Be a Tourist.
One of my major pet peeves is when people act like Indianapolis has nothing to offer. Implying it’s just a boring city in the middle of a corn field (which hello, fresh food). The statement usually comes after someone has come back from vacationing in another city. Statements like “Portland is so cool, we were able to watch a movie for free in the park.” (Which by the way, is something you can do at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and even in some suburbs.)
The reason residents of Indianapolis fall in love with other cities, and miss what Indy has to offer, is because they are tourists in the other cities. They go out. They explore. Something they rarely do here because they’ve lived here a bit and think they’ve seen all there is to see. I call shenanigans. There is plenty in Indianapolis, if you just step outside of your comfort zone and look.
Before I go any further, I’m counting the suburbs of Indianapolis as places to go to see and do things. There are some amazing things in those communities as well. And let’s face it, if traffic is decent, you can get to pretty much anywhere in 30-40 minutes.
- Hit a Museum – Claire has touched on this before, but Indianapolis has some amazing museums. We have the world’s largest Children’s Museum, which is a blast to go to even if you’re an adult. We have award winning Interactive History Museum Conner Prairie. The Indianapolis Museum of Art has free admission, which is just mind blowing. Not to mention smaller museums such as the Benjamin Harrison Home, the Indiana Medical History Museum, and the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library.’
- Eat – Again, this is something Claire has touched on before. But you can get some wonderful food here too. We have Shallo’s in Greenwood with the midwest’s largest beer selection. Carmel has The Local, an amazing farm-to-table restaurant. Get woodfired pizza at Pizzaology or Napolese. Not to mention the array of food trucks (which personally, I found better than the one’s in Portland).
- Drink – Indianapolis has made a name for itself in the craft beer world. We even hosted the Beer Bloggers Conference in 2012. There’s bound to be something for you from one of our several breweries.
- Amateur Sports – Indianapolis has so many amateur sports teams that would love your support. There are nine roller derby teams within an hour of the city; including a men’s team, a juniors team, and a renegade team. Not to mention men’s and women’s rugby, women’s football, and bicycle polo. I’m sure there are several teams I just don’t know about as well.
This is just scratching the surface of what Indianapolis has to offer. The next time you find yourself waxing poetic about what other cities have to offer, ask your self when the last time you truly explored Indianapolis was. Then take a day off work and be a tourist.
Well said. Indy is on its way to becoming an awesome city (it just needs some better public transportation!). Don’t forget to mention the crazy amount plays, performances, and concerts that can be found pretty much every week. Never a dull moment, really.
The fact we’ve all been so busy we haven’t had a game night is testament to that fact!
Great post. Coming from Terre Haute (a real city with nothing to do), I am baffled when I hear that people don’t have anything to do in Indy. Are ya kidding?? There’s TOO much to do, which is why I’m going broke haha.
I love the IMA! When I first moved to Indy I visited once a week.