Indiana is such a fascinating place.

I think the first thing I noticed about Indiana, especially on the drive down from Indianapolis to Bloomington is the fact that there were more hills than I initially expected.

Okay, well, that actually might be the third thing. The first thing I think I noticed was the semi-frozen ponds across the state which I could spot from the airplane from Houston to Indianapolis. The second thing was how sneaky beautiful the Indianapolis airport was, with incredibly high ceilings in the main entryway that made the whole place feel cavernous.

And then yeah, back to the drive. Because there were quite a few more hills than I expected there to be (which probably means I should have spent more time researching that part of Indiana ahead of actually traveling there).

It was part of a trip that came together in a hurry and really speaks to the way that the friendly folks over at Raising Cane’s are able to so efficiently and effectively pull these events together while jumping through a variety of logistics hurdles and also connect together public and media relations, influencer marketing, creative content capture, and a variety of other marketing and comms adjacent terms that I’m probably forgetting about right now. 

To be fully transparent, I wasn’t totally sure that I was going to be in Indiana until Jamari Sharpe picked off Carson Beck to secure the Hoosiers’ first ever national championship (in football, at least).

I was, admittedly, a little apprehensive about the cold, but Bloomington is such an intriguing town and IU’s campus is gorgeous

As the Hoosiers and Hurricanes were facing off on Monday, Jan. 19, I wasn’t sure of where exactly I’d be going, what airport I’d be flying out of, what airlines I would end up taking, or when I needed to be where for any of that. 

All I knew was that I’d get the chance to travel to the hometown of whichever team managed to come out on top of the national championship game and to cover a celebration event hosted by Raising Cane’s. As part of that, I’d also get the chance to take part in a press conference, explore either Miami or Bloomington, and write a few words along the way.

So, as I was watching the national championship game, there was a part of me that certainly wanted to see the Hoosiers come out on top. 

After all, at one point, I’d strongly considered applying to work for the Indiana University system. I’ve been intrigued by the prospects of moving back to the Midwest after spending a couple years in Omaha a while back and I at one point looked hard at various different openings within the IU system, though I felt God leading me elsewhere. 

But still, the Hoosiers and their story and the way that they very quickly developed into a program that is capable of winning the Big Ten and bullying opponents along the way. That’s something worth seeing in some form or fashion.

And yet, there was also a part of me that just simply didn’t want to be cold.

That’s probably because my dad refers to I-10 as “our ancestral northern boundary” and that so much of my life has been spent living south of I-10 and traveling along the Gulf Coast to visit family.

Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers didn’t care about my preferences or the fact that I’m a wimp when it comes to temperatures getting below freezing. Clearly, they’d rather celebrate a national title, the first in program history. 

Which is exactly what took me to Indiana. And I’m incredibly grateful for that, in fact. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t just me heading to a Raising Cane’s in the Midwest

You see, as part of my travels to cover this celebration, I got the approval to bring along a photographer with me to help extend and elevate the content that I could provide and create for this event.

Which means I got the privilege of visiting Bloomington alongside Jeremiah Shepherd, a friend and colleague of mine.

And he took some truly beautiful photos from our time there.

PHOTO GALLERY: Raising Cane’s celebrates Indiana Hoosiers’ national title run

He also apparently has a photo of me trying to keep the world’s largest squirrel from chasing after my souvenir bag, which I picked up in Indiana University’s castle of a student union which was housed right in the heart of their absolutely gorgeous campus.

I say that to say: Our trip to Bloomington was interesting for a few different reasons.

One happens to be that I found what I truly believe is the world’s largest squirrel and it seemed to truly believe that I was going to give it food.

Another is that we stayed in a truly unique hotel.

I’ve never seen anything like it and I don’t think any of their photos online do it justice. But I can 100 percent say that if you’re traveling to Bloomington, Indiana and if you have the opportunity to check out the Graduate Hotel (which happens to be a roughly 10ish minute walk from campus which I didn’t know about until halfway into the trip), then you should absolutely stay there.

If you’re not familiar, the hotel was entirely themed around Indiana University and the history there. From chair throwing modern art framed on the walls to notepads that were designed to resemble scantrons, the place did everything possible to make you feel nostalgic for a time in which you were an Indiana student, even if you weren’t.

My favorite part of the hotel was probably the middle-aged man in a Purdue jacket that I passed in the hallway on the third floor that seemed annoyed to be in Bloomington but happy to be at the hotel (even if it was IU themed).

My second favorite part of the hotel was the coffee you could get in the restaurant that was adjacent to the lobby. That stuff was fantastic.

Between how lovely the hotel was, how friendly the folks in town were, and how much I enjoyed walking around Indiana’s campus, I forgot about the bitter, biting cold that is so prevalent in the Midwest. I just simply got to enjoy myself and the chance to work alongside Jeremiah as we brainstormed content strategies for work, chatted about life, and explored a city that happened to have beautiful, historic churches and then also a CVS that had the world’s thinnest escalator for some reason.

Bloomington is such a quintessential college town and I can’t wait to go back

The town truly feels like it’s built around the university in so many ways. At least the heart of the downtown area felt like it was built around the university.

After we wandered around Indiana’s campus, crossed over a few bridges over small campus streams, meandered our way through Indiana’s castle of a student union, and visited a small, lovely chapel in the midst of campus, we had four or five people tell us we needed to make our way to either Kirkwood or Sample Gates.

Which are apparently right in the same area.

And so, after being told that four or five times by four or five different individuals, Jeremiah and I made our way that direction. We stopped, took in the sights, and that’s when we realized that our hotel was a lot closer to campus than we initially thought.

Because it was literally right down the road from the university.

But our adventures led to us getting dinner and exploring a really intriguing part of town that we may not have spent much time in otherwise. And I got to hear Jeremiah explain some of the interesting visual similarities between IU’s campus and what he saw when he took a trip to London a while back.

Don’t crash into loud metal stools while expensive cameras are recording commercials

The trip and our enjoyment of Bloomington are all great and we so thoroughly enjoyed our time there, but it’s worth remembering that the main purpose of our travels to Indiana centered around covering Raising Cane’s celebration of the Indiana Hoosiers’ national title.

And I will certainly have more on that here on The Underdog Tribune in a bit. I’m working on a couple of posts about that.

Between all of our travels, the winter storm that swept through here in East Texas, my day job, and keeping up with my family, I’m still catching up on content (and also a few other responsibilities).

But I think one of the most important things someone can know about being present on site for a national championship celebration is to completely and totally avoid bumping into a metal stool which might make a lot of noise while people are working hard and trying to record national championship winning athletes during a speaking engagement.

Because, well, it will draw an unnecessary amount of attention in your direction at a time where you are absolutely not supposed to be the focal point of really anyone’s attention.

I don’t recommend doing that.

I do recommend visiting Bloomington, Indiana and checking out Indiana University’s campus and eating at the Raising Cane’s which is like 3-4 minutes away from the campus.

Other fun facts about our trip to chat with the Indiana Hoosiers

• I noticed that I wore a hole in the sole of my left boot, which is unfortunate because now I have to resole my favorite pair of boots
• The Love Actually… Cookie Butter lattes served at the restaurant in the hotel we stayed at were fantastic
• Also, it seems like college students loved hanging out there partially because of the restaurant and also partially because there were so many great areas to work in the lobby/restaurant/lounge space on the first floor
• I loved the desk in the room which was right next to a window that poured in the perfect amount of light for me to get a tremendous amount of work done
• Apparently Jeremiah got the chance to end up on the 6th floor after his heat went out and he was rewarded by getting a perfect sunrise view of the town
• I really would like to spend some more time in Bloomington and someday I’d like to check out the inside of Memorial Stadium, if anyone has connections to make that happen, please let me know!
• Again, I got lost in the student union. That place is a castle and they have a bowling alley in there!