Tag: Indianapolis

The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site

As ExNotes blogs followers know, we visited Indiana this year.  The trip combined three missions:  We visited with good buddy Jeff and his wife Sally (who moved to Indianapolis shortly after we finished college in New Jersey), we visited and interviewed the key people at Janus Motorcycles in Goshen, Indiana, for a Motorcycle Classics article, and we hit as many points of interest as we could while we were in Indiana.  We hit home runs in all three areas, I think.  We enjoyed our time with Jeff and Sally, we had a great visit with Janus, and wow, did we ever see a lot in Indiana.  One of the coolest places we visited was the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site in Indianapolis.

I didn’t really know anything about Benjamin Harrison when we visited the site, but I’ve learned quite a bit during and after our visit.   Here a few of his accomplishments:

      • Graduated Miami University at Oxford, Ohio in 1851.
      • Elected Indianapolis City Attorney in 1857.
      • Elected Supreme Court Reporter in 1860.
      • Breveted Brigadier Civil War General in 1865.
      • Appointed by President Grant to defend U.S. Government in Milligan case in 1871.
      • Argued five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (the most of any lawyer-President).
      • Elected U.S. Senator from 1881-1887.
      • Elected U.S. President from 1889-1893.
      • Set aside 13 million acres of public domain land for national forest reserves.
      • Initiated the Pan American Conference in 1889, later resulting in the Pan American Union.
      • Established the United States Coast Guard Academy.
      • Expanded the Navy from three steel war ships to 22 ships by 1893.
      • Added six states to the Union during his Presidency (this was the most of any President).
      • Firmly enforced the 15th Amendment to secure voting rights.
      • Instituted the practice of displaying the American Flag over public buildings and schools.

The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site is in Benjamin Harrison’s actual home.  Harrison built it on the outskirts of Indianapolis, but the city has expanded and it’s now in what I would consider the downtown area.  The guided tour made for an interesting visit.

This room is a parlor just to the left of the front door.  The tour guide explained to us that it was restored to its original condition, including the creation of custom wallpaper to match that which was originally in the house.

The Reginaphone was an early record player.  It uses a disk with protrusions to create the music.  This one works and we listened to it.

This is Benjamin Harrison’s home office. The horn chair is cool.

These are items on top of Benjamin Harrison’s desk.

A very cool bookshelf dominated one of the walls in Harrison’s office.

I can’t resist this shot whenever I see a mirror.

The tour continued with a trek through the dining room, the kitchen, some of the upstairs bedrooms, and a workout room.

I was surprised to see this when we left the Harrison Presidential Site.  Steve is everywhere, I guess.

The tour takes about an hour and a half, and it costs $14 (there are modest discounts for military personnel and a big discount for children).  You need to book your tickets in advance.

If you are in Indianapolis, I’ve got a good lunch suggestion.  One of the best kept secrets in that fine city is Shapiro’s Delicatessen.  It’s only 4 1/2 miles from the Harrison home and the food is stellar.  Both spots are worth a visit.

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The Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Wow, this is cool:  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway!  That photo above?  I snapped it as the Indy car was entering Turn 3 at about 200 mph, panning the camera with the car to blur the background and get the car as sharp as possible (which is a bit of a challenge when your subject is doing 200).  There were a lot of photo ops at Indy, and I sized most of the photos at 900 pixels to show off a bit.  We were having a good time.

We didn’t see the race (it’s today, and it starts about three hours from when this blog was posted).  We were in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago to visit with good buddy Jeff, whom you’ve seen in other recent blogs.  Jeff took us all over Indianapolis and the surrounding areas, and our itinerary included the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

We walked the huge infield area.  The track is a 2.5-mile oval and that gives it plenty of room on the infield (there’s even a golf course in the infield).  One of the best parts is the museum, which houses historic cars and winners of past Indy 500 races.

After spending some time in the museum, we went up into the stands to watch the cars practicing.  The Indy 500 is, as the name states, a 500-mile race, and with the cars running over 200 mph, it takes about 2 hours.  I can see it producing more than a few headaches, sitting out in the sun and listening to the high-pitched and loud whine of the cars whizzing by.   Our day was perfect…we took in what we wanted to see and I shot a lot of photos.

There is a very cool photo of Mario Andretti in the Indy 500 Museum.  The story behind it is that the photographer asked Mario Andretti if he could grab of photo of his rings, and Mr. Andretti posed as you him in the photo above.

There was also an Indy 500 simulator in the museum.  It let you “race” for about a minute, but I didn’t last that long.  The simulator included motion in the steering wheel and in the seat, I felt woozy as soon as I started, and I  had to stop shortly after I started.  I guess that makes me an official Indy 500 DNF (did not finish).

My favorite photo of the day is this selfie I grabbed of yours truly and good buddy Jeff reflected in the radiator cover of a vintage Miller race car.

So there you have it…our day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  I’ll be watching the race today.

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The Indiana War Memorial

Looking both large and deceptively small from the outside, the Indiana War Memorial is located in the center of Indianapolis.  Susie and I were there for a visit with good buddy Jeff, whom I’ve known since before kindergarten.  We both migrated west after college, both of us did so for work, and Jeff staked his claim as a Hoosier.  We spent a few days recently bopping around Indiana and Ohio and it was a hoot.  One of the first places we stopped was the center of downtown Indianapolis, and we wandered into the amazing and impressive Indiana War Memorial.  It wasn’t on our itinerary; it just looked interesting, it was open, and we entered.

The name is a bit misleading, as the Indiana War Memorial is both a memorial and a world class military museum, tracing the history of American combat from the Revolutionary War to our most recent conflicts in Vietnam and Afghanistan.   The building itself is impressive, with tall halls and huge lower level display areas.  The displays are impressive.  So is the architecture.

The Indiana War Memorial wasn’t crowded; in fact, we had the place to ourselves.

Peering up in the main tower, this hall focuses on The Great War.

Moving on to the lower floors, the displays focus on the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War II, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan conflicts.

This is an interesting exhibit from Gettysburg, which we had visited just a few weeks ago.

I enjoyed the small arms displays.  That’s my buddy Jeff in the photo below.

One of the last halls we viewed focused on the Vietnam War.  This is a Huey Cobra helicopter with a three-barreled Gatling gun mounted in the nose.

Admission was free, and during our visit we had an extra treat.  When we first entered the Indiana War Memorial, we had a nice chat with a guy about our age.   Jeff mentioned that his father had served in World War II, and that I had served in the US Army.  Our new friend told us he had been in the Air Force.  As the conversation progressed, we learned that we were speaking with a retired general officer, who was now the Director of the Indiana War Memorial (General Stewart Goodwin).

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Indianapolis

Happy Father’s Day, folks!

On occasion, I’ll read a book that is so good I’ll post a blog about it.  I thought I would share a recommendation here on Indianapolis, a book my daughter gave to me for Father’s Day.

I received Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago, and it’s one of those books I couldn’t put down.   It’s really many stories wrapped into one book:  The story about the mission to deliver the uranium used in the atomic bomb that ended World War II, the story about the Japanese sub that sank the Indianapolis, the story about the ship’s sinking, the story about the delayed rescue and the shark attacks on the men in the water, the story of the recovery, the story about Captain McVay’s court martial, and finally, the story of his posthumous exoneration.  Trust me on this one, folks.  Indianapolis is worth your time.

I have two or three other recent reads I’ll recommend, too.  Stay tuned…those will be in future blogs.  And for all you Dad’s out there…again, enjoy the day.