Siteseeing

Tuesday, Aug 16

Two different destinations were on our schedule today.  First was a visit to the home of President Benjamin Harrison.  He was a successful lawyer before becoming President and built this home in Indianapolis in 1875.  It is a very large house even by today's standards.  Over 75% of furnishings are original to the house.  The wallpaper is an exact duplicate as they had the original to use. 

Harrison's grandfather served as President also but only served 31 days.  He died of pneumonia after giving the longest inaugrial speach in history on one of the coldest days in history without wearing a coat or hat.  Benjamin Harrison only served one term.  His wife died during his last year in office and he spent the time by her bedside instead of campaigning.  He returned to this house after he left office and continued his law career.  Back then the President didn't get a pension and had to support themselves.  We spent quite a bit of time here with a guide who really knew his subject. 

After we finished here we drove across town to a restaurant for lunch.  I like to watch the Food Network and the show Restaurant Impossible.  They redo a failing restaurant.  Well, one of those just happened to be here in town so we went.  It is called The Snooty Fox.

It is stuck back in the corner of a strip mall.  I was not impressed with the restaurant.  They do not serve Robert Irvine's menu for lunch, only dinner.  It is suppose to be like an English Pub.  The food was mediocre and the service wasn't good.  They don't seem to have any pride of ownership either.  I doubt they will be in business long. 

After lunch we drove to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  This is where they run the Indianapolist 500 and the Brickyard 400.  Did you know they only hold about 4 races a year in this facility?  It seems a waste but I guess this is the way it is with race tracks.  Anyway, it is a very nice museum and you can also take a bus tour around the track.  They have a bunch of the winning cars from the 500 starting with the first one up until 2006 (at least that was the most current one I saw). 

There are also old motorcycles and Nascar cars.  The track was interesting to ride around.  No, we didn't go fast.  The nickname of the track is the Brickyard.  This is because the track used to be all bricks.  Most of the bricks are still there, jsut covered with asphalt.  There is a 3 foot strip still showing that they use as the starting/finish line. 

It was a very nice day and took most of it to visit these locations.  Here are all the pictures.