I left early Friday morning, and arrived in the mid-afternoon at my first site, the Indianapolis Zoo. My latest and most ardent hobby is animal photography, so I’m always drawn to zoos in particular. The Indianapolis Zoo is relatively new, built in the 1990s, and while not huge, it has some unique and
modern exhibits that are well laid out so you see animals pretty much continuously in each of the environment-themed areas: Forest, Desert, Savannah, Ocean. Highlights for me were the koalas, on loan from the San Diego zoo, the walruses—unusual for a zoo-- who swam underwater and seemed as interested in us as we were in them, and the lemurs on an island at the zoo center. At one point I noticed the lemurs moving cautiously onto a narrow bridge, retreating several times, until finally bounding lithely across. A closer look through my zoom lens saw the reason why. Lemurs don’t like water to begin with, and there were three turtles sunning themselves on the log that the lemurs had to jump over.If you’d like to see more of my photos from the Indianapolis Zoo, I’ve posted the best of them in an album on my Webshots page: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/566122899euRKgf.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art--an impressive modern building set in beautifully landscaped gardens--was my next stop. The museum features art and artifacts from around the world, and had a special exhibit of Egyptian artifacts from the Brooklyn Museum. I particularly enjoyed the fine collection of artwork in the pointillism style pioneered by George Seurat. Like most paintings, you really need to see these in person to fully appreciate them. From a distance they seem uncannily lifelike, but up close you find they’re all dots, not unlike pixels on a TV screen. But what is interesting is the use of color, how an ocean at sunset isn’t made up of blues alone, but of spots of yellows, greens, and oranges as well. My favorite artist using this style is Camille Pissarro (French, 1831-1903). His “The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny” (1886) was one of my favorite paintings in the museum. The trees look so real, even up close. It’s quite stunning. My other favorite paintings in the collection were “Tidying Up” (1941) by Isabel Bishop (American, 1902-1988) a humorous painting of a woman inspecting her teeth in a compact mirror, and “His Majesty Receives” (1885) by William Holbrook Beard (American, 1824-1900). Beard is known for his satires featuring animals in human attire, and this is of a regal fox in a red ermine-trimmed robe, surrounded by small woodland creatures in business suits. I had never seen Beard’s work before, but will have to seek out more of it.
On Saturday I visited the birthplace of James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916), the “Hoosier poet,” in Greenfield, IN, just East of Indianapolis. Unless you went to school in Indiana, you may not know of him or his work. On the other hand, you almost definitely are familiar with two of the byproducts of his children’s poetry. During the Civil War, the Riley family took in an orphan named Mary Alice Smith, whom they called Allie for short. Allie worked for her room and board, and named each of the stairs she scrubbed. She also told the Riley children stories of fairies and goblins in the dark cupboard under the stairs. She was only with them about a year or two before moving on, never to be heard from again in Riley’s lifetime. But she made such an impression on James that when he grew up he wrote a poem about her. Unfortunately, when the poem was printed the typesetter made an error, and it was published as “Little Orphant Annie” instead of “Allie.” The poem became hugely popular, and inspired a comic strip, “Little Orphan Annie,” which in turn inspired a musical, Annie, which in turn inspired my favorite childhood movie of the same name. The Rileys’ house was on a main road, and another of Riley’s poems was inspired by the men, some of whom were returning from the war, who passed by. He called it “The Raggedy Man,” and it was the inspiration for the wildly popular dolls (and subsequent franchise) Raggedy Ann and Andy.
While the people I met in Indianapolis were all friendly, polite, and warm, I found the city itself to be most unwelcoming to visitors. The layout is sprawling with no pattern to the streets that allows for easy navigation. Each site seemed to be a half hour away from the previous. But worst of all were the detours. The entry ramp to the highway by my hotel was closed, prompting a long detour. But what was especially irksome was the “detour” for the same highway in Greenfield, which had signs pointing in various directions depending on where you were approaching from, signs that ultimately led to endless roads in the wrong direction. After an hour of trying to follow these detours, I finally found a gas station where I learned that the detour was no longer necessary as the construction had been finished, but only some of the signs had been taken down. All of this is to explain why I wasn’t able to see the Medical History Museum or tour the house where James Whitcomb Riley lived and died in Indianapolis.
I did, however, stop by the Museum of Miniature Houses and Other Collections in Carmel, IN, a charming town north of Indianapolis. When I was a little girl I had a dollhouse--not the Barbie variety, but a serious hobbyist/miniatures-type deal. I never finished it—it’s assembled, and I had bought all the supplies to wire it for electricity, wallpaper, carpet, and furnish it. But I never got beyond the main assembly. I believe it’s still sitting in my parents’ house somewhere. The museum brought back fond memories, and the houses were almost overwhelming in their detail. I would have adored this museum when I was a little girl.
On the drive back, I made stops at the Devonian era fossil beds in Clarksville, Indiana, in the Falls of the Ohio State Park (which doesn’t appear to have any falls, and is not in Ohio—go figure), located beside the I-65 bridge from Indiana to Kentucky. It’s also near one of my favorite Louisville-area stores, Schimpff’s Confectionary in Jeffersonville, IN, which I discovered on another trip earlier this summer. The Schmipff family has been making the most amazing cinnamon hard candy the same way, with the same equipment, since 1891. They also have a traditional soda fountain where they hand-mix Coca Colas the old-fashioned way (much sweeter and more flavorful), and a candy museum. I also drove around the Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, KY. It’s a beautiful park that’s ideal for hiking and biking, before heading home.
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