#TransferMoon

My friend Melissa mentioned to me that we should do a one last hurrah before I had my embryo transfer. I was initially not into the idea because I don’t have a lot of money to spare. I’m working a second job to pay the bills, so the idea of taking a weekend off from working the second job, plus going somewhere to spend money was not my idea of a good time.

But the more I thought about it and talked to people, the more excited I got at the idea of a road trip! And since Baby Moons are not only a stupid name, but you also can’t drink on a Baby Moon, I figured this was a good way to have a “last hurrah” before hopefully getting pregnant!

I’m fully vaccinated, and have been since the end of March. My friend Melissa is also fully vaccinated, but she’s also been in my bubble since December when she was staying with me for a short time. So we decided to do it! 

We debated on a few different places that are close to Chicago – Milwaukee, Madison, Michigan, St. Louis and Indianapolis. We ultimately decided on Indy because Melissa had never been there and I hadn’t been since like 2001, when I went on my first road trip with the Niners. That was a work trip, so I wasn’t able to do much since I was on my best behavior since I was the first female EVER to travel on a road trip in a working capacity.

I figured we could leave Saturday morning and just spend one night there, so that way I wasn’t missing too many days doing GrubHub to bring in the extra money, plus keeping it to 36 hours limited the amount of money I could spend.

We left at 8 AM on Saturday and got to Indy around noon. We were able to check into the hotel, so we could change and freshen up before heading out to do some day drinking! I thought it would be weird to be in a hotel, but it was fine. Indiana doesn’t have a mask mandate, but several businesses still do. But that meant that a lot of people didn’t follow the rules, even in the hotel. 

I wore a dress for the first time in a year and a half!

Thanks to Casey, we were armed with lots of ideas of places to go. We decided since we weren’t there long, Saturday would be our drinking day, and Sunday we would play by ear. 

The weather was kind of crappy. It was cool and rainy and dreary. But that didn’t deter us! We hopped into an Uber and headed down to Mass Ave, to drink our way through the City. Our Uber driver was a very handsome widower, who I proposed to when he told us he had several cars, a boat and lived in the richest area of Indianapolis. He did not take me up on my offer.

We started at an Irish Pub, when our first choice of locations didn’t have any bar seating available. The weather was perfect to sit inside at a bar drinking!

We started with a drink and lots of water and then of course had to kick off the celebration with a pickle back shot! It’s probably going to be an early evening when you are doing shots of whiskey before 2 PM.

The bar wasn’t too crowded, which was nice. There was a really odd woman who came in and sat down at the bar near us. She was by herself and started talking to us. Melissa told her I was having a baby by myself and this was my #transfermoon and then this woman was like “that’s so great! Can I give you a hug?” And well, if that isn’t proof that Covid does not exist in Indiana, I don’t know what is. I held my breath and allowed a very quick hug, because I’m way too nice and those pickle back whiskey shots had kicked in.

Our friend Kelley had sent us with a package that we were to open when we were out drinking on our girls’ trip. She sent along some super fun things, like photo booth props, tampon flasks and drink buddies, which were little guys that hung on your glass while you drank. 

She even sent along a photo of her on a stick to carry around with us! 

The bar started to get pretty packed because apparently there was a large wedding that was happening nearby, and everyone came into this bar to pre-party. Thankfully I had my back to most of the crowd, because just now thinking about it gives me hives. So. Many. People. IN A BAR. MASKLESS. IN A PANDEMIC.

The two dudes sitting near us were also part of this wedding, and I struck up a conversation with one of the guys and did a little flirting, which felt nice. I gave him two of the drink buddies and then forced him to give me his number so he could text me photos of all the antics the drink buddies got up to at the wedding. Spoiler alert: I never heard from him. But that was fine, it just felt nice to flirt with a guy at a bar!

We decided to leave this bar and head somewhere new so that we could have some food. I was chugging water along with my beer, so I wasn’t too far gone at this point, but the sun was still out and if we were going to make it to dinner, we would need to eat something. This bar was kind of a blur. I know I had a slider flight, which was AMAZING, and Melissa had some nachos. She was starting to get a little sleepy, so we decided to get outside since the sun had come out and walk around a bit to get some fresh air and maybe some coffee.

We walked past a seafood/oyster place and she perked up and we went in for dinner. I mean, we had just eaten, but oysters are always good! We got a dozen and a few other appetizers. This was the last stop of the night and we were back in the hotel before 10 and in our jammies and passed the fuck out. Which was probably for the best.

On Sunday, we hadn’t made any plans, knowing we could feel like complete shit and not want to do anything. We both have bad backs, and the hotel bed did us no favors, so walking around and exploring was out of the question. So we decided to head over to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a tour. And it was 100% worth it!

We did the Kiss the Bricks tour, which takes you on a bus around the whole track, and then you get to get out at the start/finish line, where there are bricks still there from the original all-brick racetrack. It’s a tradition started like 30 years ago that the winner of the Indy 500 would kiss the bricks of the original track as an homage to the past. So of course, in a pandemic, I laid down on the pavement and kissed the ground. With my lips. That tons of other people have kissed.

Good thing I’m vaccinated!

The tour also included admission to the museum, which was really neat. I’ve always wanted to go to the Indy 500. Fun fact, my dad and mom used to always go, way back in the day. My dad worked for Montgomery Ward and they sponsored Bobby Lazier’s car. So he got to go every year and in the pit and everything. 

It was interesting to see how the cars have changed over the years. Plus, they even had a car you could get in to take your photo in! 

I didn’t think I was going to fit, but I did. Although getting out was quite a challenge.

After the speedway, we grabbed some lunch and some dessert and headed out of town.

It was such a great weekend away and so nice to get back to doing normal things again. And it was a great way to celebrate my upcoming embryo transfer!