Peggy and I went downtown Saturday to see what the Super Bowl Village (SBV) and NFL Experience was all about.  I put a call out to a very good friend and business associate and wound up getting a great deal on a beautiful room at the Conrad.  If you ever get the chance to stay here, do it!  What an amazing hotel. 

We toured around the Experience, the Village and the Circle throughout the daylight hours of the day.  Prior to dinner we were graciously invited to visit with some friends who live at the Conrad for a few beers. Living in the heartbeat of the city, seeing out their windows was majestestical.  We had dinner at the Capital Grill, which is a restaurant I had been to for lunch business meetings before but Peggy had never eaten at.  WOW, actually double WOW WOW!  The meal was off the chart the ambience was great and sometimes it just doesn’t matter what it cost.  It was damn good!

Having full bellies we changed back into street attire, fitted with earmuffs and gloves and witnessed an event I never thought we would see in downtown Indianapolis.  I remember Indy as a child as being ran down and dangerous at best.  Last night, there had to be close to 100,000 “crazies” having a smiling, dancing, wonderful, cheerful time.  I was most impressed that folks were going out of there way to find trash cans and not loitering.  Way to go Indianapolis!

Here is a video I took of the lightshow and fireworks which are a nightly affair starting at9:15pm.  Super Bowl Committee you nailed it!

Peggy and I have gotten back into the off road sport.  Here is our new toy!  We have taken it out once already and really enjoy the ride of the suspension.  The first ride was at Haspin Acres, seeing lots of deer roaming around.

A day to give Thanks…..  What a blessed day we had with family.  We met at Brian and Laura’s and the hit of the day was two fold.  The first was the fact that DOD is out of the hospital and beginning to heal.  The second and most vibrant was the two newborns.  Austin (Brad & Jamie) & Mariah 4 days old (Mike & Kristen).  They say pictures are worth a thousands words, well here is a gazillion reasons why we love our family.

Click on the picture to see more.

~Fred

I took my beautiful bride to the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.  We shopped during the day and walked around. Dinner was awesome at the Hotel (Osterio Pronto).  The view from our room was awinspriring.  The only thing I screwed up on was getting a picture taken of the two of us.

I look forward to the next 17.

~Fred

Having lived the better part of my entire life in Indianapolis and having been to several of the nicest zoo’s in the US, I have not been to Indy’s.  Sure I may have went as a kid, but geez that was 40+ years ago and I am not so sure I even did that.  Peggy and I met Bruce and Jan Kamplain and had an absolute blast.  The weather was great and getting there before the swarm of baby strollers was a great idea (Bruce). 

I really enjoy taking pictures and learning from an expert and Bruce is an expert.  He knows how to do it!!!

Hope you enjoy, click on the picture to see the rest of them.

~Fred

MAXC Race Pictures

Click on the picture to see the rest of them.

Peggy and I spent our 4th of July weekend with good friends at Tomorrow’s Campground Resort in Springfield, Ohio.  It takes a little work and effort to go camping, however the payoff is huge. We love it.  This trip we had some friends who hadn’t camped with us before and we just heard that they are looking at a camper of their own.

As usual click on the picture to see more from this trip….

~Fred

Today we took a “Tour” and visited Muir Woods and then on to Sausalito.  The tour line picked us up at the hotel and took us to Fishermans Wharf where we met everyone else going on this tour.  We took a 45′ bus over the Golden Gate Bridge and on to Muir Woods.  The woods were awesome, however the only problem with tours is “time”.  We only had a limited amount of time and for me if given the chance I would had stayed for hours. 

We then went to Sausolita where Peggy and I windowed shopped just a bit, followed up with a nice lunch on the bay.  We then ran, literally!  Well Peggy ran, I walked quickly to make our Ferry ride back to San Francisco.  The weather was wet, cloudy and overall we had a blast.

Click on the picture or here to see more.

~Fred

Today it was going to be raining by noon and the temps were not warm.  So with sweatshirts and jackets Peggy and I took out of the Hotel for a easy downhill walk to Union Square to see more of San Fran.  We discovered the cable car depot which for $20.00 we boarded and took to Fishermans Wharf.  Had a great time seeing views and sights of things I had never seen before and around nooninsh the skies opened up and it rained off and on the remainder of the day.  We were well prepared and even kept the camera dry. 

Finished the night off in the Hotel with free drinks, followed up by free dinner.  Beyond this, San Francisco is not that expensive to me. 

Click here to see more of Day 2

~Fred

I am out here for a business seminar and what a better way to celebrate Peggy’s Birthday than to bring her with me and come out a few days early so we could see more of America.  This place is awesome.  It’s really cool see all of the neat things there are to do and we should have a good time over the next several days.  Chinatown was a blast and although both of us were tired, we made it up and down the very hilly streets.  Check out these pictures

Today I think were going to get on a sight seeing bus and become true tourist.  I want to see the Golden Gate Bridge and the Muirwoods.

~Fred