Travel Notes From Indianapolis

Well, for those of you noticed (AND pointed out) that there was no blog-entry yesterday, I'm here to tell you it was because not much has been going on! Yesterday, Wednesday, was our day of shows here in Indy. (We are here all week - and we only had the 2 shows yesterday. Good times!) We were back at Clowes Hall on the campus of Butler University - where we started out tour for our tech week work. We had about 2,000 kids in each show - and they were pretty uneventful. It IS worth nothing that these 2 shows were our first 2 shows BACK from my laryngitis-induced-show-changes. My voice is at about 99% - and so we were able to do the show in it's original form, and that was good. Other than that, the show is going well! Our 2 shows here in Indy marked the 57th and 58th time that we have performed the show - and I'm still loving it and really enjoying seeing and hearing how kids and families react to the show. As we've learned, even among school groups, the reactions run a WIDE spectrum - from the SILENCE in Crystal Lake to the PANDEMONIUM in Fayetteville, and everything that lies in between!
Yesterday after the shows, we headed BACK to the airport to drop Eric and Jen off. Eric is heading home to Philly to see his family and Jen is heading to Phoenix to warm up....AND to see her sister who goes to school there. We had a few extra days come up, because the Memphis gig we had bailed on the dates and moved to Spring, instead. So some people were able to scramble and get some tickets to see family!

Tara embraces Jen as she heads off to Phoenix. Um, both pictures are of Tara embracing her. So...fun....

L: Eric starts to get sad that he is leaving us..but everyone else seems fine with it. R: Eric goes in for a...um...good bye kiss, I guess. Actually, Eric...what ARE you doing? Look at the terror on Tara's face. Wow.

After we dropped them off, and the rest of us came back to the hotel to freshen up a bit, we hopped in the van and headed to the Broad Ripple neighborhood here in Indy - which is where everyone at the mall on Monday told us was THE place to be! Broad Ripple has a lot of restaurants, bars, coffee shops and little stores - and we spend the afternoon and early evening walking around a checking it all out. After checking out the vintage shops, Tara, Jackie and Andrew went to eat Thai food and Chris and I headed to the Union Jack - to eat whatever they had. Turned out to be a great restaurant - but sadly, the MILE HIGH CHEESECAKE that was promised on the menu turns out to be just a regular old slice of cheesecake. LUCKILY, our waitress, Katie, was honest with us - so I didn't end up buying it. Phew.

So, this set of pictures is for you Arrested Development fans out there. L: Chris shows us his BUSTER impersonation. R: The Hand Chair that Buster has on the show.

Some of our finds at the Vintage shops. Jackie employs what she has learned from "America's Next Top Model" over the past 5 seasons. Both tops are striking...but who WOULDN'T be the talk of any holiday party with the be-dazzled top on the right? I mean, those are beaded poinsettia's. Stunning!

L: Jackie and Tara show off the rare and genuine Muppet-fur coats at one of the Vintage shops. R: Look at this GEM of a coat I found - on the MEN'S COAT RACK! Treasures, people! Treasures ABOUND!

The rest of the night was spent watching movies, doing laundry and just relaxing from our taxing 2 show day. Oh - and resting up for our 4 days off that lie ahead!
Today was a sleep-in-day-of-magic! I am pretty sure I woke up at noon - read a little, hung out, and then Chris and I headed to eat lunch and then meet Jackie to see a movie. We saw Flightplan, with Jodi Foster - and across the reviews from the 3 of us were mixed across the boards. Chris hated it (a 3 on the MASE) - Jackie really enjoyed it (an 8 on the MASE) - and it was better than I thought it was going to be, but no where near great (a low 6 on my MASE).

Chris, Jackie and I before the movie started today. Fun, right?

Tonight, Elisa, both Chris' and I headed downtown Indy to find a place to eat - and then to find something fun to do. We ended up eating at an Irish Pub called Claddagh Irish Pub - check it out HERE. Everyone enjoyed it - with Chris Sizemore near GIDDY levels of excitement with the Irish Monte Cristo Sandwhich he ate. (He described it as a ham, turkey and cheese sandwhich on French Toast. And WHO wouldn't like that?) I had the Irish Beef and Guiness Stew and I HIGHLY recommend it. We ended dinner with the White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake (see below...you know the routine) - and it turned out that we were all happy with our dinner selection.

So here it is. Presentation? Beautiful! A definite 10! The actual cheesecake itself? A low 7. Maybe even a high 6. It was fine, for what it was. But what is was was NOT what it could've been. Huh?

We DID have a strange experience at dinner - which is hard to REALLY convey to you...because it never was actually resolved. But during dinner, Elisa told us that the group of servers and staff at the restaurant kept whispering and looking over at us...more at me, specifically. And evidently they continued to do it all through out dinner. Perhaps they were ALL attracted to me? Perhaps, by a strange twist of fate, they all saw the show and really liked Augustus? Perhaps I went to high school with them and just didn't recognize them? Or perhaps they mistook me for someone famous? There IS a Lord Of The Rings Exhibit here in Indy - maybe they confused me with Orlando or Viggo. It happens.
After dinner, we headed around the corner to Howl At The Moon - a dueling piano bar. As entertaining as the people THERE were (the customers), and as good as one of the piano guys was, it really only held our attention for about 3o minutes. We heard some songs, sang along, watched the people, and got bored. We probably would've left sooner - but we paid the $5 cover charge...and wanted to get SOME of our money's worth.
The Chris' and I caught up with Andrew at a local hang-out (Buffalo Something-Or-Other) with the cast of a local production of GREASE. (Another weird twist of fate - Andrew knows the girl playing Sandy in the production - which is playing at the dinner theater directly across the street from out hotel.) We ended the evening just hanging out and talking with some of the cast. Andrew's friend, Tiana (Sandy), is one cool chick - who Chris and I sat and talked college and pro football with most of the night. She was very impressive.

L: Before we went in to hang out with the cast of Grease, Chris and Chris got into the INDIANAPOLIS SPIRIT...and raced through the parking lot. Chris won. R: Andrew and Tiana. Doesn't she LOOK sporty?

Now it's time for sleep...to prepare for my big day tomorrow. You know - ANOTHER day off.
Laundry? Shopping? A Movie? The possibilities are endless...check back to see where the FUN BUS lets me off!
Good night!
G

****BREAKING NEWS****
For those theater-interested out there...the revival of Sweeney Tood opened on Broadway on Thursday night, and the reviews are in! Check out snippets of what the major publications are saying by clicking HERE.



Eric ponders the nuts at the Texas Roadhouse. Must.....not....make.....jokes...........TOO....MANY.........OPTIONS.....


WHO was in charge of naming this establishment? WHO? I don't even know where to begin.


Yesterday, Chris got a package from his mom - and in it, she included a bag of candy for all of us! Here, Tara excitedly rips through the bag to find a Kit-Kat to enjoy. And then, she enjoyed it. All of this is going on while Chris is on the phone telling his mom he received the package. A BIG thanks to Mom Sizemore for the Marshall University MAGNET for my collection. I LOVE it!


AND FINALLY, because someone is evidently keeping TRACK of what pictures I use and don't use...I wanted to include this picture, taken in Tahlequah, OK. Chris 'reminded' me tonight that I didn't use it, and so he ALMOST didn't get into the racing shopping carts. Hopefully, Sir Sizemore, this will make you happy.