A week after visiting Wisconsin, we were able to go with Nate to another Residency interview in Indianapolis, Indiana. Whenever I think of Indiana I think of country. I really didn't expect to see such a huge city. Nate told me it is something like the 13th largest city in America.
We headed out with our trusty mapquest directions, which turned out not to be so trust. When we got to a place we were supposed to turn, we did, and then I read on the directions to continue to follow US6-E. We just came from there, and were trying to go west. With a quick stop, we just decided to hope we were going the right way and continued on the same road. Later we ran into some construction and a detour sent us off on some other road, we just kept going hoping we would eventually figure out where to be.
Off subject for a second, we decided that Indiana doesn't do very well with marking their detours. On our way home from Wisconsin a week earlier, we had just crossed into Indiana and somehow I missed the turn to go to I-80. I realized we were on the wrong road when I saw a sign mentioning something about Detroit. At that point we exited the freeway and stopped to try to figure out where to go. Long story short, we ended up lost due to a detour in some ghetto town at 9:00 at night. Nate pulled into a scary looking gas station to ask for directions and luckily we were able to find our way back to I-80. We've thought about a gps, but decided we really wouldn't need one if we move back west, so we are waiting.
Back to Indianapolis, we finally made it into the area we were suppose to be, heading south into Indianapolis and we see a big sign flashing a warning that the freeway we needed to take next was closed due to some traffic hazard. We had no other way of knowing how to get to our hotel other than that freeway. We stopped for dinner and checked another map and decided just to drive on to the exit and see if we could figure it out.
We get there and the entire southbound freeway is shut down and it sends us north instead. We exited and found a wireless internet connection at a mall, but we had lost all sense of direction. Neither of us knew north from south or east from west! With the map pulled up on the screen, we drove around for 1 1/2 hours until we finally found our hotel! What a drive, we later found out that the" traffic hazard" was because of a tanker that blew up on the freeway earlier that day!
We had a nice hotel, courtesy of Indiana University. It was right on campus and really close to an awesome walking path! Nate's interview was only until 1:30 so, for fear of getting lost again, the kids and I just walked around to check things out!
Gracen thought this "tractor" was pretty cool!
Throwing leaves!
Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.
Dedicated in 1902 to Indiana's heroes who died in wars before WWI.
I got this picture off the internet to show a better view of what it was like there. You can also go to the top to get the view from inside, but it was closed. It was a really neat monument. We walked around what is also called Monument Circle.
It was fun walking around and seeing so much! Nate really enjoyed his time here! They took him out to breakfast, and also to lunch at some fancy restaurant. He liked the program a lot, and they have a lot to offer. They have just about any fellowship he could want, and if they don't offer it, they would work with him to get it. It's harder to tell what the area outside of campus was like because it was dark when we got there and I didn't want to venture out to far. Most of the residents live west of the hospital about 20 minutes and housing is really affordable. Seems like a nice area with lots to do, they have the largest children's museum, a zoo, and so much more!
If location didn't matter, this would probably be #1 on the list right now! It's going to be a hard decision for us to make in a couple of months!