>>2821550
My recs for Indiana:

Indiana Dunes is great whenever, dune hikes are fun, a beach day is great is mid-late summer, and if not it’s still pretty cool to check out the shore.

The rest of the region is home, some people come just for urban exploration in Gary. Pierogi Fest in Whiting is great (but that’s late July so detached from an Indy 500 trip)

Outside of the region, South Bend and Fort Wayne, the north is really only known for little lake towns and Amish country, Nappanee / Shipshewana is IMO a less touristed version of Lancaster county PA, but if you’ve already done Amish country elsewhere you can skip it. They serve pretty good food.

Indy has got a lot of museums and bars, my favorite part is walking around by the canal. I really wanna see the Regatta one year. Get a pork tenderloin sandwich at a suburban dive bar on race weekend and just mingle.

West Central / covered bridge land - these things make it on all our state symbols, our license plates have these now. They’re kinda cool to see if you pair it with a hike in turkey run.

Bloomington is pretty, IU campus is scenic with all the limestone, and then Brown County is right there which is probably the best place to see fall in Indiana - again maybe not perfect if you go in May for the 500 but wouldn’t be terrible.

My ex wife is from Southern Indiana, Jasper, French Lick and Santa Claus is a good trifecta to hit while you’re down in that corner.