Before the Trip

We were not off to a good start. On July 11th, we're flying to Indianapolis, and then renting a car to see relatives near Rushville. I had no problem finding a guidebook to Ohio. After a few days in Indiana, we're driving to Wilmington, Ohio, where my mother-in-law lives. I even found a road map for Ohio at Barnes & Noble, but no book on Indiana, not even a map.

I did find some information online, but it was time-consuming and not so easy. Even the Indiana state website was not the most informative.

When I told my relatives I couldn't find a guidebook for Indiana, my aunt, who lives there, joked that it was because there's nothing to see.

Thank goodness for AAA. I went to my local office, and because I'm a member, they handed me one of their Tour Books that covered Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. That took care of travel tips and places to visit, but nothing about food.

Since I'm vegan, I wanted to find as many options for myself as I could. I wanted to find vegetarian restaurants, as well as markets where I could buy food that I could cook for myself. Since we're staying with family, and not in a hotel, I'll have access to a kitchen.

The first place I turned to was Happy Cow. I also checked out two other websites just to find vegetarian restaurants. I figure any place that's mentioned on two, or all, of those websites is probably a safe bet. I also found the website for the Indianapolis Vegetarian Society helpful with its link to CHACE (Connecting Hoosiers for Animal Concerns & Education), which had a list of restaurants in Indianapolis.

I also put a request for more input on restaurants in Indianapolis and Cincinnati with both Vegan Represent and VeggieBoards, but had no helpful responses before we left. Maybe when we get back I'll have some feedback on where we ate. (Since we never actually ate in either of those cities, I didn't have anything to contribute).