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indiana
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Cindy's been wanting to take a vacation
with her kids, Kelly and Grant, for some time. We also planned to celebrate
Grant's 21st birthday in a big way.
So...we flew to Indianapolis to
begin our adventure.
waiting to board the
plane
Providence to Indianapolis
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after
landing in Indianapolis we rent a car and drive north a couple of hours
to visit long-time family friends for the first night |
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Jim and Grant hang
out and get re-acquainted
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Kelly hadn't seen Dianne since she
was 18 months old
Jim and Dianne are Cindy's Mom's
friends of 45 years
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Toby,
Cindy's childhood friend since 3 years of age |
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Dianne is
a wonderful cook and spoiled us rotten during our visit |
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Jim,
Dianne, and Toby live on a lake -- we're out on their pontoon boat for a
cruise |
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we leave our friends
and check into our hotel north of Indianapolis
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Captain Dianne
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this hotel
was great -- evening drinks and breakfast included with our suite |
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So the first night we plan our strategy
to get to the Indianapolis Speedway for the Indy 500. Lots of people advise
us to take a bus from downtown and leave our rental car behind. Horror
stories of 2 hour traffic tie-ups but, we're not sure we want to be tied
to a bus schedule.
Decide to drive the 15 miles to the
race track and park our car in someone's front yard for $20. Walk 1.5
miles to the track. Arrive 2 hours before the race. Not bad.
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Make our
way over to the pit area -- we're only 20 feet from the racers and cars
before the start of the race. There's 400,000 fans at this race. |
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in front
of the official tower where the VIPs and media watch the start/finish |
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our seats were great
-- right in front of the pit crews
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so glad to
celebrate Grant's birthday and have vacation together |
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race
has finished and now it's time to trek back to our car along with the other
fans |
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what a long
day |
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