Indianapolis & La Porte – 2 Chicks, 50 States

We began in Indiana by visiting the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, fondly nicknamed ‘The Brickyard’, after the 3.2 million bricks that originally paved the track. Built in 1909, the 2.5mi/4km oval speedway saw the first ‘Indy 500’ raced on Memorial Day, 30 May 1911. Today the race takes place in front of a sellout crowd of approximately 300,000 spectators each year. It was a remarkable yet strange feeling to stand on the track in calm and silence and imagine the noise and chaos of engines, drivers, spectators and commentators filling the air. The tour we did was capped off with a visit to the museum to see the history of ‘The Greatest Spectacle In Racing’ on display.

The Speedway: from Ray Harroun winning at an average speed of 74.602 miles per hour (120.060 km/h) in 1911, cars now reach speeds of over 200 miles per hour

While the speedway track was completely covered with asphalt in 1961, a 3-foot strip of the initial bricks was kept at the start/finish line as a tribute to the original track and is known as the Yard of Bricks.

The tradition of “kissing the bricks” was started by Dale Jarrett after his Brickyard 400 victory in 1996. Jarrett and his crew chief Todd Parrott kneeled and kissed the Yard of Bricks to pay tribute to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s fabled history. Today thousands of visitors to the track each year do the same.

The Pagoda, where the Master Control Room is housed and timing and scoring takes place

The Marmon “Wasp”, driven by Ray Harroun, won the very first Indy 500 in 1911

September 11th 2001. It has been 18 years since the World Trade Center tragedy and the grief across the nation is still very much palpable as we observed flags at half-mast everywhere we looked. Grateful to have a day where we were not driving for hours, we were able to visit the 9/11 Memorial in Indianapolis and pay our respects.

The memorial includes two 11,000-pound beams from the Twin Towers. On top of one of the beams is a bronze, life-size sculpture of an American Bald Eagle, with its wings outstretched and looking east toward New York City.

Jumping on a trolley tour in Indianapolis, we took in the State Capitol, Veterans Memorial Plaza, Christ Church Cathedral and the Downtown Canal and got a great introduction to the city. Indiana limestone is used in many of Indiana’s impressive historical buildings, including the Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Monument Circle.

The Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument

Veterans Memorial Plaza with the Scottish Rite Cathedral’s Singing Tower in the background

We arrived in La Porte to stay with our friends Jan and John. Reunions are a definite highlight of this trip and we are so lucky to be able to see and spend time with good friends.

Making the most of Indiana’s sunshine we went to Dunes State Park, 40 minutes from La Porte, to see and walk amongst the towering sand dunes along Lake Michigan’s southern shoreline. Indiana Dunes consists of 2,182 acres of beautiful sandy hills that have taken thousands of years to form. As we walked along the shores of Lake Michigan we yet again wondered at the broad spectrum of landscapes this country has to offer.

From the Dunes to the University of Notre Dame…. what a spectacular campus. Not used to seeing universities like this in Australia or New Zealand, we wandered around the campus a little awestruck at the buildings and polished grounds. The university shop alone was like a department store. And the interior of the Basilica is simply celestial.

The Golden Dome of the Main Administration Building

The ‘Word of Life’ mural, also known as Touchdown Jesus, on the Theodore Hesburgh Library

Our Indiana tour has taken us from the impressiveness of standing on the Indy 500 Speedway to the sadness felt alongside Americans on September 11; from the excitement of catching up with friends from Doha to yet again experiencing the bounty of nature that this country has to offer. We won’t forget you Indiana ☺️

P&S