Viator Viator Travel Blog

I had the good fortune of marrying a Midwesterner. My wife, Aimee, is from Indiana. Before we met I didn’t know much about her home state. Purdue, Larry Bird, the Colts — that’s pretty much all I could tell you about the Hoosier State before we were married. (Note to self: what’s a Hoosier? I must ask Aimee.)

Martha eats corn

Each spring Aimee and I have a version of the same argument: to visit or not to visit Indiana in summer, in order to spend time with her family. We already trek to Indiana each Christmas holiday, and let me tell you, Indiana is not a recommended travel destination in December.

So I’m always hesitant to commit to an additional summertime visit, especially when we could travel instead to Spain, Turkey, France, Italy, Thailand… to anywhere BUT Indiana.

This year I relented and decided we could go to Indiana for a summer holiday. (Note to self: explain to Aimee that I feel better using words like “relented” and “decided”, even if I didn’t actually have a say in the matter.) So we packed up the family and headed to Sweetwater Lake, about 45 miles south of Indianapolis.

And after a mere week in Indiana, I gained a new appreciation for the season of summer.

Isaac & Drew go fishing

Much to my surprise, summer in Indiana is a blast. I’m talking about swimming in a lake for hours on end. Little kids catching worms for bait and then fishing off a dock for bluegill. Eating sweet Indiana corn until your taste buds explode. Cooking pulled-pork on a barbecue grill in 90-degree heat. Water skiing. Tubing. Wake boarding. Sitting on a porch with four generations of the same family. Coolers overflowing with cans of ice-cold beer. The blaring of cicadas at dusk, outboard motors at dawn, air-conditioning pumps all night long.

For a city kid like me, all these experiences transformed a run-of-the-mill vacation into a near-perfect summertime experience.

Megan eats corn

What’s the secret? I’ve decided to make a list, I’m calling this one “Scott’s 4 Essential Summer Ingredients”.

1. First, you need the great outdoors. We had a lake surrounded by 100-foot-tall ash and maple trees. But you could be anywhere as long as you have easy access to the outdoors
2. Second, you must do things. No televisions, please, not in summer. Instead play cards, tell stories, run around in circles, walk the dogs. Go to the store for groceries and chitchat. Eat some ice cream. Go swimming. Clean up the shed. Take the boat for a joy ride. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you’re doing something.
3. Third, you need family. Ironically I’ve spent my adult life taking family-free vacations. Yet there’s something to be said for having dinner on a lake with 18 of your cousins, spending quality time with aunts and uncles who tell the same funny stories over and over again. I don’t want all of my holidays to revolve around family. Yet I’ve decided that summer vacations and families are made for each other. I’ll save my trips with friends for winter or spring.
4. Finally, you need a big barbecue and some of that sweet Indiana corn…

–Scott McNeely

You can see more photos of summer in Indiana over on the Viator Flick site. And if you’re looking for summertime inspiration, be sure to browse the thousands of things to do available on the Viator site.