24 hours in Indianapolis

Spring Break Part 2

David heard about Brandon Lake coming to Indianapolis for his King of Hearts Tour several months ago and sent a family text to see who wanted to go. We drug our feet and never took the initiative to get tickets and let the opportunity slip by. David, on the other hand, got two tickets. Then about two weeks ago, he found out he'd be out of town for work on the night of the concert (in Dallas specifically, so not at all disappointed). So we bought his tickets from him and decided to stretch it into a fun 24 hours in Indianapolis. :)

What an awesome experience we had! So thankful it worked out in our favor!

Being in a crowd of 14,000 people with hands lifted high, singing from our hearts, worshipping Christ together felt like a glorified church service, a little taste of heaven on earth. They gave us all wristbands upon entry that all stayed lit up throughout the concert (changing colors, too!), so it was like a Christmas candlelight service, too. So cool. 

About halfway through, Brandon went backstage and changed, putting his sweaty hair into a ball cap. 

There was a little girl right up front with a sign that said it was her 7th birthday and her mommy said it was okay for her to go onstage with Brandon. He saw the sign and called her up to sing a song with him! It was absolutely precious. 

He made it clear that the concert was not about him, but completely about Jesus. 

The concert spoke deeply to my heart, and I'm so grateful I didn't miss it, after all. 

The concert went pretty late, so we stayed overnight in a hotel. We slept in the next morning and ventured out to find a good place for brunch before exploring a bit of the city. Lincoln Square Pancake House caught our attention, and it did not disappoint. 

We arrived at a very busy local place with incredible service and delicious food! The salsa verde on my burrito was extra creamy and the blueberry butter on blueberry pancakes made them melt in your mouth! We both agreed that we liked it so much it might even be worth the hour drive to revisit occasionally. 

Interestingly, it was the inside the same building as the Indiana State Teachers Association. 

As soon as we got done eating, we just started to explore. We started at the courthouse right across the street. 

Then we ventured through the Convention Center. I'd attended many trainings in that building my last few months that I lived in Warsaw when I worked for Healthy Families, but my memories were pretty vague since that was almost 25 years ago. 

We walked around to different places around town and took pics of things that looked interesting or historical. 

We ventured down the canal and really appreciated the peaceful atmosphere, as well as the community feel surrounding it with all the walking trails, etc. and athletic emphasis. 

We walked over to White River State Park and also appreciated the community feel it brought. 

We love to find unique local coffee shops when we visit new areas, and we sure did love the one we found!

Mango Matcha and Vanilla Latte with Blackberry Cold Foam. 

We found a cute little spot to sit outside and enjoy our drinks since the weather could not have been more beautiful. 

We paid for parking for five hours, and we decided to venture home once our time ran out. We stopped at a gas station on the way home where Mike found me a cute hat. I didn't buy it, but I still tried it on and snapped a few pics. Mike and David wear their cowboy hats all the time and constantly gets complements on them. I don't know that I'm ready to join that club yet. 

Once we'd almost made it home, we both said that ice cream sounded good, like the kind we got in Kentucky. Then we both had the same idea at the same time, to stop at a new ice cream shop in Columbus called Smallz (owned by a Hispanic family from my school). We ordered two mangonadas (Mangos, mango ice cream, and a chili-lime sauce. Truly my favorite treat in town. Just the perfect mix of flavors.