All entries for Sunday 23 March 2008

The sun is shining

Today in Indy it is a crisp spring morning, the temperature is around the freezing point, but the sun is bright and high in the sky. In the UK its the kind of day where you’d either go for a walk along the Surrey Hills or you might take a trip out into Derbyshire for a nice drive followed by a walk along a river. It’s just a nice day to be outside and enjoy the scenery, the only trouble is that Indiana is Flat. It’s as though when America was being formed a massive force flattened the entire eastern side of the country then got bored when it reached the Rockies. I honestly can’t think of a single thing to do within 30 miles of Indy. There are no rolling hills to go walking in, no Yorkshire dales or variety, just a patchwork of farmland as far as the eye can see, and trust me when the world is this flat you can see a fair way.

Having driven round this part of the USA a fair amount now I’m left with the feeling that you could be anywhere, each little place is more or less the same as every other little place. Villages are so spread out that there is not much sense of community and what was there is dominated by huge chains of stores offering fast food or out of town shopping centres offering the same options as the last. I’m sure the west coast of America where you have Yellowstone and some of the more forested areas would be stunning, as would being in someplace more connected to the big cities like Washington DC, Chicago or New York, but here in Indianapolis there is little to see.

In a sense this is a shame because undoubtedly I’m doing a disservice and I just don’t know where to look but at the same time its pretty hard to find things to do, even a quick google doesn’t pull up much outside unless you like golf… there is a lot of golf here.

Christopher Hinds : 23 Mar 2008 14:43 |  Tags: Indiana Indianapolis Uk Weather |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem