Springtime in Indiana

May 7, 2014



Michael & George

Holiday Park Ruins



Michael & Kevin


Springtime in Indiana

Funerals are by their nature, somber and sad occasions but like many sad events, there is a small silver lining in that good memories are recalled and family and friends are brought together when they most likely would not have taken the time to gather otherwise. Such was the case when I traveled on somewhat short notice to attend the memorial for my friend Wilhelmina Davis. I was already planning a couple of trips to the Circle City, but this added an extra one and gave me more of an opportunity to enjoy the onset of Spring and to see many old friends.

 

The memorial brought together the Davis clan and their extended families, all of whom are among my closest friends. Two sets of twin brothers close to my age and a slightly younger sister and all their spouses and combined twelve kids were all on hand and in spite of the sadness of the moment it was really, really nice to see them all and to meet so many of the children, many of whom I had not met before or for at least many years. Some other old friends were at the memorial as well including my former Hamaker Pharmacy boss, George and his wife Judy.

Judy & George

Mario

I had been fortunate enough to get tickets to game seven of the opening play-off series between the Indiana Pacers and Atlanta Hawks. We had attended game four in Atlanta and as things worked out, my friend Tim and I got tickets in the Legends Suite to watch game seven which was in the evening just after the memorial.







Game sevens are always a lot of fun, especially when your team comes out on top after a hard fought draw through the first six games.  It wasn’t the prettiest of victories, but the Pacers outplayed the Hawks using a smashmouth defense and the offense of Paul George (30 points, 11 rebounds) to defeat the Hawks 92-80. They won the series 4-3 and move on to play the Washington Wizards in round two.

Michael & Paul





Before the memorial and the game, I attended the Broad Ripple Farmer’s Market with my sister Michele and then checked out the Spring Fair for Orchard School at Holiday Park where garden displays and vendors were featured under a perfect Indiana spring day.







It was a very quick 26 hour trip, but after coming back to Key West and spending the week, I was back on a plane to Indianapolis the following weekend to attend the inaugural Indy Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the first time that Indy Cars had ever used the road course at the Speedway and I was on hand for the first practice session with my friend Kevin.

James Hinchcliffe



Jason

Josef Newgarden & Kevin

Another friend, Andy had secured us Suite passes to hang out in the turn two suites to watch the action and enjoy free food and beer and we spent much of the day there checking out the odd sight of seeing the cars speeding around in the opposite direction on the famed speedway.



Dario Franchitti

Takuma Sato









We also spent a good deal of time wondering around the grounds including the Garage Area where we got a close up look at the cars and drivers competing in the Grand Prix.  It was another fantastic warm and sunny day and the perfect way to start off round two in Indianapolis.

Tony Kanaan

Andy





James Hinchcliffe & Michael