Indiana Rooster Magnificent

Welcome to the May 2026 edition of...
What I'm Into, What I'm Up To
#67

A few weeks ago, I went to Indianapolis with Wendy—she had a work thing there and I tagged along.

I know what you're thinking. Indianapolis? What do you do in Indianapolis?

That's what I thought when she told me where her conference would be.

It turns out, though, if you're not there as a tourist trying to pack fun into every moment of every day, but instead go as someone who likes hanging out in new places and taking long walks and seeing what's around, it's a great place to spend a week.

My takeaways about Indy (which is what the locals called it):

• Everything seems to be under construction or renovation with signs announcing pretty soon it will be amazing.
• Based on areas that have been constructed or renovated in the last 10 years, I believe the signs.
• Uber and Lyft drivers seem to think the downtown traffic is terrible and really busy.
• It's not.
• The Indianapolis Zoo is incredibly well designed (I'm not a zoo expert, but I really like zoos and have spent a lot of time at DisneyWorld, which I believe gives me some kind of credentials in knowing good park layout, plus I really like zoos).
• It feels kind of like a college town, because it kind of is.
• The canal area near the White River is really cool and great for a walk or a run with some great looking museums and parks beside it.

We happened to be there during two big events.

The first couple days I was there, they were doing open testing for the Indianapolis 500.

The Indy 500 is happening in a few days as I write this, and if you're in Indianapolis and don't know that, hotel-sized posters and signs everywhere will let you know.

The open testing is a chance for the drivers and cars and teams to drive around the track, I guess, and figure things out they need to figure out, I guess. It was free to attend, so I grabbed one of those city bikes every city has now and rode the sometimes sketchy and not-always-bike-friendly route out to the Speedway and watched a few laps of the cars going around.

It was so loud. The smart people had earplugs.

There were no bike stalls to return the bike to at the Speedway, which meant the cost continued to rack up while I sat in the stands and watched with the bike parked and chained to a fence near the entrance (chain provided in bike basket, which was nice). So I didn't stay very long. It probably would've been cheaper to Uber there, honestly.

The other big event was a half-marathon—the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon. According to the official website, the race celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, attracting over 20,000 participants from all 50 states and over 16 countries.

Take part in this iconic half-marathon that starts in downtown Indy and includes a 2.5-mile lap around the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As a tradition, participants even get to kiss the bricks at the renowned Yard of Bricks on the oval track!

Oh, and we also heard an extreme weather siren the first night we were there because of storms and wind. Even through the fairly soundproof hotel windows, it was loud. That was a new and exciting experience.

So, all that to say, we like Indianapolis and wouldn't mind going back again. Good airport, too.

Reading, watching, listening...

It's hard to believe but I think the only new thing I've been into since last month is the HBO show, Rooster, starring Steve Carell. We binged it pretty quick and it was very funny.

Oh, I also rewatched the original The Magnificent Seven recently, which I have not seen since I was a kid, and barely remembered. I felt like it held up pretty well for a 66 year old movie. It's funny, many critics panned it when it came out and now it's heralded as a classic, and is, according to Wikipedia, the second most-shown movie in the U.S. after The Wizard of Oz.

That's all for this month—thanks for reading!

Postscript: Wendy got her British citizenship this week after over a year of working on it, getting all the documents and notarizations and everything else in order. She's a dual citizen now. I'm so proud of her and it was a great moment getting to be there at the embassy when she received her certificate. Plus, they served tea and shortbread biscuits after, so win-win-win.