Moving Cross Country - Part II

Since we got in CRAZY late Thursday night/Friday morning. I couldn't get myself up until 10:30am and it was probably the hardest thing I've done in years! No joke, I was exhausted. Check-out was at noon but I told the cleaning people to come back and we didn't leave until 12:30.

We headed into downtown Indianapolis to see the sights and found parking near Monument Circle.

We saw all these classic cars parked on the street and a couple race cars.

I totally wanted to get a better look and more pics but Erica was really hungry and wanted to eat. So we went into Southbend Chocolate Co. (started in Southbend, IN where I lived 3 years ago but never ate at) for sandwiches and chocolates but after lunch due to my cold I wasn't in the mood for chocolate and Erica didn't see anything she liked.

We walked out to the street and NOTHING! The cars were gone! We hadn't even been inside that long & they had vanished, it felt a bit like a ghost town all of a sudden. I was super bummed and in my exhausted state got a bit grouchy with Erica. Sorry!

Then we went to the top of the War Memorial.
Below: the Capital from the top of the Memorial.

Fact: Indy is second to D.C. in war memorials, interesting, huh? I have no clue why it has so many.
I do know I love bright my orange dress, can you find me?

I also loved how most of the buildings on Monument Circle are rounded in shape. This building used to have a mini golf course on top of it. Pretty cool, huh!

Indiana War Memorial, it was massive!

See...
look how little I am.

We also went and saw the capital, I think I've seen almost every state capital now! Go me! No, I'm not a dork, I'm a nerd - there's a difference.

Stained glass in the dome.

Interior of the Capital.
It is really pretty, classic, and simple. I loved the colors and ceiling of windows which made it so bright and open feeling.

After the capital, we passed by a Toll house cookie shop and by then I was in the mood for a sweet, so I bought some cookies. My favorite was the oatmeal with chocolate chips - the best type of oatmeal cookie, I really despise raisins in my cookies. Due to my cold the sugarcookie tasted super funky to me. But luckily it was Erica's favorite so she finished it as we drove to Cincinnati. We arrived right in time for game traffic, it was pretty bad, not NY at Thanksgiving bad, but bad. I had fallen asleep so hard that Erica said she was yelling my name and I still wasn't waking up, THATS how exhausted I was. That has never happened before, I normally hear when people say my name. I eventually woke up and helped with directions. 

First stop - Cincinnati Art Museum.

Pinocchio welcomed us with open arms.

However, the museum closed at 5pm. So I jumped on his leg and tried to take him down.

Didn't work and if you can't beat 'em, join 'em - so Erica did.

We headed across the Ohio River, into Covington, KY. We parked at a mall and took the Purple People Bridge back across the river to walk the park. This time Erica stuck her foot in the nasty river. (No disease yet.)

I loved this painted piano under the bridge. I played it but it was badly out of tune, but still really fun.

Also by this time, I was fighting a migraine and not taking as many photos or being as go-getter. But I still captured this shot of Cincinnati as we walked back to the car. Beautiful.

After some searching and phoning a friend (family), we found

Price Hill Chili. A local Cincinnati place. I loved the diner feel.

We of course had Cincinnati Chili - spaghetti, red beans, chili, onions, and a mound of cheese. It was really delicious.

We also tried goetta (pronounced ged-da), a sausage made of ground pork and oats. Texture was like a thin meatloaf and not as salty as some sausage, it was delicious.

Cincinnati food is amazing! I'm glad my throat was doing better so I could eat more.
We drove south and spent the night in Lexington, Kentucky. When I checked in it was after midnight but the front desk guy, completely out of the blue, said he'd open the indoor pool and jacuzzi for us. I couldn't turn this extra down. So we suited up and he walked us over to it and told us if anyone else tried to get in, to kick them out and call him over. After he left us to enjoy our swim, Erica asked me if I had flashed him or something. Just so you know, no such thing happened, I really had done NOTHING. But I thoroughly enjoyed the favor, the pool and jacuzzi were extremely relaxing. I slept so well that night.
Saturday we woke up and headed south to Memphis, Tennessee. We stopped at Dead End BBQ for some local bbq.

We shared the sampler plate which included beef, pork, and chicken along with all the trimmings. It was perfect southern deliciousness. But I completely forgot to get a picture because I was upset about the apartment in Durham. I called to find out if they would stay for me to check in that night, but they refused and told me I'd have to wait till Sunday. I managed to get ahold of one of the roommates and she said she'd leave  the door open for me. So I was relieved about that. We made it to Durham around 6:30pm and found out my specific bedroom door was locked. So while I could get in the apartment, I couldn't access my bedroom or bathroom. We had dinner at Outback, grabbed a few groceries and headed back to the apartment. We skipped showering (something we were slightly accustom to) and made up the couch and my air mattress in the living room. Sunday I finally got checked in and unloaded my car, again grateful Erica was there to help me lug myself up to the third floor. After, I took Erica to see Duke campus and the Raleigh temple, before I reluctantly said good-bye to her at the airport.
So here I am East coast, lets have some fun!