Day Trip to Indianapolis

My wife and I set a budget and we are sticking to it!  So in an attempt to control expenses we decided to forgo a long weekend vacation and just do a day trip to a local city.  We decided we’d take a simple day trip to Indianapolis!  Now at first glance you wouldn’t think Indy would be our likely choice, but it really amazed us.  The drive was short, only 2 hours and we arrived just in time for lunch.  We had already done some research and decided we’d eat at Weber Grill.

Now if you’ve never heard of this place, let me tell you, AMAZING.  Weber has grills (of course) but they also have a a brand of spices & herbs.  Their restaurant is an experience!  Grills everywhere and the aroma of meat cooking on their grills is mouthwatering.

We spent about an hour there, and then walked out and into the beautiful Arts Garden that is enclosed in glass and suspended above the street. Proper glass lifting equipment is needed when handling glass. We missed the FREE jazz concert by just minutes (bummer) but have a schedule of events that are free and open to the public.  We headed downstairs to the Percussion Museum in the basement and that was a very cool experience.

Next we simply decided to get out and walk through downtown Indy.  I knew about the Soldiers & Sailors Monument, so I thought, let’s just walk over there.  I’d never gotten out and sat on the steps.  We stroll over to the monument and to our surprise there is a museum in the basement!  Now I spoke earlier about our budget, we set a budget of $100 of the day.  Weber Grill costs about $50 (worth every penny) and so we were looking for affordable activities.  We walked into the museum to see how much it costs and to our shock it was FREE.  It’s called the Colonel Eli Lilly Civil War Museum and is located directly underneath the monument.  It took about 45 minutes to go through and was very interesting.  Full of historical artifacts and memorabilia and history buff could appreciate it.

At the end of the tour, we walked to the attendant at the door and she advised us to go up the monument.  She was like, “it’s only 300 or so stairs” riggght LOL.  That doesn’t sound appealing at all, BUT she also said for $2 there is an elevator.  We chose that option.  The elevator is small, tight and dated, but it works.  You’ll still have to climb 2 sets of stairs to the viewing platform and the walkway is very narrow, but it’s worth it.

We walked around the square a little more and then opened Yelp! on our phones to find a good dessert cafe.  To our surprise there was one .1 miles from us just across the square called South Bend Chocolate Company.  Ummm Yelp didn’t lie, it was FANTASTIC.  The dark hot chocolate was amazing and I got some peanut butter fudge which just melted in my mouth.  Delicious!  I highly recommend them, it’s a mix of history with a modern touch.  Bottled soda, ice cream, cheese cake and hand made candy combined with some great coffee, what’s not to love?

To end the day we headed to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which as it happens is also FREE!

We loved our visit to Indianapolis and can’t wait to bring our 4 year old back with us!  We hear the Indianapolis Children’s Museum is amazing!  For more information on Indianapolis, visit their official website: Visit Indy.