Plan B

My sister was supposed to come visit last weekend for a delicious, delightful sister getaway. She had a week-long business trip in Indianapolis for her job with Lilly and was going to come two days early so that we could play, play, play.  I booked us a room at the West Baden Springs resort, which is on my must-see-before-I-leave-Indiana list. I had a lovely itinerary planned out for us: Bloomington, the T.C. Steele historic site (House of the Singing Winds), an architectural tour of Columbus, Indiana (named the sixth most architecturally significant city in the U.S.) and more.

Then the East Coast was hit by a major snowstorm. By Thursday night, Cheryl's Saturday morning flight had already been preemptively canceled. The soonest she could arrive would be Sunday mid-day. I called West Baden Springs and canceled our reservation. We both felt very very sad.

But do you know what? Plan B turned out to be delicious and delightful, too. Cheryl had a cozy, comfy Saturday in New Jersey with her husband and her many (MANY!) teddy bears, looking out at the falling snow.  I had a stress-reducing productive Saturday reading the 66 submissions I have to review for our upcoming Undergraduate Ethics Symposium. And then as soon as Cheryl got off the plane at 12:15 on Sunday, the sister fun commenced.

First, a most tasty lunch at Cafe Patachou, right in the beautiful Indy airport. Then a drive up to Carmel to visit the Museum of Miniature Houses, which has also been on my must-see-before-I-leave-Indiana list. What's not to like about room after room filled with exquisite dollhouses with their adorable tiny rolling pins on tiny kitchen tables and tiny books in tiny bookcases? We each bough a teensy-weensy pencil holder complete with teensy-weensy pencil, scissors, and ruler, in the museum gift shop.

The weather was rainy so we decided not to walk around Carmel's Arts and Design District, but instead drove next to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, situated in a hundred acres of gardens just north of downtown Indy. For a happy  hour we wandered through their American impressionists rooms, cracking each other up with our hilarious commentary on the museum commentary printed on the signs next to the paintings (as well as loving the beauty of the art, of course). Then we checked into Cheryl's hotel and, now that the rain had stopped, walked for fifteen minutes or so to the hip, trendy dining options of Mass Ave and had supper together.

So it turns out you can have a lot of fun in six or seven hours. Especially if your sister is there to have fun with you.