My Trip to Indianapolis, IN, July 2005

Introduction:

Indianapolis hosts the RCA tennis tournament every July.
Since I now had the time, and I had never been, and I live so close,
it was now time for me to visit.  Another resource for Indiana.

July 18
Left Fort Wayne at 11am. Stopped at a White Castle on the way (had the craving since Harold and Kumar). Arrived in Indianapolis at 1:45. I had searched for the cheapest place to stay, and successfully found the Motel 6, just 7 miles from downtown, and 2 miles from the Speedway, for less than $40/night. I arrived, checked in, briefly rested, read some of the literature, and took off for downtown.

Unfortunately, being Monday, many museums were closed. I explored the downtown area. Notable was Monument Square (see photos below). This was near the center of downtown, and featured a roundabout. In the middle was a memorial monument to local war heroes.
Checked out the Market, but that only had restaurants. Checked out the mall. Did plenty of walking. Arrived back at Motel 6 around 10.

Center of Monument Square	Detail of one of the soldiers	Detail of the plaque	East view of the Capitol from the monument

July 19
Spent the morning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Saw the museum, had hundreds of racing cars from the last 110 years. Even sat in one!  Then tool the tour of the grounds.  The facility is so huge, that one lap around the track is over 2 miles!
We were allowed to sit on some bleachers inside the track, not the outer ones, those are only open during actual races.  I took several photos, one is featured below, with a car practicing.  Next are highlights from the museum. 

View of the track from the bleachers.	The Wall of Fame is extensive.	Some of the collection	The car that won the first Indy 500 in 1911.	A classic Cadillac from 1930.	An antique Harley Davidson motorcycle.	The Pagoda	The legendary Gasoline Alley	We were allowed to sit in this car.  Vrooom!

It was now time for the major reason of my trip, the RCA tennis tourney!  I arrived at the Indianapolis Tennis Center, which is on the campus of IUPUI, around 12:30, when the first match was to start.  There were 12 courts, four of which would be used for official matches. In addition to seeing some of over a dozen matches, I also checked out the exhibitor/vendor booths, and, as an official member of the United States Tennis Association, I got a discount on my tickets, and attended a reception held in our honor!  Here are highlights:

The prodigy Donald Young lost to...	the veteran Jan-Michael Gambill	who then posed with me!	Greg Rusedski and his killer serve defeated Wesley Moodie	Andy Roddick squeaked past Dimitry Tursunov	Got to capture his serve in action!	Hrbaty/Kiefer def. James Blake/Mardy Fish

In addition to the above, I also saw: 
Robby Ginepri defeat Vince Spadea, Jonas Bjorkman defeat Lukas Dlouhy, & Rajeev Ram defeat Sjeng Schalken.

Other notable moments: 

Me with an antique racquet.  Notice the fish handle.	These old-school tennis balls are so cool!	My probable reaction if I won the trophy!

I found myself with about an hour between matches.  I found that the Indiana State Museum is practically next door to the tennis facility.  So I went, explored, and was able to cross that off my list!  They have an impressive collection of artifacts relating to dozens of historical aspects of Indiana.

Of course the above is a sampling.  Contact me for more info, or to see more photos!

July 20
Today I rushed downtown to try to see what I had left.  I planned to leave around 3, to arrive in Fort Wayne around 6, for my 7:30 USTA league match at Wildwood. 
The Indiana Historical Society was my first stop.  They featured an extensive collection of Abraham Lincoln items, especially photographs.  Next, I spent too little time at the Eli Lilly Civil War Museum.  It is right inside the monument, with excellent views.
I then began the journey back.  Just as i was leaving, I passed a mall, which I had heard was one of the better ones in the area.  Just to get some exercise before the long trip, I stopped into Castleton Square Mall.  I arrived back home in time, and, with much energy saved from the trip, promptly won my match at Wildwood!

July 21
In the previous photos, the time since my last haircut happened to be over 6 weeks. 
This meant that another one was due.  I got one today. 
Since it is summer, I requested the #1 guard, blended into a #2.  Here are some of the results: