July 28-Aug 3, 2019 State #47 Indiana

We stayed at Yogi Bear Jellystone Park- east. This is not the Jellystone Park we thought we had booked. The one we wanted had water slides,  2 pools and a jumping pillow. I tried to call and switch it but they were all booked. This one had one small pool and their activities were not well planned. Epic fail. I did find a local ‘water park’ to try to make up for my mistake.  It was 50 minutes away but worth it. We are in the middle of corn fields so not much around here.

The pool and activities; ceramic painting, musical poop plates and water painting.

Freedom Springs Water park

Going to places like a waterpark without friends and seeing everyone running around with their friends is tough but we made the best of it. We packed our lunch and ate out in the parking lot so we could stay all day. I loved that they had a sunscreen station where they were providing sunscreen like an antibacterial pump. Mackenzie loved jumping off the high board. I loved the lazy river. Abby loved the slides.

 

I got my oil changed and tires rotated while here. The closest place to us was 20 minutes away and it turns out they lied about rotating the tires. Ridiculous. Hoping they actually changed my oil.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix.

We enjoyed the Hall of fame room and they museum. The tires are as wide as Mackenzie!

Kiss the Bricks tour

In 1909, the track was constructed and the first races were done on dirt. They soon realized it needed to be paved but that was something that had just started so they decided to use bricks. Now the bricks have been paved over, all except the Yard (3 feet) at the start and finish line. That’s why it was nicknamed the Brickyard. We were able to take a tour around the track and kiss the bricks at finish line just like the professionals have done since the beginning. It was pretty cool to stand on the piece of history.

There wasn’t anything to eat here so we had to leave for lunch and then came back for our tour time. The girls wanted Chick-fil-a. When we went searching for one we found one on the Indians University/Purdue satellite campus. We parked and went into the common area to order our lunch, then we walked around the campus for a bit.

The Indiana Capitol

Indiana is one of the few states in the nation that has all three branches of government operating out of the historic state capitol building. The building was completed in 1888. It is constructed of Indiana limestone and white oak. It was closed so we just toured the outside of the building.

Mackenzie had fun taking pictures today.

 

Thursday night we were going to check out the Children’s museum because on the 1st Thursday of the month from 4-8 it only cost $5 each. Otherwise it’s $30 day of or $25 2 weeks in advance. That’s a high price to pay for things we have seen and done at other museums across the country. We ended up not going because we were able to get together with an old neighbor who’s in college now.

Butler University

Trey took us on a tour of his dorm and the entire campus. Besides playing football for Butler, he needs to be a tour guide for freshman orientation. We really enjoyed ourselves and it was great to catch up.

The movie Hoosiers used this stadium for the set of the championship game.

We ate lunch at Joella’s Hot Chicken and dessert at Insomnia cookies. Both new experiences for us.

Levi Coffin House

We drove out to Fountain City, which used to be the city of Newport to take a one hour guided tour of Levin Coffin’s house, aka the Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad.  This small town was well known in the decades before the Civil War as a place of safety for freedom seekers, or runaway slaves. Levi and Catharine Coffin, a Quaker couple, along with others in town, were instrumental in keeping freedom seekers hidden and moving north.

There is a film and museum, across the house, were we took a self guided tour learning more details of the Underground Railroad.

Inside the house, our tour guided filled the hour with stories of slaves that came through here and how they would hide and feed them. There was a spring feed well in the basement cellar so they had access to water all the time. We saw a wagon that would hide people and the attics in the top floor that served as another hiding spot.

Levi jokingly boasted about being the “President of the Underground Railroad” and publically spoke out against slavery. He often used the law to his advantage and was friends with Henry Ward Beecher and Frederick Douglass. Catharine was also deeply committed to the cause by organizing sewing circles that made new clothing for freedom seekers. The Coffins’ “station” was so successful that every slave who passed through eventually reached freedom.

We have six weeks until we move into our new house back in Acworth, GA. Since we sold most everything 2 years ago, we will need to furnish an entire home. We bought our house last month and hired a contractor to make some renovations to the house before we move in. During this time, we’ve made several trips to Home Depot, Lowe’s and flooring stores to look at options. This week we walked by this grey rug and Mackenzie just had to have it, so we bought it and stored it in the storage bay of the RV for the next six weeks until we arrive home. Trust me… it was worth it.