Family trip

My husband and I are taking our two boys (5 and 10) to the Children%26#39;s Museum and zoo the first weekend of May. We live in southern Indiana, and so, have visited Indy several times before. We%26#39;re going this time specifically for the LEGO and Star Wars the Clone Wars exhibits at the museum - we LOVE the museum. The zoo is a family favorite, too, especially the newer marine exhibits and dolphins, and is easy to hit the same day we drive home. The problem is we%26#39;re heading up on Friday and don%26#39;t really have anything to do that evening. We should be getting there in the late afternoon/early evening. I think there are several museum-type places we might find interesting, but most close by the time we would be getting there. I%26#39;ve found several sites for family fun centers, but we do that kind of stuff here (mini golf, bowling, go carts, etc.). I was hoping for a more unique experience or something we can%26#39;t do at home. Any suggestions?! I saw on some earlier posts suggestions about taking a gondola or renting a surrey along the canal. Would that be something you can do in the evening? Is it affordable? Any other suggestions would be appreciated!!! Thanks!

Family trip

Here is a link to White River State Park by the canal. It has links to all the attractions. The surrey rentals appear to be available until ';dusk.'; You can call them to make sure.

www.in.gov/whiteriver/about/attractions.html

Here%26#39;s a link to the calendar for Speedway events in May. The balloon glow is Friday May 1st.

www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/schedule/

There looks like there%26#39;s also a game at Victory Field that night.

…milb.com/schedule/index.jsp…

Have a great time!

Family trip

Lily318%26#39;s baseball suggestion is a really good one. Even kids who don%26#39;t like baseball or sports have a pretty good time. This is especially good if you are staying downtown since the ballpark (Victory Field) is downtown.

And there%26#39;s always Chuck E Cheese, of course . . .

Thank you both for your suggestions! I%26#39;m so glad you mentioned the balloon glow - this is the first I%26#39;d heard of it - and I think that would definitely be something we would enjoy. We might also check into the Indians game, although I think after a 3-1/2 hour car ride, we might want to get out and stretch a bit. Thanks for all of the helpful links. I had visited that canal Web site, but silly me didn%26#39;t realize you could click on the logos to access additional information; that%26#39;s all I needed to know, though. I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond! I love this Web site, because I know I%26#39;m getting ';real'; people with ';real'; answers!!! Now, if you could only make the next two weeks go a little faster... :)

A note of interest. I believe the 500 Festival mini marathon is Sat May 2. This will probabaly delay your trip to the zoo until about 9-10 a.m. There will be close to 30,000 runners participating. Downtown friday should be acive with a lot of the runners staying in the hotels there. Just a walk along the canal would be nice depending on the weather. It might be fun to get up and watch the start or the finish of the marathon. I think it starts about 8 and it only takes the front runners a little over an hour to finish. To see the wheel chair participants finish is inspiring. (they usually start a little earlier and finish in about an hour also.

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