road from the hotel and found a great bargain on Packer sweat shirts and tee shirts. It was great! We now had both issue resolved and made a vow not to let Michele and Doug borrow any of our new found loot, no matter how badly they wanted to repent and become Packer fans.

The restaurant that we found was called the Blue Marlin and their claim to fame is their seafood cuisine. It is across from the court house in the heart of downtown. Located on a corner with narrow streets and short inclines, it was not too dissimilar to some of the eateries you find in Europe. Luann had a martini and Herm had a Guiness. Our dinner consisted of Blue Marlin for Lu and pan walleye for Herm. It was excellent and based on our coconut rating system, we would give it a four on a scale of 1-5, with one being the worst. After dinner, we walked around the downtown area and we were very impressed. The capitol building was lit up and looked gorgeous, especially looking at it from the water front. We saw a variety of nice restaurants and bars that would meet almost any one's particular fancy. It was a very nice time walking on streets that had the quaint appeal of narrow sidewalks and brick boulevards, similar to what we've seen in Europe. Madison has done a great job of incorporating the university and its non university inhabitants into the culture and aesthetics of that area of town.

Our walk concluded when we stopped for a glass of wine at the Oceans Grill. What a great little restaurant. We sat at the bar and watched first hand the bar staff make martini after martini. What great team work - they clearly entertained us while we had a couple great glasses of wine, which were priced in the $16/ glass range. As you can probably ascertain, we didn't understand the wine menu pricing. The plasma TV showed vineyards from across the US which was fun for diners to watch. It appeared to be a great restaurant as well give the constant number of customers that came and went during the hour or so we spent there. We finished our evening by going back to the Marriott for a nightcap. It was kind of fun watching Jed, Jethro, Elly Mae and Granny celebrate a wedding reception back at the hotel.

Overall assessment - Madison is a place that could make for a vacation destination.

Indiapolis, IN

We left Tuesday, September 23rd, 07 via car (Nissan Maxima 04). Luann attended the National Recreation and Parks conference. We stayed at the Marriott hotel situated perfectly in downtown Indianapolis. 2 blocks down the street is White River State Park with gorgeous walking paths around the canal. You can also rent paddle boats, kayaks, etc., however not available this time of the year. Three museums within walking distance, Indian Old West Museum, NCAA Museum and the Indiana State Museum. Unfortunately we were not able to visit any of these. We did take a nice walk around the canal each day. Also within walking distance is the IN Convention Center which hosts conventions on a regular basis. Downtown Indianapolis is intertwined with sky walks that allow you to travel most of the downtown area without ever having to step outside into the weather. Also connected is the RCA Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. The new stadium is under construction currently, appears it will be a gorgeous structure. Unfortunately a power plant is located next to it. The site Herm liked was the Triple AAA baseball park called Victory Field, home of the Indianapolis Indians. What a gorgeous park.

Restaurants -
Lots of good dining. 1st evening we ate at Champions in the hotel which is typical bar food. 2nd evening we walked a few blocks to 14 Street Restaurant. Had dinner with Jeff Rogers and Terry Haskell from Musco. We would rate this a 3.5 coconut We both had a salmon entree. We dined outside. The following day, we had lunch at the Alcatraz Brewing Company. Best beer behind bars (pretty catchy). Food was average and beer was cold. That evening we celebrated Roger Beavers retirement from Musco and had dinner at the Palamino. Noisy, crowded, very busy but nice atmosphere. We would rate the meal as a 3 coconut. Wine selection was very nice, we had a Franciscan Shiraz. Quick lunches can be had at any number of quick service restaurants inside the Circle Center Mall.

Weather was rainy one day, other days, typical fall temperatures in 70's. Humid days, cool evenings.

Overall Assessment - you could spend a week there and see most there is to see. Nice place to visit but not necessarily a vacation destination for us.

Drive was Interstate - 333 mile drive.