Happy St. Patrick's Day. The boys in their green while mommy was getting ready in the morning.
Besides visiting family in Indiana, we also got to do many other fun and touristy type things while we were there. One such day was St. Patrick’s Day when we went to the Indianapolis Zoo and the Indianapolis Speedway with Grandpa Smith. The day was perfect. It was one day of spring in the middle of winter! We actually all walked around in short sleeves (except Elias) and sunglasses. I think it reached 73 degrees! Overall we were very impressed by the Indianapolis Zoo. They actually don’t have very many exhibits open, but everything they did have was very good. There were dolphins and a really good desert exhibit (Although Nathan probably didn’t really like that one as much because it was so hot in the desert dome).
Elias looking at the elephants.
We got to see lots of African animals including ostrich, giraffes, rhinos (we don’t think Elias actually saw those because they blended in with the rock behind them really well), baboons (including a baby), lions, elephants, wild dogs, and more. Elias seemed to especially enjoy the elephants and the giraffes. It was fun to see the African elephants because we have Asian elephants in Portland.
On the speedway track. You can see the museum in the background. I guess I accidentally cut Nathan off. Grandpa Smith is also in the background.
After we were finished at the zoo we decided to try to see if the Indianapolis Speedway was open. It was! Nathan’s dad treated us to a bus tour where we actually got to ride on the track of the speedway! We were amused when the recording told us that we would have been lapped 16 times by the drivers at the end of our tour. I was amazed by how large the stadium is, but also how narrow the track is. It doesn’t look like cars could go speeding by so fast on it.
Here are a couple other pictures from our fun St. Patrick’s Day:
Elias excited by the giraffes.
Elias tired at the end of the day.