Going: Indianapolis

For the last three years, my sister and I have gone to the Big Ten Basketball Tournament. It has become one of our favorite weekends of the year!

The tournament was back in Indianapolis this year. We LOVE the tournament in Indianapolis. Downtown Indy is easy to get around (we don't even get a rental car - you can walk everywhere) and the city does such a good job of hosting big sporting events. The streets are renamed for the teams, there are designated bars for each team, the hotels are decked out and prepared for all of the fans.....it is all such a fun atmosphere. 

We were lucky to get a hotel reservation - we literally couldn't find a room for months in advance, but I have a higher hotel status due to travel with my old job, so we were able to finagle a reservation. We stayed at the the Homewood Suites - a brand I've never stayed at - and we really, really liked it. The room was huge and they even have dinners during the week, so we could have had a nice, free meal on Thursday (but we chose to go to our favorite downtown restaurant). The breakfasts were great, too.

We went to all of the 11 basketball games in the four days. It really, truly is SO MUCH FUN to see so many good games. We enjoy chatting with people sitting around us, eating stadium food, and doing our best to participate in the festivities (I played a halftime game this year). My sister has Gopher season tickets and she generously takes me to quite a few games, so we get very familiar with the players on the Gophers, as well as the other Big Ten teams. 

Scotty's is our favorite place to grab a bite to eat and a drink between game sessions. If you are ever in Indy, you need to get their pickle chips and a flight of martinis. So good. 

Of course it's great to have four days of uninterrupted time with my sister to catch up and relax, too. All in all, it has become a tradition that we really look forward to, and one that makes us bummed when it is over!