Indy's Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is in Indianapolis this year! It is pretty exciting even though the Colts won't be playing in the big game this year. The Patriots against the Giants. I think that the Patriots being here is unlucky for them - they will probably have the entire city, if not state, cheering against them. And poor Eli is constantly referred to as Peyton's brother since he will be playing in Peyton's house.... at least we hope it stays Peyton's house! I guess we will have to wait and see about that. Anyway...

The city has been preparing for months - ok, probably years, but the visible preparations have only been going on during the past year as far as I can tell. Downtown has been completely transformed into the Super Bowl village and there are so many cool things going on down there. The weather has been freakishly warm for January/February so there have been insane amounts of people downtown.

We really wanted to go down and check out Super Bowl Village but the only day we could do it was Sunday, and it was not one of the warm days... it was cold and really, really, really windy. So, we did not stay that long, but from what we did see, Indy did a great job with the Super Bowl this year! I couldn't figure out how to save the map and post it here, but a link to the Super Bowl Village map is here: Map

One of the neatest things, in my opinion, is the zip line. It runs down Capitol Avenue and we saw many people whizzing by overhead. The online pre-sale tickets sold out almost immediately and people line up crazy early to get tickets the day of. Kevin was really wanting to do it, but there were no tickets when we went. They have free concerts, lots of bars and displays, and large outdoor heaters. We have heard rave reviews from the media about how great a job the city did with this Super Bowl and there is talk that Indy might get another Super Bowl down the road :)

We bundled up Braden in about 7 layers and put him in the stroller and headed out. Doesn't he look thrilled? He actually enjoyed it and didn't seem to be cold at all - he just took it all in.

The Super Bowl stuff on the side of the JW Marriott - pretty cool.

The Super Bowl letters on the Circle - they light up at night, but nighttime outings just really aren't for us anymore :)

There are Indy cars lined down Meridian Street and they are each painted with a different NFL team logo/colors. They were really awesome, but there were so many people that I didn't get any close up photos. Maybe that was a lack of patience on my part, but it was freezing!

Another shot of the letters.

The Super Bowl ice sculpture. I know that the ice sculptors didn't bet on 50 degree temps this week. I heard they melted and will have to be done again before the game.

Another ice sculpture.

All in all it was pretty awesome. We didn't do the NFL experience because we didn't want to spend the money. There was so much more that we didn't do, but I'm glad we got to experience it. That being said, I'm REALLY glad that I don't work downtown or have to go there for any purpose this week. Parking and traffic are a nightmare :)