Travel Day to Indy
August 5, 2026
Bro had picked me up the night before when he dropped off Coda for my dad to dog sit. While he and Brady were there, they mounted my new TV onto the wall. Thanks, guys! I woke up very early the next morning to take a shower and be ready for all of us to get to LAX together. Bro parked our car in economy parking, and we could see the new peoplemover, but they're not finished testing it yet. We took the shuttle to terminal 3 for Delta Airlines. We all had Touchless ID for TSA pre-check, but not all of us needed to do the same thing to pass the first TSA agent. I didn't need to show anything but my eyeballs, while others needed to scan their boarding passes. At any rate, it was much easier than it's been in the past, so yay! Well, other than V, who got stuck behind other people that didn't seem to know which security line to enter. But it wasn't all perfect. V's bag got searched manually because they thought she had two laptops in her bag, and they only allowed one per bag. They saw that the second item was not a laptop, but the battery pack, and sent it through x-ray again.
I got a lemon poppyseed muffin and water at Homeboy Bakery to support their very worthy cause, while the others got stuff from jamba Juice. We ate our breakfast at the gate, and were there pretty early, so we heard the announcement that emergency exit row seats were available at no charge if people wanted to change their seat assignments. V jumped up and did so. When she came back, Bro said that now there would be a stranger sitting between me and the niece, so V got up again to talk to the agent. Bro then joined her to make sure she had the right info, and then he came back with his own seat in the emergency exit row. By the time they were done, my FlyDelta app had sent me 3 notifications of the change in seat assignments, and the niece and I were now seated next to the nephew. We kept laughing at all the craziness of the sats. V said that on the other airline, they only allowed a seat chnage to the exit row for people with status, so brownie points for Delta!
Then, after I came back from the restroom, Bro told me that they were allowing folks to check their bags for free due to the full flight. Yay! My wrist has been aching lately, so taht was good news for me to avoid lifting it into the overhead bin. The agent asked for my last name. I told him, adding, "You know, the family that's been doing all of the seat changing." He laughed and assigned my bag to the niece's name and told me to bring it down the jetway during boarding. So I began to leave it with him because I'm super good at paying attention. He repeated his instructions and I laughed, taking my luggage with me and saying, "You JUST said that!" He was super pleasant and I was very happy with the great attitude and customer service.
As we boarded the plane, a guy wearing a shirt with the Blue Knights logo gave me a thumbs up for my SCV shirt, saying he marched with them in 1992. Nice! Later, I asked V if he had seen her Blue Knights shirt, but he was looking down at his phone when she passed him. While we waited for the plane o taxi the runway, two ladies behind my talked about their kids being in drum corps. One mom had a kid in Pacific Crest and I refrained from talking to them because they were really involved in their band mom-ness. Also, I was just enjoying being with the niblings.
 |
| Off to Indy for the Nibs' first time to Finals! |
In-flight movie for me: "The Devil Wears Prada 2". Snacks: We had 4 choices. I chose Cheez-Its the first time, and Biscoff cookies the next. I couldn't get the wifi on my phone to work even though it said I was connected, so I journaled and listened to The Hit List on YouTube music. We landed a little bit early, which really didn't matter because we had to wait for someone to get the jetway open for us to go out. One of the drum corps moms said to me, "That's the best drum corps shirt I've ever seen." Aw, thanks! And Thank You, SCV!
 |
| We all asked for the same snacks. |
We saw this cool sculpture at baggage claim. It is made of metal, and we thought it was really cool, especially when we saw the miniatures on it.
 |
| Stretching my legs |
 |
| Miniature people with luggage |
 |
| More miniatures |
 |
| V trying to get comfortable in a metal chair |
We took an Uber to our hotel, and I was thankful that despite the weird communications I was or was not receiving, our hotel room reservations were still intact. We made a reservation for dinner at The Eagle's Nest when we got to our rooms. The niblings are in one room, and they are next door to us, so if they have a wild party, we'll be able to hear them and join.
I had brought a casual dress just in case we went to a nice place, so I changed into it and we went to the top floor of our hotel to dine. The restaurant rotates, so we got to see downtown Indianapolis from our view. The food was yummy, too! They even received an award for the most romantic restaurant in Indianapolis.
 |
| The niece with a Strawberry Lemonade and Bro with his Peach Paper Plane drink |
 |
| Our Hibiscus Cosmos were really yummy! |
 |
| Capitol Building |
 |
| Lucas Oil Stadium |
Afterward, Brady wanted to explore, so I went downstairs to the lobby with them and outside, then they went for a walk and I went upstairs to finish unpacking and blog.
 |
| Peek a Boo! |
They got a Taro Smoothie for me from TBaar. Thank you, V! We spent the rest of the evening watching "Footloose" and "The Breakfast Club" before going to sleep.
Next up: DCI Prelims
