The State of Indiana: A Preliminary Review

 I have lived in many places. Six states and about a million cities/towns. I decided I'd like to write a 'review' for each state that I have lived in. Maybe it will help others decide where to go, or just entertain those who want to know more. My life, in terms of moving, has been quite an adventure. I have much to say about the 6 states I have lived in; their differences, their similarities, and everything in between. 

Indianapolis, IN

That means this last review is about Indiana which is located in the midwest. Still. Same as Missouri, only further east. The first thing I noticed about Indiana was how I had thought it was very industrial, after all it is a Rust Belt state. But it is actually mostly farmland. I was surprised. It is also super flat! I am from all over the west side of the country, where every state has mountains of some sort. So it was a little bit of a geographical shock. 

Farmland in Indiana

I am also not used to living in a smaller town. Granted there is 70k people, so it's not too small, but I'm a city/suburb gal that is used to actual metropolitan living. The town we are in has like, 40,000 churches. Ok not that much, but seems like a lot. Which leads me to notice how this is a very churchy state, so no doubt it is a red state full of Republican farmers, that even the democrat-voting populous of Indianapolis (the main large city) isn't enough to change the political landscape. Not really my cup of tea, but I've lived in Utah, so I can handle this.

The biggest problem I am encountering, is the beer in this town. They boast about 3 or 4 liquor stores, none of which have craft beer! I couldn't believe it. They have a great liquor selection, and a wonderful domestic beer selection (Bud Light, etc.) but for actual, real, good beer: None. We had to drive 45 minutes to the suburbs of Indianapolis to get our beer at Total Wine & more. We stocked up pretty big so we wouldn't have to keep going there too often to keep getting beer. I can't believe that craft beer is not really big in the town I live in. So weird. Again, I am from the west where craft is king.

Beer in Indiana

It is a cute town though, with downtown being reachable by walking further up my street OR taking a trail that goes from behind us to downtown over a creek. Either way, in just under a quarter mile you end up in downtown and there's several breweries (with their own craft beer/restaurants...at least there's that!), book store, government buildings (library anyone?), a crystal/hippy shop (love those) and lots of other cool stuff. I am seriously hoping that there are now Christmas decorations and that they will have maybe a little festival or something there. 

Downtown in the town we live in

The town is littered with creeks and parks. They have an aquatic center, as well as a pool in their YMCA so that is neat. I look forward to walking everywhere. Me and my mate have walked 10 miles around in Arizona, and 11 miles one day in St. Louis, so if we work up to it, the 10 miles of town shouldn't be too difficult. Only when the weather is nice though. Not during the winter.

I also find it strange that the northwest and southwest corners of the state are in central time, and the rest including where I am, is eastern time zone. WTF? It doesn't make sense to be in eastern time, either. The sun doesn't come up until 8am in the winter. WOW! That is bananas. I am used to a 6:30am sunrise in Washington in the winter. The state has more in common with the central time states, so it is weird to me.

Indiana license plate

So far we like it here, despite a few bumps. I will write more as life happens.