Welcome to the 6th post for this month which successfully puts another check in the monthly post commitment and thankfully this one comes earlier than usual.  As you probably know I am usually rushing to get these babies done before day 30ish comes to a close.  Not this month, but that is primarily due to focusing on getting these done in order to spent the rest of the month (and some into the next month as well) focusing on a big personal event that is scheduled for September 11th.  Not really talking about it at the moment to keep from jinxing myself so we’ll just let that go for now.  On a side note, thanks to the ass Don Henley finding the need to come out in favor of the PROTECT IP Act (and using invalidated studies and hyperbole fear as a basis – must be learning from Gore), today marks the first day of never giving a penny to anything that funds the Eagles or Don Henley in any form.  This of course includes additional albums/CDs/DVDs to those already sitting in our shelves and god forbid anymore $75 tickets to their concerts.  Just my little way of helping make Donny-boy’s fake claims as real as I can – say, won’t you join me?

Enough ranting, you are hear for one and only one reason.. to fill the empty void when you found out there were even more phoadtography pictures from our Indy trip!  So, picking up where part one left off (link) I give you this sign found on a building as we were driving through a city.

Talk about a bad signage planning.  Reading this to someone would put them in a quandary.  Those Damn Pentecostals! or those Pentecostals are one Damn Ass Company.  If their lucky they would have seen the name of the city (Damasco) as they drove through.

As we drove into Indianapolis we spotted this hotel rising up above the trees.  From a design perspective it was pretty stunning and blended nicely with the environment.  Turns out our hotel was right near this Marriott and could have used it to navigate directly where we needed to be.  The construction around Indy had us uncertain we were on the right road and quite frankly the neighborhoods we were passing through had us a little concerned.  It all turned out okay, but simply heading for this landmark would have probably worked better.

Hit the jump to see the rest of the Indy Phoadtography Collection

Here is another shot of it as we broke through the trees.  As you can see, it is quite large and I believe Linda saw a brochure or something that indicated it was the largest single hotel in that chain.  It must pull in a bunch of business from the race track, the Colts and of course the Big Ten and NCAA Tournament basketball events (Not sure if the Pacers play in Indy or not).  It was amazing how well this particular Phoadtography shot captured how badly that building was leaning – surprised anyone could actually stand in their rooms.

Quick, an intelligence quiz.  If you were a city planner, what type of ornamentation would you put near your busy intersections for the enjoyment of your visitors?  Maybe a colorful flower garden or perhaps an ornate water fountain would do the trick.  If so, we would make a note to visit your spot on the map as often as possible.  Now contrast this to whatever the hell the Indianapolis planner was thinking with his or her selection.  As country bumpkins we may be over sensitive to this, but the last thing anyone would want to drive past is a herd of deer in all out panic heading for the street.  As you can tell from this horrible shot, I was already in full cardiac arrest.

Truth be told, apparently this is the type of shot you get when you are busy gawking out the car windows when you are suppose to be navigating.  At the moment this shot was being taken Linda was impolitely informing me that I had a job to do  – meh.. shiny objects – look honey an indian!

You thought I was kidding didn’t you.  There’s plenty of time to read a map later, there’s statues to be snapped.  I didn’t notice until post processing that the shot was “photo-bombed” by a whacked out meth addicted deer wreaking terror in the streets.  Huh? oh wow Linda, when did you add THOSE words to your vocabulary .. take a quick left and then a right about three blocks ahead.. your welcome (she went deeper into her vocabulary three blocks later when she realized I really didn’t look at the map hehehe).  Cool indian statue eh?  Turns out it was sitting in front of their Indian/Heritage Museum right across from our hotel… so maybe just a left would have done it.

Apparently they have volcanoes in Indianapolis.  Shhhhh don’t wake up any of the aliens they might get cranky and start invading our brains or cause a few people in Washington to loose their balance like a few days ago.  The horror, the horror.

UPDATE: 8/27/2011 – An astute reader (my brother) has corrected me.  As he surmised I had mistakenly confused Christian Science with Scientology.  My heartfelt apologies to Christian Science for any undue embarrassment this may have caused.  Please accept my apologies and carry on… others.. get back to reading your science fiction books and jumping up and down on talk show coaches.

This particular scene was kicking my butt.  Not sure of the total count, but guessing we passed this wooden train about 4 times.  The first three times I completely blew the shot and was bound and determined to get it on the 4th.  Composition needs some work, but it was finally captured.  Unfortunately, it was about 10 seconds after the pickup plowed into the side of it.

Those Indy folks sure like playing with their wood (should have saved the hotel sign in part 1 for a visual punchline).  Here is another elaborate playset we passed somewhere near French Lick.  Aye Matey, howz abot nest tim keping the camra glaz awaz from thee dor frame.  Yeah, I know, but Linda was driving like 90 mph through a school zone so it was a miracle I got any shot at all.

Another odd thing we noticed is the number of log cabins throughout the region.  Not sure if this is a tribute to their heritage or they lack a local Menards or Lowes.

Here is one of the State Parks we visited on our trip.  I can’t remember if this is the one that had the tribute to the Apollo astronaut or not, but apparently it is Indiana’s most popular state park .  The brochures harped on their great forests since it was untouched by glaciers.

Would you like me to translate that statement from someone who is very familiar with trees due to living on a highly wooded lot?  Glad you asked.   it just means there are a lot of trees to look at.  We went up to an observation area (shaped like a fort) and stood there and looked at the trees .. until we got bored two minutes later.  I should point out we did our best to try and get killed in that park.  Both of us were chasing lightening shots as a wicked storm came in and yours truly decided to face his heights fear head on by electing to climb up a forest fire tower (with the storm looming).  Linda was suppose to get pictures of me at the top of this rickety piece of crap but I think she got distracted by a squirrel or moth – probably still holding a grudge from the navigator episode.

We drove into a little town not far from the park.  Linda likes the Life is good shirts (but she absolutely loves the Life is Crap shirts) so I snapped a shot of their sign.  We stopped in on our way back from the park.  By then the storm was in full downpour causing us to get drenched just crossing the street.  As we walked in the clerk informed us the store was closed.  Caught by surprise we started to turn back, but the dork then stated he was kidding.  Then he proceeded to start singing along with the radio and fluttering around.  Linda continued to shop while I contemplated bolting for the door.  The little chatter box did give Linda a 10% discount on her purchases because she was already wearing one of their shirts.  Eventually I escaped.

Apparently we were in Amish (or similar lifestyle) country.  There were large groups of Amish (my apologies if I am generalizing here, but I am just not familiar with all the offshoots of technology shunning followers) at the Indianapolis Zoo.  The women were in traditional dresses with bonnets while the men were in black pants, dress shirts and black hats.  I respected their religion and opted not to take any photos, but the Indy workers did try to get them to take picture at the entrance.  We overheard some kid practically yell “Dad, why are they all wearing blue?”  This put the parents in full damage control mode as they quickly steered their kids to an opposite animal display.  As a note, they due tend to invest in nice shoes – most of the girls were wearing colorful name brand running shoes or in some cases pretty flip flops – just kind of stood out against the rest of their wardrobe.

Caution, fuzzy horse and buggies ahead!  Sure enough, we did encounter one in that area.

Most of my office mates are very familiar with the RAT.  The nature of our business.  I should only have to go through this one more time in 6 years or so .. unless our country doesn’t financially wake up soon and my 401K doesn’t right itself.

Say it with me “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

We Fighting Illini can usually count on Indiana sucking worse than us, but as of late not so sure.  As another slap in the face Sports Illustrated has picked us to finish dead last in the Big Ten Conference.  This is it Zook, deliver or you are gone.  Chief! Chief! Chief!  You can try to take our symbol, but we will never forget.

These eagles looked pretty cool so they got a shutter snap.  Maybe I’ll try to convince Linda we need two of these at our driveway entrance – although she will try to make them Iowa Hawkeyes instead and we just can’t have that now can we?!

Nothing says Army Surplus like a 3 story rocket.  As much grief as I give myself for my other shots,  the alignment on this particular shot was exemplary.

Anyone know where the limestone capital of the world is?  Linda and I do and now thanks to my trusty camera we all do.  This was news to us, but based on the limestone used throughout French Lick it isn’t too surprising.

Thought I would throw in some wildlife pictures.  Although technically we were not moving at the time, this shot was still taken out the sun roof of the SUV.  Lighting was not the best at the time so it was a slight struggle to get anything of quality.

Pretty sure this was with the 200mm and not the Beast.  I’ll crop it in so you can see this beautiful bird.

Well, it is probably beautiful to its mother.  For those that do not have them flying over your house all the time (like we do) it is a Turkey Vulture.  This year seems like a record number of these are out and about in our neck of the woods and we’ve spotted them gliding in the wind in many of the other towns we have visited.  They are quite majestic in flight, but like the bad light good light character in Seinfeld, you don’t really want to get too clear of a picture.   Here is another shot – from afar.. not too bad..

up close EEEEK.  I find it quite unnerving to look up in the trees while I’m running and see these creatures just staring down at me.  So far my ticker has out willed their best laid plans.

Looks like the end is upon us.  I hope you enjoyed this final installment of the Indy Phoadtography collection.  It is always fun to look back and remember the sites and sounds we encountered on our vacations .. ummmm fun except when remembering how demanding Linda can get with this pipe dream called trip navigator.

Don’t let the vultures get ya!