Good Labor day.

Had some friends come in from Buffalo and spend the weekend with them. The weekend was cool and cloudless and had a nice breeze.

They came in on Friday evening and we ate at Naked Tchopstix in BroadRipple.

Next day after getting some bagels we hit the range. Snap caps are great shooting training. They're machined metal that simulates a cartridge and are good for identifying and reducing flinch. My two friends had not shot handguns much and it was amazing how well it worked to have them shoot mags mixed with live rounds and snap caps.

From my own experience I knew they worked but it's cool to see others learn with them too. How it works is that the shooter does not know the gun will fire when they shoot and when it doesn't fire they can see how much they flinch, when it does fire it comes as a "surprise".

After that we hit the freshmarket and cigar store. And cooked up some real good rib eyes and sirloins on charcoal.

A light rub of large ground salt, cumin, black pepper, olive oil, raw sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and A1 was used. Also some apple wood chips were soaking in water with some white pepper, cumin, and bourbon (not my real good stuff). These soaked chips were then put on the coals just before the steaks.

Salad was spinach and romaine, I think, with onions and strawberries and used a nice sauce with honey, mustard, balsamic and oil. Sourdough bread was with the meal too.

For the next day we hit the Rib America Festival. If you like ribs I really recommend going to it. I wasn't ever a big fan but it converted me. And if you do go, go earlier rather than later. It fills up quick and after 1:30 the lines become far too long. Another way to beat the lines is to split up and go to different booths and then get back together to swap the ribs.

After that was a nice walk through downtown. Went from Military Park to Monument Circle. There we stumbled into the Ride For Justice just as it was starting.

Saw more bikes there than ever before and was good to see people organizing and making themselves heard. The whole case is really questionable. I mean a cop drunk on duty kills someone and injurs two others and then there's what happened with his blood test.

From there went North though the War Memorial parks. Pictures don't do the Memorial justice. Either inside or outside.

If you're ever in Indianapolis, you've got so see this place. Awe-inspiring is not an exaggeration.

From there we went to the library and back around the Cathedral and took a funny walking path back East to the Canal, and went down that to complete the loop.

From there we drove to Broad Ripple again and had a light dinner at Canal Bistro, on the same canal as before.

After that returned home for a relaxing evening looking at the water. having cigars and fine bourbon. Was a real great time.

Saw them off this morning and then the day heated up, of course.

It was great having you guys over. Looking forward to Thanksgiving.