Stop #16: I-69 & 96th Street, Indianapolis (#261)

Stop #16 actually may well have been in Fishers, instead of Indianapolis. I'm not entirely sure where, up there, Indianapolis ends and the suburbs begin. Unless it's Carmel, where it is apparently mandated that all buildings be made of brick, including such places as Best Buy, Burger King, and the doghouse in your backyard -- which is the only reason I can tell I'm in Carmel.

That brick Steak 'n' Shake will be a fantastic one to visit, now that I think about it ....

Anyway, Stop #16 took us to the Steak 'n' Shake on 96th Street, just off I-69.


I was really excited about this stop because, first off, it was done without too much prior planning. Friday morning began the texting game, and when I found out my sister and brother-by-legal-standards were coming down to pick up a chalupa (technically, a chinchilla, but ever since first seeing one a few years ago when visiting me and my then apartmentmates' apartment and seeing my former apartmentmate's chinchillas, they have referred to them as chalupas ... so let's hope they don't eat the little guy, though it would be a good excuse to use his fur for a coat. Or, you know, a mitten, given that that's about how much fur you could get from a single chinchilla ....), I quickly got in touch to see if they'd want to meet at a Steak 'n' Shake on their way down.

Another reason this trip was exciting was that it marked the return of the Brett.

Brett was actually the one handing off the chalupa to my sister and BBLS, so it was handy to have the familials meet us at the Steak 'n' Shake -- they could then follow Brett to his apartment to adopt their new kid.

As a sidenote, since my sister and BBLS's current pet, Maybelle, is a puppy that I refer to as my niece, I suppose Max the Chalupa will have to be referred to as my nephew, meaning the Chalupa that would have previously referred to Brett as "Daddy" is now somewhat my relation, if you include animals in such figurings, which I clearly do ... Brett, does this mean we're related? If so, I'm scared.

Anyway, my sister and BBLS were tired.


After all, they had spent a good chunk of the day driving. I suggested we meet at this Steak 'n' Shake because it was on their way down from Fort Wayne THE REGION OBVSLY GUYZ CUZ THAT'S TOTES WHERE I'M FROM! I found out later that they had actually come down earlier in the day with a plan to blow their tax refund on a new toy.


It is a helicopter. And clearly, Max the Chalupa needs to be afraid. Because it is chalupa-sized.

At any rate, they went to Circle Center Mall to pick this thing up, then backtracked back north for Steak 'n' Shake, only to head back to the Broad Ripple area to pick up their chalupa.

It was a fun trip to the Steak 'n' Shake though. For BBLS, it was the first time he participated in the anagram game.



Apparently, to him,

LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS!

actually means

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!

No one tell him that the letters don't actually match in, in either types or number ....

What you say?

For those that don't get the reference (like Fiance, who shames me sometimes with his lack of knowledge ....), this knowyourmeme site can explain, and the second video down is a fantastic source.

Speaking of Internet memes that people should know yet don't, Brett is as yet unacquainted with the wonder that is Antoine Dodson. Brett, have a couple videos. I promise they're better than "Friday."

Original newscast:

And the fantastic musical version:

You have now been cultured to catch up with the summer of 2010. You're welcome.

Speaking of culture, we were unfortunately sitting near a group of high school kids (I'll take things that are unrelated for 200, Alex ... "What is a need for a smooth transition in a blogpost?"), which caused a bit or a lapse in maturity at our own table when BBLS decided to illustrate his anagram with a "waterslide," which Fiance then decided to ... um ... phallicize?

SPOILER ALERT: If you have kids out and about and near the computer, you may want to put them away at this moment.


Maybe I should be concerned about what Fiance is keeping in his pants. I'm not sure any human appendage is supposed to look like that. And if one does, the owner of said appendage may need to seek medical attention.

Eventually we got our food and ate it (a salad with French dressing, a fish sandwich, cheese fries, and a very berry strawberry milkshake for me; for the record, likely the LAST fish sandwich of the quest, as Friday was Good Friday and thus the last Friday of Lent), and were content.

Well, we were sort of content.


We were sort of faking for this picture, because we were a little less than super-excited about our service. Some things were forgotten, some things took too long, and some refills never came. I'm not really one to complain, which is probably why it's a good thing I've got Fiance around, 'cause when the manager stopped by the table, Fiance let him know the troubles. Though I've got to say, I worry Fiance gets harsh sometimes -- having been a server, I think he has higher standards. However, the manager was very friendly and apologetic, and that made up for it for me. What can I say? I'm easy to please.

And so ended our Stop #16 in this awesome quest of awesomeness.