Here they are. The much-promised pictures from our
trip to Indy & the Monster Jam. the kids' first (and last) trip to the Hoosier Dome.
Aiden posing outside the Dome with a huge Peyton (Eli's brother) Manning banner
The free pit pass allowed us walk on the hallowed floor of the Hoosier Dome where history has been made time and time again. It gave fans an up-close and personal look at the machines. You could even wait in line to meet the drivers. We didn't do that this time, but Aiden made us promise we'd try to do it next year. The trucks are almost like cartoon characters. As you can see on the right, one of the trucks is a
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Apparently there was also a demolition derby, which we bypassed to grab some lunch at the Mall nearby. At left is one of the cars that entered in said derby. On the right is the huge front tire for
Grave Digger, who is apparently the superstar of the Monster Jam.
Normally there's both a Batman truck and Superman. I guess we missed out because only Superman was there. And look - the driver even looks like
Clark Kent!
Yes, the trucks were loud.
During intermission, one of the trucks drove through the Wall of Steel. The most impressive part of the stunt was what I didn't catch in a picture. There were huge pyrotechnics that went off after he crashed through the cars. We were sitting in the nosebleed section, approximately 20 rows from the very top of the dome. When the explosions went off, we could feel the blast of heat. Now that's some serious fire!
Grave Digger doing his thing during the 'freestyle' event. Notice the crowd. Yep - it was a sellout. There was a capacity crowd for one of the last-ever events in the Dome.
These banners were pretty close to eye-level for us - that's how far up we were. It'd be nice to see a couple more join these banners over the next few years.