Happy Friday! I'm not sure that this post qualifies as an "outfit post" as we haven't really taken blog pictures while in Indianapolis, but I did
find a few of photos to share so I decided to do the post anyway.
We can't take many weekend overnight trips during Spring (and Fall) as my daughter
has several hours of dance lessons on most Saturdays leading up to their
performances, but this past weekend the studio was closed and the forecast
called for nice weather so I decided to plan a weekend trip to Indianapolis,
which is just a few hours drive away from us.
While we've driven through Indianapolis on several occasions, we never
actually visited the city (besides taking a few pictures at the Indy500 race
track many years ago) so I looked up what there is to do and see and thought it was perfect
for a quick weekend getaway.
White River State Park is
right there in downtown Indianapolis, so we walked along the Canal, visited
the Zoo and Botanical Garden as well as walked to see the state capitol building. Yes, lots
of walking!! There are also several Museums located in the area but we didn't
visit any as the weather was beautiful and I wanted to enjoy the sunshine
outside.
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I had planned to visit the zoo first thing in the morning the next day, so I
made sure to book a hotel room very close by, and we were within walking
distance of White River State Park and the zoo. We didn't stay at the Marriot,
but the
Fairfield Inn
which you can see next to the Marriot. We had a top floor room and had a nice
view of the Museums and Museum grounds across the street.
It was a warm (but windy) day so I decided to wear a navy blue tank top
and a thin button down shirt over it. Everything I'm wearing has been in my
closet for some time, the only thing new-ish are my AG Prima jeans.
Shirt Jackets have been a big trend here in the States this spring, while I'm
personally not a huge fan of those because they all seem oversized and a bit
more masculine than I like them, I do like this button down as it's cut more
feminine and is not actually a jacket but just a thin shirt. There are snaps on the
sleeves so you can fold them up a bit and snap into place and that's the way I
like to wear it. This button down was a hand-me-down from my dear sister from Germany.
The tank top was picked up at
Marshall's a couple of years ago, and one of my
favorites. It's by Rachel Zoe. It's the same one I've worn hiking on
this occasion.
My crossbody bag is by
Baggialini, this bag is so perfect for travel with
plenty of zippers and there was even room for my knit cardigan in it which I
threw on the next morning when we went to the zoo (it was chilly in the
morning.)
My slip-on sneakers are the
Taos Rubber Soul in Charcoal Wash
and I've worn these on both days. Thought I might develop a blister but did
not even after all these hours of walking. That said, I kind of wished I had
brought my
Taos Star lace up sneakers, as I have those in the wide width and they may have been a smarter choice. I could have definitely just thrown them into the duffle bag "just in case"
but ended up not bringing them along.
Above is what I had worn to the zoo the next day, same jeans, sneakers and bag, I just switched out the shirt with a linen top I had purchased from
LOFT last year and (not shown) a knit cardigan which I had stuffed into the bag.
For those of you interested, I'm linking similar pieces below.
Related Products:
And here are a few more snapshots:
White River. A great place to enjoy the sunshine! This is a pedestrian/bicycle only bridge and the zoo is at the other end of it.
Lots of turtles on the river.
We did not walk down this beautiful alley, as it was in the opposite direction of the Canal Walk, and I wanted to walk along the Canal then towards to State Capitol. The building on the left side is part of the Indianapolis Zoo and on the right side is the river down below.
The beginning parts of the Canal. On the left side you can rent canoes or paddle boats and the right side houses one of the museums.
We love touring State Capitol buildings but didn't go inside this one. It was probably closed at this time on a Saturday.
I would have loved to take a closer look at the
Soldiers and Sailors Monument but too much was going on with some sort of gatherings so I didn't get a chance to. Maybe that's something to visit on a weekday instead of a Saturday evening.
A pretty area in the botanical garden.
I always love visiting butterfly gardens, this one is called Butterfly Kaleidoscope. Both the botanical garden and butterfly garden are included in the price of the Zoo admission.
Note: As with most places at the moment, advance tickets are required when visiting the zoo/gardens.
Another beautiful butterfly on an equally beautiful flower.
And then a few animal photos from the zoo.
We did also see their Dolphin Show but in my opinion it wasn't comparable to the one at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago or the Chicago Brookfield Zoo. If you do plan on viewing the Dolphin show, make sure to arrive early as these tickets are gone quickly (due to a restricted amount of people allowed to be inside the building at a time). You don't have to pay extra to see the dolphins, but you do need the tickets you pick up at the desk, and those can't be purchased online.
My thoughts about the city:
We enjoyed the walk along the canal. I wasn't a fan of all the
scooters driving around everywhere downtown as I almost was run over twice
during the short time we were there. Sometimes it really felt like they came out of nowhere!
The zoo and botanical garden (which was the actual purpose of the visit) unfortunately left me a bit underwhelmed. They
were ok, but I've visited some pretty amazing zoos and gardens in my life and
these were just ok. Maybe because some parts were under some sort of construction/repair. Surely worth a visit when you are in town, but maybe not worth it for the main reason of a visit if you live 4 hours away.
Thanks so much for visiting!