Indy

I made my first trip to Indianapolis this week. Like most business trips I was in and out in just under 30 hours but which is never really enough one to evaluate a city bu initial impressions were favorable. It is clean, and appears to be safe. The people are friendly, like most Midwestern towns, and it seems to be very sports orientated.

I flew in and saw the Indianapolis Motir Speedway from the air. It is huge and a unique way to get the full perspective on its size.

I arrived a my hotel (The Marriott Downtown), only to be told that they had overbooked the hotel. Gut check time. No problem they said. They would upgrade me to their JW Marriott Hotel just a block away and my room would be free. That was awesome. Both hotels had NFL Combine ads all over so I guess they had a number of NFL teams and hopeful players staying their. I saw a number of football types but nobody that I recognized.

I had dinner at St Elmo's Restaurant on a recommendation of a friend. It was very good. The service was exceptional and very fast. The shrimp cocktail is their speciality. 5 good sized shrimp lather in Cocktail Sauce which has a huge amount of horseradish. It is made fresh daily, but we warned it is hot, and will clear out your sinus passages. I followed that with a Rib-eye that was delicious. With each entree they also offer a choice of bean soup or Tomato Juice. I thought the choice was interesting and went with the tomato juice. Sure enough it was just tomato juice.

Dinner was washed down with a Goose Neck Seasonal Ale From Illinois. This was a dark beer, almost black but surprising lighter than it looked. It was easy to drink and not over powering.