The Date Inspired by the Letter R

Next week! I promise I'll finish telling you about our vacation and our county tours. But since I already derailed this week, I thought I would follow up yesterday's nod to our engagementversary by telling you  how we celebrated it!

It actually combined with our date inspired by the letter R. We had skipped over R a while ago, and the reason we did was because I had this grand idea to have a rooftop dinner for the letter R. Welllll, it turns out here in the fine state of Indiana, there aren't a lot of rooftop restaurants. (What? No one wants to look at cornfields while they eat?) The ones that did show up in my searches were very noncommittal on their hours after Labor Day. Understandably so...I mean who wants to sit outside in the fall and freeze? So I modified the date somewhat and that modification meant this was going to be quite a splurge for us. It felt necessary and appropriate, therefore, to couple it with an occasion...like celebrating five years of engagement!

(After all that, we saw a rooftop restaurant in Michigan City right there on the shores of Lake Michigan. Go figure.)

Soooooo, our date inspired by the letter R became the romantic rooftop(ish) rendezvous in the ritzy rotating restaurant!

 There is a restaurant in downtown Indianapolis called the Eagle's Nest. It's at the very top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, and it rotates so you can see the entire city while you eat! True story! (I posted on Instagram and Facebook after we were there and I had many questions about whether or not we enjoyed it, because apparently there are mixed reviews online. So I will throw a bit of review into this just for that reason.)

First, though, Ryan and I got all gussied up for the evening. I spent a lot more time on my hair than he did on his. HA!

Here is a view of the restaurant from a few blocks away. It's right above the ISTA sign - the round part of the building.

And here it is from the entrance looking up:

I believe the hotel had about 20 floors, so this is 21/22ish stories high. Not the tallest building by far, but tall enough to have a spectacular view.

They do have a parking garage, but the Shaffers are far too frugal to pay for valet parking, so we parked in the Circle Center garage (hello, $2.00 parking!) and hiked (I was in heels!) to the restaurant.

Because you can take the kids out of the small town, but you can't take the small town out of the kids...our elevator picture. LOL!!!

The inside of the elevator is glass and overlooks the hotel. This was the only picture I could get before my fear of heights made me all cold and clammy.

First, let me say that this restaurant is totally out of our budget. I worked specifically to save up for this date, so we had money earmarked and set aside for it. I didn't want you to think that we always ate this way. We're kind of more dollar-menu folk. (Dollar menu with coupons = even better!)

Let me also pause to explain the rotation situation, because I didn't understand it until I saw it. The outside of the building does not move. (The windows don't move.) and the middle of the "donut" as I explained it to a friend is where the kitchen, bathrooms, and elevator are located, and that doesn't move either. But in between the windows/walls and the middle section is a strip where all the tables are located and that is what rotates.

It goes very slowly, and that is important to know if you have motion issues. I do, sometimes, and I was fine. (And I was going backwards and was still fine.) Our waitress told us it takes an hour and twenty minutes to make a full rotation, if that tell you how imperceptibly slowly we were moving.

Oh my goodness. Our waitress. Her names was Mackenzie, and I think she was (not even kidding) one of the best servers I have ever had in my life. She was fun, helpful, not overbearing, and she told us upon arrival that she would be happy to take as many pictures for us as we wanted. (So obviously she was my best friend immediately.) We really really liked her.

All of the tables in there have a good view but some are closer to the window than others. I had requested that when I made the reservation, and because we were there on a weeknight when it wasn't so busy, they were easily able to accommodate.

Because we were on a budget, we had decided ahead of time we could only do entrees and dessert. So no appetizers for us - or soup or salad. (Ryan asked me partway through what a "super salad" was. I said, "Huh?" He said he heard Mackenzie ask the next table if they wanted a super salad. I said, "soup OR salad." LOL!!!!)

They did, though, bring a delicious serving of bread out to us, and that made a great appetizer.

Ryan ordered a steak with mushrooms and mashed potatoes, and I ordered a lemon garlic chicken that came with seasonal veggies and mashed potatoes. We gobbled it right up! (Well, I couldn't gobble ALL of mine, but I tried!)

I wanted to show you some of our views of the city. You'll notice it got dark on us before we made it all the way around!

And a few of us:

We ordered a chocolate s'more mousse dessert to share, and it was so rich and delicious....

And when we got our bill...

YAY!!!!!!!! That was such a blessing, and we appreciated it!

Because it was not packed in there, we didn't feel obligated to hurry, so we just sat back,  had more coffee, talked, and enjoyed the lights of the city. (And played with the lights on the table because you can't take us anywhere...)

It was such a fun night. The food was good, and the atmosphere was superb. (And before I forget, I would imagine that it's more easily enjoyed on a night like this, when things aren't busy. I imagine on the weekends or when there's a big event in town, it's not quite so laid back. But that's just my assumption. I could be totally wrong!)

So that was our fun date inspired by the letter R and our engagementversary celebration, marking FIVE YEARS since he popped the question!

To see the rest of our alphabetical date adventure, look here!