Indianapolis, Indiana to Nashville, Tennessee

This morning we were checked out of our B&B, and at the Indiana State Capital for the first tour of the day at 9am. We are working on visiting all the U.S. state capitals and Indiana is a new one for us.

The Indiana State Capital. They are working on the dome.
In the senate chamber
The Indiana Supreme Court chambers

Then we drove to Mammoth cave in northern Kentucky. We had a picnic lunch and then took the Styx River tour. The tour was 2.5 hours long and we went for a 2 mile hike in the cave. We went to the lowest level of the cave almost 300 feet underground where the Styx River flows.

In Mammoth Cave
We went through some very narrow parts

When the devastating floods happened in this part of the country in April of this year the water in the cave reached the highest level that has ever been recorded. During the storm the benchs that we sat on at the lowest level of the cave were under more than 10 feet of water. The park service put markers on the wall showing the high water points in previous floods. You can see them behind the ranger in the picture. The new high water point was higher than the roof at that point. They installed a new high water marker farther up the stairs.

These benches were under 10 feet of water
You can see the high water marks from previous floods in the background
The new high water marks

From Mammoth we drove to Nashville where we will be for three nights. We had a great dinner at a restaurant called The Southern Steak and Oyster. Then we went along Broadway to listen to some music.

Baby back ribs
At a bar called The Valentine
Broadway in Nashville

We came to Nashville for our honeymoon 22 years ago. It’s fun to be back!

Indianapolis day 2

Today we had noon tickets to tour the Benjamin Harrison house. Benjamin Harrison was our 23rd president. The house is only a few blocks from the B and B where we are staying. the house was built in 1874. I thought the tour was excellent. The house contains a lot of original pieces and the restoration work was beautiful.

Benjamin Harrison House
The bookcase in the library has never left this room. It was built by one of Harrison’s legal clients.

At the Harrison Presidential Site we picked up a brochure describing the nearby historical homes. We did the walking tour then walked back to our B&B.

The Stone soup Inn

Tonight we had tickets to a Claude Sifferlen Tribute at the Jazz Kitchen. There were 11 musicians who all wanted to pay tribute to Claude Sifferlen. They were all successful performers and they came together to make an awesome inspiring show of fantastic music. They all seemed to be having so much fun!

Chicago to Indianapolis, Indiana

Today we left Chicago and drove south and east to Indianapolis, Indiana. We have now driven 3000 miles.

Entering Indiana soon after we left Chicago

In Indianapolis we are staying at a very nice B and B called the Stone Soup Inn.

The Stone Soup Inn

For dinner we walked to downtown Indianapolis and had a fabulous three course Latin fusion dinner with great margaritas. The restaurant is called Livery.

We sat out on the patio. It was a wonderful warm evening
Duke’s Flank steak
My lamb quesadillas