May 25 - Indianapolis, IN

It's race day in Indianapolis!!!!

When we purchased the tickets, Chantal purchased a Parking Pass for the lot outside the main gate.  Although traffic was heavy, it wasn't too bad with a few side-road short-cuts we arrived at the track with little difficulty.  (Leaving will turn out to be a night-mare - but more of that later).

It's 9:30 am when we get to the gates, and the beer stands are open and pouring freely... 

Our seats are halfway down the front stretch (don't forget this is a 2-1/2 mile oval - the front stretch is 1-mile long. Thus after a half mile hike through huge crowds (sold out attendance in the stands is 250,000 people, plus approximately 50,000 other persons - facility workers, infield attendees and various other race related people) brings the crowd to roughly 300,000 people...

By 10:00 am we are in our seats - they are perfect - roughly 50 feet from the start/finish line 'yard of bricks', and about equal distance to the famous Indy Position Pole.  Directly across from us is the pit of Marco Andretti,  and we are six rows up from track-side.  Standing up, we can see all the way from turn four to turn one - roughly a half mile in each direction.

 

It's Miller time!  We learned previously that we were able to bring in small coolers with our own beverages, so we did just that, and didn't have to pay the high prices of beer at the track.

The race is billed as 'The Greatest Spectacle in Motor Racing' and it's hard to disagree.  Certainly other races have more prestige, or more famous drivers - but Indy is an incredible show...

From the Jim Nabors singing "Back Home Again" in Indiana; to the traditional fly-over & balloon release; the various singers for the America the Beautiful, God Bless America, The Star Spangled Banner, (Martina McBride, Florence Henderson, Leann Rimes); and, of course, to the call to 'Drivers start your engines'; just the preliminary bits make it an amazing spectacle.  Then the race begins, and let’s just say it was amazing!  The action, the excitement, the roar of the crowds and the action packed finish have us both hooked.

We're coming back in two years for the 100th running!!!

Only the next time we are doing two things differently... 

1. taking a shuttle - it took over an hour to just get out of the parking lot (remember the 300,000 people???);

2. taking our time leaving the track…

There's my car - the only pink one, with the only female driver - she came in 26th...

May 24 - Indianapolis, IN

This will be a non-track day - instead we slept in a little, and then watched the Indianapolis Race Parade, which fortunately went right beside our hotel.

A little rest back in the room - and then we headed over to hotel we booked on points for the kids,  to await their arrival.

Dinner is at the Cheesecake Factory (YUMMMMM!!!!)

May 23 - Indianapolis, IN

It's Carb Day ('Carburetor Day') at the Indy.

Rick is grinning like the proverbial “cat that got the canary” as we approach the track - right up until we park - and he realizes he left his wallet in the hotel and cannot pay for the parking.  Oops!!!!  A quick visit to an ATM, using my bank card, fixes the problem and it is on to the track.

First up is the last day of practice for the Indy Cars, and then that's followed by an Indy Lights 100 Mile race.  Both were very exciting, with no incidents in the practice session, and only one accident in the Indy Lights race, which at first appeared to be serious, but turned out the driver only had minor injuries.

Afterwards we went into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.  A remarkable collection of cars, historical memorabilia and pictures from the race track's 104-year history.  (Built in 1909, first 500 mile race in 1911, and 98th running this year (due to several years of no-race during various war-years).

1911 Indianapolis 500 Winner

100 years later - 2011 Indianapolis 500 Winner

I wished out loud to Rick that I would have loved having my Dad there with us - he would love seeing all these old beautiful cars!

After the race we wandered around the Indianapolis down-town core a little (our hotel, Sheraton Indianapolis, was in the midst of downtown) - took some pictures of the fabulous war memorial statue in the centre of town, and then had a great BBQ dinner at a small restaurant off the town square.

May 22 - Indianapolis, IN

Our drive today will take us to Indianapolis, Indiana.  The route is through Leamington, ON; Detroit, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana and then to Indianapolis.  Due to the length of the drive, we are diverting from our plan of taking the back roads, to sticking with expressways for the majority of the trip. 

Little to remark upon on the trip - the entire drive is pretty much flat country - with the biggest hills being the overpasses.  The good news, the weather has finally turned hot enough to 'drop-the-top' for the full day of driving.

As we neared Indianapolis, Rick is getting very excited, and once there, cannot resist driving by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on our way to our hotel.

Having checked out the seats in advance of race-day, and the weather forecast for race-day (clear and hot), and, since we had an extra set of seats (due to both Rick and me buying tickets for race-day) we decided to invite our daughter, Kristah, and son-in-law, Robert, to the race on Sunday.  Fortunately, they were able to get the time off from work.

May 21 - Leamington, ON

First - let us apologize for not updating the blog for almost two weeks. 

No real excuse, except we have been having too much fun, and been too exhausted at the end of the day to update.  So now it's time to make up for lost time...

A bright sunny morning with temperatures in the mid-teens greeted us on our departure from Niagara.  Our route today is to travel upstream along the Canadian side of the Niagara River up the Niagara Parkway to Fort Erie, and then travel on side roads for as long as reasonable until we arrive at Leamington - the gateway to Point Pelee National Park (the southernmost point in mainland Canada).  

After a beautiful morning drive, as planned, we decided it was top-down weather as we wound our way along Lake Erie.  Unfortunately, that didn't last long as we ran into a large fog bank as we neared Port Burwell.  We put up the top, and continued on our way and then, much to our surprise, as we entered Port Burwell, we were shocked to see a 300 foot long submarine, up on shore on blocks!   Apparently, the Federal Government has decided this will be the site of the Canadian cold war, and somehow, the HMCS Ojiwa represents this...  I'm still a bit confused by this...  But you can check it out on the 'net'...

Lunch was a VERY reasonable $17.00 - which was a great relief from the Niagara Falls' standard lunch price of $75.00 (with a beer each included).

About 4:30 we reached the Tomato Capital of Canada (and the gateway to Point Pelee), Leamington.

We made our way to the Point Pelee Park, and after paying (the rather hefty fee of $15.00 to enter for a day permit)  we slowly made our way to the end of the point, and then walked the short 1/4 mile trail to the end of the point.  Then we slowly wound our way out of the park with a few stops for pictures.

Then after a delicious dinner of fried yellow perch (a delicacy of Lake Erie) we drove to the B&B we were staying in overnight.

The B&B that we were booked into was called 'Bound to Please', which may seem innocuous, but that name, coupled with a copy of 'Shades of Grey' in our room, left us wondering about the mixed message of a homey, comfortable B&B with an odd name...

Mileage to date: 6,189 kms.

Gas in Defiance, OH: $3.87/gal. = $1.12/litre Cdn