Sunday, January 13, 2008

Silver on Saturday

This past Saturday we headed to Indianapolis to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It was cold, but sunshiny and beautiful.

Around noon, we cruised in on I-40, which turns into Washington Ave. once you hit the Indy city limits. This is kind of like going in the back door, but it is much more interesting and leisurely than taking I-70 downtown. This afforded us the opportunity to stop at Annie’s Thrift Shop and Guitartown, both of which yielded beneficial results.

Then we headed up to Massachusetts Avenue, one of several arts districts in Indy, and an area we’ve enjoyed several times before. We spent most of the afternoon visiting a number of the art galleries and specialty shops along MassAve, including McFee Gallery & Studios, Silver in the City, Three Dog Bakery (yes, it is a bakery for pets), and Luna, which is a great independent CD/record store.  Here's a short video tour.

About 4:00, we headed for the Crowne Plaza Union Station where we had reservations in one of their Pullman Car rooms. They have a couple of dozen hotel rooms made out of converted, actual railroad passenger cars. We actually got a surprisingly good deal, considering it was a game weekend (grrr…not going to talk about that).

Then we headed to dinner, courtesy of my generous employer. We went to St. Elmo's, which is one of the premier steakhouses in the Midwest. I have been there once before, some 10 or 11 years ago, and honestly, I have never seen steaks like this before. They are huge, excellent cuts, precisely trimmed, and perfectly cooked. They are also famous for their shrimp cocktail. An indescribably delicious meal.

It was an early dinner reservation so afterwards we spent a couple of hours doing some casual shopping in the downtown Circle Center Mall. Then, about 8:45 or so, we went to The Slippery Noodle Inn, an Indy landmark and a well-known blues club just around corner.   This club has two stages and we wedged ourselves into a corner of the smaller room at the back and heard a very lively, rocking set by Sam Cockerel and his band. Expert players, gritty vocals, and an entertaining stage presence.  Here's a short video that tells a little of the storied history of The Slippery Noodle.

After that we walked back to the hotel, hand-in-hand, retiring to our train car for…oh, wait, that’s none of your business.

3 comments:

IzzyBeth said...

AAHHH Almost too much information . . .

Happy Anniversary!!!

Shoemaker Family said...

Happy Anniversary, you two! Sounds like a FABULOUS night! And, thanks for stopping at the appropriate time! Or maybe you should have stopped a half a sentence sooner! lol

Nestor Family said...

Congratulations! I am glad that you had a wonderful time! Blues club... you guys are too cool!

(And I knew what Three Dog Bakery was! We have one here in West Des Moines... fun stuff!)