Columbus, Indiana
Sunday - 6 October 2002: Frankfort, Kentucky
- First, some notes from last night. DUCKS WIN. It was just so late, as the
game didn't start until 9:30 our time (Indiana is on Eastern time, but does
not do daylight savings time - gee, I'm not confused, are you?). Oklahoma v
Missouri was running late, so Fox didn't move over to the Duck game until it
was 7-7. Mary (Chris's Mom) kept phoning us with the updates - they were
listening on the radio in Beaverton, before Fox switched over. To me, it is
just like last year. The Ducks just look horrible, yet continue to win and
you just shiver thinking of what will happen to them when they have to play
a "real" team. We stayed awake and had a wonderful dinner. Since Chris does
not have a toaster in his dorm, I talked him into cinnamon rolls instead of
cinnamon swirl bread. I sent him home with left-over chicken, a pan of
cinnamon rolls, one-quarter of an apple pie (he ate another quarter at
dinner) and a two pound brick of Tillamook cheddar.
What a nice boy!
ADDED LATER: Chris went on to graduate from Purdue with a degree in
thermodynamic engineering (the transference of heat through metal... but you
knew that right?) and landed a good job. Stay in school kids!
This morning we were lazy - we didn't get to bed until well after 1 a.m.
last night - and late out of our strange campground. Because so many people
are here for the Hunter's Moon Festival, the campground is full of people in
period costumes. It was normal this weekend to see a person attired in dress
from the 1800's packing up her Winnebago, or people cooking over cast-iron
pots hanging over a fire. Major time warp. There are hundreds and hundreds
of sparrows nesting in the trees in the campground. This morning, I noticed
a bright yellow canary in the group. No, it wasn't a gold finch - it was
your pet-store variety canary, most likely a run-away, living happily among
the sparrows.
We
headed south on I-65 to Indianapolis, where we took an exit to visit a new
Parrothead Shrine. The Outback Steakhouse people have paid Jimmy Buffett one
million dollars for the rights to the words
Cheeseburger in Paradise and have just opened the first of a chain of
restaurants in Indianapolis. Since we were in town, we thought we would stop
in for lunch. We found the place and I was SO DISAPPOINTED! It was just
another tacky strip mall restaurant. It could have been any Chili's, Out
Back Steakhouse, etc., type of restaurant. Not only was it a non-descript
building, it wasn't even OPEN. On the website, the restaurant is supposed to
open at 11 a.m. on Sundays, but today there was a temporary "Opening at 3
p.m. today" sign. Bummer! There was a man setting up tables outside in the
bar area and he let me in for a tour and gave me a souvenir take-out menu. I
asked him a few questions, but he no hable English and I could not say
"What's up with the new hours?" in Espanol, so I smiled and left. It was
cute inside, but nothing you wouldn't see in any tiki bar anywhere in the
world. So, in my humble opinion, without dining there???... Cheeseburger in
Paradise is nothing special, UNLESS your idea of paradise is a freeway
interchange in Indianapolis. I may go to hell for saying something bad about
anything even slightly connected to Jimmy, but, as Jimmy would say -
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Cheeseburger by the Interstate
Though starving, we limped on south to the interesting city
of
Columbus, Indiana. Red's wonderful and interesting neighbors, Dick and
Miriam, told us about Columbus. Cummins diesel engines are built here, which
means Goldie started here! But,
Cummins
is only the beginning of the story in Columbus. Seems the guy who ran
Cummins paid the fees for world-famous architects to design the buildings in
town. According to the American Institute of Architects, Columbus ranks
sixth in the country after Chicago, Washington, New York, Boston and San
Francisco for innovation and quality of design in over sixty public and
private buildings. Architects who have designed buildings in Columbus
include Richard Meier, I.M. Pei, Devin Roche and Robert Venturi. Schools,
churches, office buildings, post office, city hall and the jail - all
spectacular. Columbus has a population of just over 32,000 residents. I
think even the most architecturally-uninformed (me) person would take notice
that the buildings in this town are exceptional. The jail is so fantastic, I
was going to try jay-walking or not pooper-scooping, so I would get a tour
of the interior!
Columbus, Indiana
We drove through more of the driving-tour and then headed south on
421 towards Madison, an adorable historical town loaded with Federal
buildings and on into Kentucky.
RV Park:
Elkhorn Creek Campground near Frankfort, Kentucky
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