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IndyCar / Sports Travel / Museum Travel / Indiana Travel / Car Racing / Mancations / → All Tags

Cure Your Race Hangover with a Trip to the Indy 500 Museum

In case you missed it, there was a whole bunch of racing last weekend, as Formula One, NASCAR, and IndyCar all held some pretty major events. For race fans it might be a little bit of a letdown as we move into June, but don’t worry—there’s always museums.

In this case, we focus on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, dedicated to all things racing, as it does its best to illustrate the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and specifically the Indianapolis 500. There’s 30,000 square feet of artifacts, memorabilia, and other racing goodies to check out, and of course there’s a couple gift shops too. In total, 75 cars sit on display all year long, but of course it’s strictly a look but don’t touch situation.

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Art Travel / American Airlines / Delta / Business Class Travel / IND / Seats / Seating / Events / → All Tags

It's Art: Gymnastics Routines Using Business Class Airplane Seats

No, this isn't a story on the Olympics, but we could see how you could think that.

Art comes in many forms and is often described as subjective. A current performance exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of Art is no exception. This time it has caught the attention of aviation enthusiasts by blending the architecturally fluid lines of business class seats with the sheer strength and flexibility of gymnastics.

The IMA is currently exhibiting Allora & Cazadilla. The visual artist duo of American born, Jennifer Allora, and Cuban born, Guillermo Calzadilla are part of the museum's Venice Biennale. While the pair have a number of commissions at the gallery, the most intriguing for our arena would be the Body In Flight Series.

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How To Get Tickets To / Super Bowl Travel / Sports Travel / Party Travel / → All Tags

How To Get Tickets To Indy's Biggest Super Bowl Parties

This week Indianapolis is being transformed into the party capitol of the world as everyone from sports fans to supermodels begin arriving for the Super Bowl. To accommodate all of these party people, bars and clubs are popping up in vacant spaces around the city.

The Cuda Lounge, located at 141 S. Meridian St in Super Bowl Village, is one of Indy's biggest pop-up lounges with events planned throughout the week.

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Airport News / Green Travel / Airports / IND / → All Tags

Indianapolis Airport's Fancy New Toy? A Solar Farm.

So yesterday we were just talking about an airport farm over at Chicago-O’Hare, and now we discover that there’s a different kind of farm right at Indianapolis International Airport. Unfortunately the farm in Indy isn’t offering any produce, but it does certainly offer up a little slice of green travel.

Airport officials are hard at work figuring out how to engineer and install one of the biggest and baddest solar farms in the country—and definitely one of the largest at an airport. There’s three companies being tasked with figuring out all the technical and science stuff, but it sounds like there's going to be at least 41,000 solar panels involved.

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How To Get Tickets To the Centennial Indy 500 Race

May is a big month for racing of all kinds. The Kentucky Derby is only a few weeks away, and at the end of the month is when a slightly faster race arrives to rev its engines. The Indianapolis 500 is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year—it's crazy to think that race-fast cars have been around that long—so if you’ve ever wanted join the crowds this might be the best year to do so.

There’s a lot of room for a lot of fans, so don’t worry if you haven’t gotten your seat just yet. Some of the fancy seats, vistas, and penthouses are no longer available through the general box office, but that’s fine with us because anyone waiting this long for a spot probably wont' want to spend in the triple digits or more for a seat.

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Airports Get in the Hot Solar Energy Biz to Make Cold, Hard Cash

Dear airports: it's about time you started exploring the possibilities of alternative energy, like solar energy via solar panel farms, for instance. The Indianapolis Star reports that, like Fresno-Yosemite Airport and Denver International Airport, the Indianapolis Airport is outfitting itself with the latest in solar power in a bid to generate "10 megawatts of electricity an hour -- enough to power up to 6,000 homes." There's just one problem here; the airports aren't using the energy to power themselves, but selling it to the grid in a bid to make cold, hard cash. it's estimated to pull in some $190 million just at Indianapolis over the next 30 years. That better become one bangin' airport with all that moolah.

It's actually a pretty genius idea—that the fancy airport Sbarro's from which you're ordering was partially funded by the sun—and empty lots of land or unused runways are now being given a somewhat altruistic purpose. Homes get energy, airport gets money, and fossil fuels are eliminated from the equation. Rah! Rah! Sis-boom-bah.

[Photo: CFBsr]

Sports Travel / Basketball Travel / Indiana Travel / Final Four Travel / → All Tags

There's Still Tickets! Last-Minute Packages for the Final Four

This year has not been good for our sports gambling habit, and the men’s NCAA basketball tournament is not making things any better. We’re surprised our bracket hasn’t just been totally canceled, because at this point there’s no point in wasting the effort to tally up our final score. Despite our misfortunes, we’d still like to go check out the tournament’s last few games, and even though we didn’t plan anything in advance there are options. Here’s a few Final Four Indianapolis vacation packages in case you have some extra cash hanging around the house.

· PrimeSport
PrimeSport is offering up several packages that include accommodations and tickets, and none of them are really affordable. However, if you think you can siphon a little cash from the checking account without your significant other finding out, there is one option. For $1,695 per person—assuming two people—you’ll be resting up at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Airport. It’s not that close to the action, but you’ll get transportation to Lucas Oil Stadium for the games. The price of the package includes five nights accommodations and Terrace Level Side Court tickets. It’s not the best vantage point, but it’s cooler than watching on TV.

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Football Stadium Tours / Tours / Sports Travel / Football Travel / Sports / Indiana Travel / → All Tags

Take A Holiday Time-Out To Tour The Home Of The Indianapolis Colts

It’s hard to compete with the Dallas Cowboys’ new shrine dedicated to all things football, but the Indianapolis Colts are trying their best. The Colts haven’t lost one game this season, and thanks to solid play throughout the decade, they were rewarded with their own brand new stadium.

Lucas Oil Stadium sits just outside of downtown Indianapolis and swung its gates open for the first time in 2008—it might even still have that new stadium smell. The architects went with a retro design to the outside of the facility, taking inspiration from traditional stadiums. However, there’s nothing old about the inside of the place, especially when they decide to crack open the huge retraceable roof. They’ve also got a huge wall of windows that can be opened when the weather outside isn’t frightful, and it even allows for a pretty decent shot of the downtown skyline. It was the world’s largest installation of moveable glass, but the Cowboys stole that title from the place with their new home.

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Indy Airport Having An Everything-Must-Go Garage Sale

If your old x-ray machine is on its last legs, then we know a place where you can get a good deal on a slightly used one. Tomorrow the Indianapolis International Airport is selling off old airport goodies during a one-day auction. Bring some bucks, because the airport is hoping to make more than $500,000 during their sale. Whether it be forklifts, picnic tables, or old monitors, as long as you can fit it in your car—you can buy it.

Everything is coming from the airport’s old terminal, since travelers have been enjoying their new terminal since late last year. The hallways of the old terminal will be lined with the auction items, and some of the bigger stuff will also be on the tarmac. Even if you aren’t going to buy anything, it might be worth checking out just for the old terminal behind-the-scenes tour; it's a great photography opportunity.

Organizers say that anything that isn’t sold will remain in the building and will be demolished as well. Too bad they can’t just donate the used equipment to other airports that might be needy, or just give us a snazzy row of terminal chairs to adorn the halls of Jaunted HQ.

Related Stories:
· Airport Garage Sale Worth A Stopover [IndyStar]
· New Terminals Travel: Indy's New Airport Opens November 11 [Jaunted]
· Airports coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: ann-dabney]

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Best Jewish Delis in the World: Shapiro's in Indiana

When Shira Lazar went behind the counter at Schwartz's Deli in Montreal, it got us craving some overstuffed pastrami sandwiches and potato latkes with applesauce. So this week Jaunted is taking a look at the Best Jewish Delis in the World. Got your own suggestion for tasty goody delis? Let us know.

If there's one thing we've learned in researching our best Jewish delis series, it's that there are a boatload of genuine delis in places you wouldn't necessarily expect. So if you think everywhere between Katz's and Langer's is just deli flyover country, think again.

One such institution with an extremely devout following is Shapiro's, which opened way back in 1905 in Indianapolis. Unlike its coastal cousins, this deli is known more for its corned beef than its pastrami. Of course, the concept is not that different—hot, salty meat, sliced thin and piled high on rye, plus mustard, cheese and a pickle to boot.

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Get Tickets to Next Year's Final Four Now

Crushed by your team's performance in the Big Dance this year? Show your conviction that they'll be next year's Cinderella story by entering in the ticket lottery for next year's games. For lower rounds, check out the list of host cities (make sure to scroll down to "2010: Future Sites") and hit "Click for Ticket Info" to fill out a free request for tickets on Ticketmaster; the presale starts in May.

The 2010 Final Four ticket lottery for next year's finals, held in Indianapolis, is a bit more complicated because you have to back up your words with cash: Head over to this site and be prepared to keep clicking and clicking to put down your $160-$180/person payment.

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Airports / IND / Architecture / Buildings / → All Tags

New Terminals Travel: Indy's New Airport Opens November 11

Now that we've gushed about JFK's newest terminal, shouldn't we check on what's happening in Indianapolis? The brand-new building there will open to arriving flights on November 11, just a few days later than the originally planned date of October 28. Outbound passengers will check in at the new terminal beginning November 12.

Parking and getting around will likely be a mess those first couple days, but airport officials say they have plans to alleviate the stress. (And you can always mellow out with some public art.)

But on the heels of the Heathrow meltdown and JetBlue's own trial run, when can we expect a sneak peak inside the new IND?

Related Stories:
· Architecture Travel: The New Indianapolis Airport [Jaunted]
· Inside JetBlue's Terminal 5 Trial Run [Jaunted]