To say that the City of Indianapolis did a good job preparing for this would be an insulting understatement. In fact I can't think of a more well-prepared series of events since, well, my trip to the Women's Final Four last year in Indy. This city just gets it right. For the biggest sporting event in our country, Indy created an extensive "Super Bowl Village" which runs along Georgia St. between the convention center and whatever the new name of where the Pacers play. To say it mildly, this concept has worked TOO well.
Of course it certainly helped that the weather was more in-line with April than February with highs in the 50's (!). This brought 'em out of the woodwork. Even though Georgia St. was totally re-built with heaters suspended above a median pedestrian path...they weren't needed. All of this helped lead to a "perfect storm" which I'll touch on shortly.
As for us we got downtown and found some great parking a few blocks from the Village. From there we went up the Soliders Monument in the Circle and gazed out on a sunny day in Indy. We quickly caught site of many significant landmarks...like the JW Marriott sporting a massive Lombardy Trophy on its front face. Hope hotel guest can see thru that!
We then wandered from the Circle and started to cruise the Village. Crowds were thick, but manageable. After stopping in at a few places, I decided to meet up with some work colleagues at RW Armstrong at old Union Station. We were given a great tour by Kelly Tingle, who also introduced us to an indoor basketball court which we took shots on. Sam wanted to play Horse, I settled for Pig...but still didn't get past P. Oy.
We moved on and walked quite a ways to Victory Field where they turned the entire playing field into a huge sandbox. Um...sure. Nothing to see there so upon a request for Sam we made our way to the Statehouse...where it was simply dead. Nothing going on...and the tour guides looked plenty bored. Thought maybe some folks would have visited...then again the Village was hard to break away from.
We sauntered back there and then to the grand NFL Experience expo which took over the entire Indiana Convention Center. Quite an impressive feat seeing how massive that place is. As we entered the place was packed, and we quickly discovered that we would do nothing that day without a special wristband to get in the front of the lines for kicking, passing...and just about anything else worthwhile. This was a pain, since that wristband line was about a 2-3 hour wait. Oh yeah, it also cost an extra $45! So being me I avoided as long as I could - but Sam was being extra grumpy since he couldn't do anything. I was getting extremely grumpy since I almost got kicked out since the geniuses didn't give me a basic wristband that showed I paid. Yes...I was approaching wit's end.
Thankfully we got lucky and purchased a special wristband for Sam...and then he was able to do about anything he wanted. It was worth it in the end...I just want to avoid looking at my credit card for a while. The set-up was just amazing with interactive everything going on - quite the spectacle. We spent about 4+ hours in there all told. It was nearly 9pm...and my feet were ready to fall off. Sam's too.
We ventured out of the Experience and saw firsthand what happens when you have unseasonably warm weather plus a popular band playing for free...near anarchy. Stepping out of the Convention Center we were met with a sea of humanity that spread out in all directions. The crowd had grown exponentially in the time we were inside. It appeared that far too many folks had descended on the area...and the cops were a bit overwhelmed. Sam and I were able to meet up with an old classmate of mine at an info booth, but Sam wanted to get to the Pacers pro shop at what-ever-they-call-it arena where they play.
Moving thru the Village towards the arena was very problematic by now. You could barely walk...so Sam and I smartly ducked into a parking garage that got us on another street...where we avoided the mass of humanity waiting for some band called LMFAO. Never heard of them...which Sam found fascinating. We made the arena, where I was able to finally sit down in a nice leather chair and drink some iced coffee (the pro-shop has a Dunkin Donuts...score!).
After I pried myself up I got Sam an early birthday gift...and then made our way back to the car. We made on last stop by the giant Roman numerals on Monument Circle...where each numeral had been turned into a video board...nice. We just about limped back to my car from there, and raced out of the city. By the time we did traffic was becoming really bad...and people really drunk. Thankfully nobody was hurt or no riots took place. They were lucky. Our departure time was about 11pm...over 12 hours since we arrived.
All-in-all a most amazing time in Indy for this event. They did it right, with a bundle of things to do right in a great downtown area. Hope it returns again in my lifetime...they deserve it.
