Summertime brings opportunities for travel. It was 11 years ago on this day that my family foursome started out on a journey to Lake Lure, NC, to spend a few days together with a number of other family members on my Mom's side.
On our way there, we passed through Indiana. We stopped in Indianapolis, the capital city, to tour the fine-looking State Capitol Building, which are #59 and #60 on my Indiana 200 list. Before Indianapolis became the capital city, Corydon (#61), along the Ohio River, was the capital on a temporary basis, until a more permanent location could be determined. Certainly Indianapolis works well as a capital city, given its central location in state, and where many interstates converge, beftting of Indiana's nickname of "The Crossroads of America". Indianapolis is also quite the bustling, vibrant metropolis. It also has the home of Benjamin Harrison (#62).
After touring the capitol, we went to eat lunch in by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, surrounded by a circular street (#63). It was a nice visit in Indianapolis, before we hopped back on the road.
Further south along I-65 is Columbus (#64), which is famous for its art, and fittingly has a distinct bridge for I-65 traffic over the road that leads to town. Nearby is Brown County State Park (#65), a scenic natural area.
Earlier this summer 2016, I passed through Indiana while riding Amtrak's The Capitol Limited route east to Washington, DC. The route guide provided fascinating details about the towns we passed through. Here are some highlights for Indiana locations:
#Hammond-Whiting (#66 and #67) was once the home of Alvah Curtis Roebuck (#68), who helped started a mail order company with Richard Sears.
Gary is the location of US Steel (#69).
South Bend (#70), which sits on a bend of the St. Joseph River (#71), is home to the renowned University of Notre Dame (#72) and once the location of the Studebaker Corporation (#73), of which there is a museum here.
Elkhart (#74) was once considered the Brass Musical Instrument Capitol (#75), and has a large RV manufacturing base (#76). Miles Laboratories (#77), which originally made the Alka-Seltzer (#78), was also founded here.
It's also right in Indiana's Amish country (#79), with Amish Acres being a notable attraction in nearby Nappanee (#80). Shipshewana (#81) is another notable Amish city in northern Indiana. Nearby is Goshen (#82), site of Goshen College (#83), a Mennonite school.
Waterloo (#84) is the "Crossroad of Northeast Indiana", according to the official Waterloo government website. Not too far away is the city of Fort Wayne (#85). Among other notable attractions, it has Johnny Appleseed Park (#86), and hosts a Johnny Appleseed festival in September annually (#87). Its public library has a sizable genealogy center (#88).
Indeed, while traveling these roads through Indiana might make the average person think there's nothing but cornfields, there's so much else to see in Indiana. It's just like the ads for Indiana Beach (#89) by Lake Shafer (#90) in Monticello, IN (#91), "proving once again that there's more than corn in Indiana!" (#92)
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