Indiana

The first week of the vacation included the Netherlands and St. Paul, plus travel time. The second week would begin in southern Indiana and it would need to be a week of remote work. It was impossible for me to be away this long without some work along the way. While I have a tendency to track work emails while on vacation (mostly just reading and following what’s going on), this week would consist of very early mornings (to connect with East Africa time) and occasional online meetings. In the end, it actually wasn’t that bad since I don’t sleep well anyway and I was able to balance the work time and time with family. The plan was to hit it hard until about noon and then do the family thing. Then find pockets in the day here and there to supplement what I accomplished in the morning. I wouldn’t want to do it long term, but for a few days it’s not bad.

We do a lot of this.

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Speed Museum. The only person who would listen to me.

Nearly each day we had some sort of activity for the kids. Sometimes it was just hanging out with the cousins. Another time the local pool. We went to the Speed Museum in Louisville, wonderful place that we've been to many times). We went bowling, the first time for me in more than a decade. We had birthdays for both Kiran (again) and Kinaya. After lunch in a park in Louisville, we stopped by Mohamed Ali’s grave site (not sure why, but I suppose it was an opportunity to explain to my daughters who he was and his significance over the course of his lifetime). We played football (soccer) at the local school. And so forth. 

In the pool with the cousins.

 

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One activity was to go see a Shakespeare performance in a Louisville park. I've loved going to Shakespeare events for many years in various venues. Boise, Lake Tahoe and Monterey come to mind. The play was The Two Gentlemen of Verona which I think I've seen once before. The cast, however, wasn't the seasoned actors that I'm accustomed to. In fact, it was a group of young actors from a professional training program, students from area high schools who underwent a five-week training program.

Not exactly a packed house. Too bad since they were so good.

I have to say, they were seriously talented. I would not have been able to pull that off as a high school student. However, prior to the stellar performance, they had a couple of other groups of students who each did some song and dance. In spite of, what appeared to be some self-confidence in wielding that microphone, it was a bit painful on the ears. But I suppose that's how you learn. Kudos to them for the courage to take the stage (and I think they had fun).

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One day we drove to Madison (IN) for lunch and to take in the historic town. I’ve mentioned Madison in the past. It’s located on the Ohio River not far from my mother-in-law’s town. It was founded in the early 1800s and served as an entry point into what was then the Indiana Territory. It’s location, across the river from the slave state of Kentucky, made it a strategic location on the Underground Railroad. Around the middle of the century, it was the third largest city in the state thanks largely to its position where the railroad crossed the river. It was during this period as trade hub that many of the amazing buildings that you see today were built.

But the city’s time in the limelight would not survive the creation of a network of railroads farther down the river through the growing city of Louisville. By the end of the Civil War, the center of gravity had shifted. Much of the wealth had shifted or was shifting. Thankfully, many of the historic structures have been preserved under the National Landmark Historic District.

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Another activity of interest was a place called Activate. I’d never heard of it before, but the cousins had been before and they, and the birthday girl, Kinaya, decided it would be a great activity. Indeed, it was. It’s a bit hard to describe but it, in short, it’s a dozen or so rooms, each with a game to be played by 2-4 players. You go from room to room playing these games as you wish and as the room is available. Each game involves some sort of timed physical activity (shooting basketballs, climbing on a wall, jumping back and forth on moving floor lights, throwing balls at moving targets, etc.) in a relatively high-tech setting. One interesting game, and one where I was particularly incompetent, required you to dodge laser lights (basically the security lasers that you see in movies to detect movement). Rather than being competitive, the group works as a team to achieve the highest score possible.

No gender balance.

Supposedly the place is part of a chain and is expanding in various parts of North America. The concept is attractive. Kids seem to enjoy the interaction with technology. The fact that participants work as a team seems to avoid any issues of ill will that can happen compared with games where there are necessarily winners and losers. But as a parent, in a world where technology often breeds inactivity, seeing the kids drenched with sweat as we made our way back to the car was certainly one of the most pleasing aspects.

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Throughout our time in Indiana was the women’s Word Cup. Super entertaining. Also, being a girl-dad, I was happy to see the excitement generated by the event and seeing the enthusiasm in my kids was wonderful. There’s no question that it makes a difference to have role models of the same gender.

World Cup!

As a backdrop to our time in Indiana, in addition to the time I needed to dedicate to work, I was also pushing hard to push to remotely coordinate with our contractor to try to complete the construction of our house in Idaho, a project which has been dragging on and on since 2019. I was also in the midst of navigating the waters of setting up a mortgage as well as putting in place tools and materials to build a shed during out time out west. Thus, the margins of my days were far too full for what was supposed to be vacation. Nonetheless, we had a great visit and the foundation was laid for our trip out west.