Indy In Threes: Fiber Hugs, Small Pugs, and Big Lugs

The unique Indianapolis Cultural Trail provides a convenient way for
people to travel to the city's cultural districts without an automobile

Many of our destinations on our recent trip to Indianapolis ended up near either the Monon or the Cultural Trails. The Monon Trail is not too unlike Columbus’s longer bike trails like the Olentangy or Alum Creek, providing people a chance to bike or run/walk between different parts of the city or different cities altogether.

However, the Indy Cultural Trail was the one that really caught our eye as an eight-mile-long wide connector between some of Indy’s most popular and significant districts and attractions. This trail essentially borrowed a lane from existing roads to create a more-or-less separate but easily accessible route for bicyclists, pedestrians and other non-automobile users to travel between the city's major districts. While we did not ourselves ride it, the sight of numerous folks zooming by on this trail was a constant, and it is something my spouse and I would love to test out next time in town.

As it turned out, Rook (which we wrote about on the last blog post) is right on the trail, as was our “fiber hugs” source in the Mass Ave Knit Shop.

Indy In Threes: Oldskool, Old School, and just Plain Old

Silken banners and windsocks made for a colorful display at this
impromptu art exhibit near the Fountain Square area of Indy

Founded in 1820, Indianapolis isn't too much younger than its fellow capital city of Columbus, which was established in 1812. In other words, Indy has its share of the old.

But in this second of four Indianapolis-related blogposts, the meaning of old is stretched out a bit, from the oldskool (a sleek, modern eatery that has earned "Best of" honors) to the old school (a former facility to treat mentally ill patients turned museum) to the just plain ol' old (antiques in an antique building.)

Indy In Threes: Beer and Wine and a Voice Divine

Midtown Carmel, located to the north of Indianapolis. Not unlike Columbus,
parts of this city are undergoing a massive redevelopment effort

Indianapolis, the state capital of Indiana, has been a city that we have dabbled in on previous journeys, but have rarely dug in as deeply as we might like. With our current status of having to having to stick a little closer to home due to job-related duties, easy weekend jaunts to places like Indy (in this case, a mere straight three hours west on I-70) have a very high desirability factor.

This first post of this mini-series is composed of highlights, but only in the sense that these three destinations either inspired our trip to Indiana's capital city in the first place or stuck out in our minds immediately as definite must visits. As it turned out, we found much more to keep us entertained during our stay, with the realization that we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of things to do here.

Break The Chains of Love: A Look At "Best Of" Lists (Part 3: Columbus's Counterparts)

The Tech Museum Of Innovation in San Jose, CA, our first of ten cities
we compare with Columbus in regard to "Best Of" lists

In Part 1 of this "Chains on "Best Of" Lists" series of blog posts, we looked at how Columbus locals voted on various media-based polls, and in Part 2, we compared and contrasted Columbus's "Best Of" lists to those produced in the four largest cities in the Buckeye State.

Well, it only seemed right to continue the progression to its logical conclusion. How do cities that are Columbus's counterparts in terms of population size chime in on their local "Best Of" polls?  The selecting was pretty easy: I took 2015 population statistics and took the five cities ranked just above and just below Columbus (I used the list found on Politifact for my numbers, which at the time of this post dated to 2015) and found a the best "Best Of" list that I could find.

In many ways, the look at these ten cities kind of cemented my initial thoughts I posted on the first blog post looking at Columbus's reader poll list.  While Columbus wasn't alone in the questionable nods to chains as "Best Of" category, the fact that it did and has happened in the past shows that improvement is there to be had.

With that said, the right kind of outsider chain love can be a good thing: the arrival of Chicago's Giordano's and its stuffed deep dish pizzas was eagerly anticipated, and there is growing anticipation related to the arrival of Akron-based Swenson's Drive-In. And if you look at Seattle's polls, three of their "outsider" chains would be great additions to any scene, including here in Columbus.

Beer along the National Road: Black Acre (Indianapolis, IN) and Hairless Hare (Vandalia, OH)

The Unofficial Official Map of Breweries Visited: 614ortyniner Edition

Now mind you, we have done our share of brewery hopping (we stand at about 150 breweries visited between the two of us heading into August), but our most recent road trip/vacation was really focused on the Great Eclipse of America.

So the multiple number of breweries we actually ended up visiting in seven different states was something of a happy (and tasty) accident. We thought we'd start looking at our beery contingent with the two breweries that provided the bookend experiences for our big road trip, which both happen to lie next to US Route 40, more famously known as The National Road.

(Ale) Trailblazing Across The Country: Part 2 - Six Above, Five Below

Track 7 Brewing from Sacramento, California, which is about to embark
on their own version of the ale trail concept

Research Parameters, Such As They Are
I posed the question on my last blog post, which touched on the concept of the ale trail with a focus on my locally-based Columbus Ale Trail, about what other craft beer ale trail promotions might be found around the country, their structure and their incentives.

Other than actually finding those cities and regions with active ale trails, I figured a meaningful comparison in relation to the Columbus area would be useful. Once I thought about it a little more closely, I figured looking into metro areas with similar populations would be an easy and relevant comparison measure.

So I took a look at where Columbus stood in terms of the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) - as of 2015 (Note: Population statistics were taken from Wikipedia's List of Metropolitan Statistical Areas and rounded down or up for simplicity), the Columbus metro area, which here reaches as far as Marion and Zanesville, comes in at just over 2 million with a rounded total of 2,022,000 people.

From here, I decided to take the MSAs both directly above and directly below in terms of population and dive in. Interestingly enough, the next metro area population-wise higher than Columbus that had an active ale trail really isn't all that far away from Ohio's capital city. The remaining metro areas researched included two neighboring Ohio cities, a couple of fellow capital cities, and a journey from coast to coast.