Trip Report #5 - Two oldest kids and Dad trip to Dayton and Indianapolis

Air Force One

I just returned from a fun, rainy trip with my oldest two kids ages 6 and 4.  It was originally going to be only a father son trip but when I told Linc about the trip he immediately asked, is Macie coming?  He so badly wanted her to come so I said of course we can ask her.  When asked, Macie said she definitely wanted to come.  I mean who wouldn't want to go on a trip with Dad.

Lincoln loves airplanes so I figured the trip should revolve around them.  I spent some time searching the internet for fun airplane trips.  At first I thought going to an air show would be the best option and I found some cheap flights out to California where the Blue Angels would be participating.  However, after looking at the logistics of the trip I thought flying across the country for a quick weekend might be too much for a 4 year old.

During my search for air shows I also found out that the Red Bull Air Race was being held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  This is only about a 3 hour drive from Columbus.  If you have never heard of this race you should look it up.  These one seat planes race around a track at speeds up to 250MPH.  It's pretty crazy.

Ready to see some planes

The General Admission tickets for adults are only $35 and kids under 15 get in free with an adult GA ticket.  If you have not been to a race track for an event it is way different than a MLB, NBA, or NFL venue.  You are allowed to bring food and drink into the track.  I'm talking coolers full of beer and as much food as you want.  People that have been to NASCAR races will know what I'm talking about.  Since I was with the kids and driving, I did not bring in any beer but we did bring plenty of snacks and juice boxes.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we actually did not see any planes race.  We got to the track at 10 a.m. and the racing was planned to begin at 11 a.m.  The rain started early in the morning and lasted most of the day.  Finally at 1:30 p.m., after many delays in the start time, we left the track and headed to our van.  3.5 hours waiting in the rain was just too much for the kids.  We ended up finding out the planes were allowed to fly at 2:30 p.m. 😟  The race will most likely be back in 2018 and we will try again.

How we spent most of our day!

The Race Course

When I originally searched for Air Show dates I came across an ad for different Air Museums. There are some awesome museums around the Country and one of them, The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, is only about an hour away from Columbus.  I decided to stop there on the way to Indianapolis.  This is another inexpensive activity.  It is free to get into the museum and parking is also free!  If you like planes this is a must see museum.  Fun for kids and adults but also very humbling.  The exhibits can lead to some interesting questions from kids - Daddy why did they need this huge plane to drop those big bombs?   Or why do a lot of these planes have naked women painted on them?

Fun, interactive exhibits

This place is HUGE!  If you read all the signs and watched the videos it would take days to get through.  As we entered the museum the woman at the information desk saw me with the kids and stopped me.  She was very nice and suggested we start in hanger 4 which house the Air Force One exhibits.  These are the most interactive exhibits because you can actually walk through the planes.  It was a great suggestion.  We loved walking through the planes and looking at the kitchens and bathrooms.  Many of the older visitors got a kick out of hearing the kids say wow this plane is so old and boring.

"Daddy what does that say?"

Space shuttle

Observation deck near the cafe

landing gear

Fighter pilot

General Notes on the museum:

There is a big Gift Shop so bring some money to support the Museum.
If you need a meal there is a nice little cafe on site.
I wouldn't plan a visit longer than 2 or 3 hours.  It's a lot of walking for kids.

Air traffic controller

Fun Astronaut pics

Hotel in Indy- I had some Marriott Rewards Points ~ 15,000.  I did a quick search on the Marriott app and found a few options.  I ended up choosing the Fairfield Inn Indianapolis South because it was 15,000 points and had free breakfast and parking.  It is also walking distance to some good restaurants.  It also only took us 20 minutes to get to Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the hotel.  We ended up eating dinner at the Stacked Pickle.  It was a fun little sports bar with great kids options.

Good healthy meal at the Stacked Pickle

Free Breakfast!

Note - these points were accumulated very easily.  10,000 points came from notifying Marriott that I did not get my 500 points per night for passing on housekeeping during a recent stay.  Marriott has a program that rewards you for not utilizing full housekeeping services every night of your stay.  I simply emailed Marriott after the points did not show up in my account.  They apologized for the inconvenience and credited my account with 10,000 points!  Now I'm sure this doesn't happen every time but it's worth reaching out to customer service if you have any issues.  The remaining 5,000 points came from Marriott's Social Media rewards campaign.  You can read more about it in this post.

Overall this trip was hindered by bad weather but it was still a success.  I'm not going to lie, there were still a few kid and dad melt downs but mostly it was laughs.  I plan to do this trip again next year and visit some other kids' attractions like the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  Anyone every been to Indianapolis with kids?  Any advice or tips?

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