Day Trip to Indy (Indianapolis, Fishers: extended stay, sales, credit) - (IN) - City-Data Forum

JustMovedToChannahon · 01-28-2010, 07:35 AM

Okay we are making our first trek down to Indy to visit the areas we are looking to move into (Fishers, Noblesville, Greenwood) Do you all have any other suggestions as far as areas go? The biggest priority is good schools and price wise comprable to the above 3 towns I listed.

Also, anything we must see or go to eat at while we are down there? Let us know!

Grandma(in waiting) · 01-28-2010, 07:53 AM

You're going to be on the north and south sides, so you'll have a pretty big choice as far as places to eat. What's your preference and budget? Indy has everything from burger joints and mom and pop diners to ethnic cuisine to 5-star restaurants.

As far as things to do, again that depends on your preferences. Kids? A trip to the Children's Museum is a must. The Art Museum and Eiteljorg museums are also worth it. Like sports? The Indy 500 museum is a real treat as is the NCAA Hall of Champions. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument downtown is pretty cool. The Zoo is world class. Shopping? Keystone Fashion Mall or Castleton (northside), Circle Center (downtown) and Greenwood Mall (southside) are all great.

JustMovedToChannahon · 01-28-2010, 08:22 AM

Well as far as food goes we will have our 3 young children with us so something good but definitley has to be kid friendly,

domergurl · 01-28-2010, 11:05 AM

The Children's Museum is best visited on the weekends on Sunday mornings ... trust me ... especially if it's your first time!!! If you bundle up and it's a sunny day, I always love going to the zoo during the wintertime.

I'd stay in a hotel on the northside of Indy close to 465 since you can zip down to greenwood easily from anywhere on 465. There's a great burger place on 96th & Hazel Dell?????? is that right ... 96th street steakburgers .. yum! But you won't have any trouble finding a place to eat! The State Museum is also a good time.

I'll give you a research project ... here's the latest listing of 4 star schools for the state of Indiana:
http://www.doe.in.gov/accreditation/docs/2008-2009_four_star_schools.pdf (broken link)

It's too bad you are coming when it's cold ... well, it's warmer than where you are coming from

Grandma(in waiting) · 01-28-2010, 11:14 AM

Bub's Burgers in Carmel and Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Fishers are pretty good and kid-friendly.

Michelle Morris · 01-28-2010, 07:28 PM

Please also take a look at the West side, Hendricks County is a great place to live, with great schools (based on the fact that ALL 6 of Hendricks County's High Schools are on the Indiana Best Buys list) Avon, Brownsburg, and Plainfield are all a short drive to downtown, clsoe to the airport, plenty of shopping and dining, and lower housing prices.

JustMovedToChannahon · 01-29-2010, 07:27 AM

I'll put those on my list as well. How about Westfield? I'm thinking we might stay in a hotel in Fishers (I think it's staybridge suites) anyone else have any other suggestions of a hotel to stay? We are just staying tonight and then doing our trips around Indianapolis tomorrow.

domergurl · 01-29-2010, 11:12 AM

One of the best parks in the area is Cool Creek Nature Center in Westfield ...

As for living there ... some westfield addresses go to Carmel schools. Westfield's schools are good, but not as highly rated as Z-ville, Fishers, Carmel, Avon and White River Twp (greenwood)

Michelle Morris · 01-30-2010, 06:59 PM

Well??? I'm excited to hear your impressions of Indy!

JustMovedToChannahon · 01-30-2010, 08:40 PM

Alright recap....

We just got home....We love that it's only a 3 hour drive to Chicago which means that we can still see our family when we want to and vice versa. We stayed at the Hyatt Place off of 86th St. by a mall. We loved how clean that area was. We first went to Greenwood, weren't overly impressed. However, keep in mind we really just drove thru a few subdivisions but didn't see much of anything else. We then went to Avon which I just told my GPS to take me to center of town, not sure if it did that or not but we did like all the shopping and what not but could not find a subdivision to drive thru. We then headed back up North to Fishers, and we loved the small town feel of the lights on the streets, the houses and we really only stayed on 116th st there. We then headed thru Carmel which was probably out of price range after seeing the houses but it was very nice on our way to Noblesville to see a house that I had an actual address for which the house was very nice and spacious yards. We were trying to figure out how far Noblesville is from the highway and shopping (Grocery stores and other things). We then headed downtown to go see Lucas Oil Field (my wife is a huge fan) and then go into some mall downtown for the Colts Pro Shop which we loved the mall and I loved the fact that sales tax seemed MUCH cheaper then Chicago and parking downtown was only 1.50 for the 2 hours we were in the mall.

I do have a few questions though...I noticed it looked like the tags on cars were 5 years or so, how much does it cost for renewal of vehicle stickers/tags?

My wife is going to start looking for employment down there ASAP and probably stay in an extended stay hotel until we all head down there. Just have to make sure of a few things before we move forward.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. BTW, we ate at Cancun Restaurant in Fishers.