Daytrip to Bloomington w/Mom and Dad

On Monday, we got up and drove Zane to the airport, since he had to get back for his wine exam (tough life, huh?).  Then we kept heading south and took a little trip to the town of my alma mater, Indiana University.  I really only have one family of friends (the Shackey's) that still live in Bloomington, but I love them, so I try to make it down whenever I visit my parents.  First place we stopped was Oliver winery.  I was really pleased to see how well they are doing and how they have evolved.  When I used to go there during college, they had only about a dozen wines and specialized in semi-sweet, "picnic" wines.  Now they have many more varietals and even some reserve wines.  The quality of all of their wines have increased and I enjoyed this tasting more than any of the other times I've visited.  From there, we headed into town and met Eric for lunch at Upland Brewery's brewpub near the square.  Similarly to Oliver, their beer has evolved since I lived in B-town.   I remember their Wheat being good, but it is GREAT now.  And all the beers I tried were good, as was the food.  

After lunch, I gave a driving tour of the campus and some off-campus things that we part of my life when I lived there: apartments, parks, restaurants, etc.  We got out and walked around a little, too.  I wanted to show Addy the building where I spent the vast majority of my undergrad career, the Chemistry building.  It didn't have the effect on her that I somehow expected, but she reminded me that I am a big nerd and she didn't even have to take any chemistry courses in college.  We snapped a couple of photos, enjoyed the weather and then headed out to Amy and Eric's house to meet up with them.

It was great to be able to see them and hang out for a while.  It is great to see such good, nice people prospering and having such a good life.  I'm sure they are plagued with their own day to day struggles, but they are both healthy and have a beautiful boy that they are proud of and raising to be a good person.  We got pizza from my 2, that's right 2, favorite pizza places from college.  For those of you in the know, Pizza Express breadsticks are still amazing and they are still using Que Bueno.   But I have to say that Aver's is actually making better pizza's now.  The Cream and Crimson was WAY better than the supreme we got from Express.  But it was all good and exactly what I wanted to eat when I was visiting.  And of course, Amy had to make brownies for me.  If you haven't guessed already, I gained 10 lbs on this vacation, even with the 10K!

10K with Torkelson(s) and lunch with "the boys"

Saturday morning Addy and I got up early and went for a run.  Nothing to blog about, right?  But then I say that we were on vacation in Indiana and it was a 10K (6.2 miles) that people ran to train for the 500 mini-marathon and there were 1,778 running with us and it gets a little more interesting, right?  So, now your probably asking, "why?".  Well this was the best opportunity we had to run with our friend Torkelson.  He is a good friend of mine from high school and one of our teammates for the Hood to Coast relay this fall and we don't get to run together often, since he lives in Wisconsin (just north of Chicago).  Torkelson just started running this past fall, but has taken to it like a duck to water.  We have always been competitive and this is a great outlet for our long-distance shit-talk.  We are constantly pushing each other to run faster and further.  Torkelson's youngest brother, Tim, also came up to run from Bloomington.  

The weather could not have been much more perfect: cool, little windy, and sunny.  The course did a figure 8 around the canal and by IUPUI campus.  Pretty flat, too (duh, it was in Indiana).  Addy and I started at the back of the pack and passed people the whole race.  All of us had great personal times.

Brett           time 46:56  avg mile 7:33  overall finish 193rd  division finish 35th

Addy          time 54:45  avg mile 8:48  overall finish 565th  division finish 40th

Torkelson  time 1:01:08  avg mile 9:50  overall finish 950th  division finish 110th

Tim            time 1:11:29  avg mile 11:30  overall finish 1343  division finish 31st

The race was fun and it was great to see Tim.  After we cooled-off and took some pics, Tim left to head back south and Torkelson, Addy, and I headed north to pick up my brother, Zane, on the way to my parents' house.  We met up with Zane and his friends ("the boys") for brunch at Lincoln Square.  I've seen these guys grow up since they've been friends since grade school and then lived together in college.  They crack me up constantly and are way too entertaining.  This time it was Mike, Colin, and Garret.  Suffice it to say that the company was better than the food and I'm so glad that I got to see them on this trip.

Visiting Anderson in INdy 03/09

I think I saw almost everyone that looks at this blog while I was on vacation, but not everyone, so here are some pics and notes.  I'm going to break it up in sections, so its easier for me.  

Addy and I flew Frontier, which I like, and arrived in Indianapolis (INdy to me) on Friday afternoon.  Josh Anderson, my good friend from high school, was there shortly to pick us up.  He took us downtown to Massachussetts Avenue, which is a cool part of downtown that is undergoing rejuvenation.  There are a bunch of boutique shops and cool restaurants and bars.  We grabbed a quick bite at a creole spot called Yats.  They serve a few types of creole "stew" that they serve over rice.  We each got something different and shared because they were all great!  Very simple really, but the flavors were great and the price was right.  We walked down to The Best Chocolate in Town shop after that to satisfy our sweet teeth.  It is not just a clever name, either.  Josh had an Irish cream truffle, I had a cayenne pepper truffle, and Addy got a caramel.  We then spent a little time in the local music shop, where I picked up the new Ray LaMontange.  By that time we needed to pick up little Iris from daycare.  Man, she is cute and was the center of attention as soon as we picked her up.  We went to Josh's house to hang out for a little and get Iris home.  He has a cool 1920's bungalow in an established neighborhood with a park nearby on the east side of INdy.  

Later that night Josh took Addy and I out to Brugge, a new microbrewery/brewpub, in Broad Ripple.  They are all about Belgian style.  Only 3 beers to choose from: White, Black, and the Ripple Trippel (which was amazing).  Their specialty was frites (fries), which came with up to 12 different dipping sauces.  The blue cheese, syrup and mustard, and garlic aoli were all great.  Josh and I shared a pot of steamed mussels and finished it off with a delicious dessert crepe.  Over dinner we talked about all the cool stuff Josh is doing at work and with his group of super-creative Midwestern urbanists.  His group's newest project is installing sculpture bike racks on the new cultural walkway through downtown.  Josh always gets me all jazzed about making YOUR neighborhood a better place and getting involved.  He's an action-oriented hipster!  They do exist!  It was a great end to a great day hanging out with a good friend that I don't get to see enough.

The next morning Addy and I had our run that will be in a different post, but some of the other Anderson family came down to take care of Iris for the day and it was a pleasure to get to see them.  Just wanted to throw in a pic of all of them, cause I liked the luckful happenstance.