Things to Do in Plainfield

Beneath the flowing fabrics that run across the studio ceiling at Evolutions @ Yoga, experienced instructors lead a wide range of classes from gentle beginning courses to advanced core-strengthening sessions, which earned them a place as a finalist for 2011 Best Yoga Studio on Indystar.com’s The Indy A List. They also brought home a feature as the “best place to get started” in yoga in a 2011 Indianapolis Monthly article, in part for offering welcoming sessions geared toward beginners. A diverse range of classes includes several forms of the discipline, including Beginner Yoga, Intermediate, Prana Flow, Prenatal Yoga, and iCan yoga classes. Whether taking restorative sessions or advanced heated classes, all students take in the nurturing environment with its hardwood floors, spongy yoga mats, and flickering candles that flicker words of wisdom in Morse code.

In 1830, a group of history enthusiasts formed a club around a pledge to delve deep into their state’s history and record each decade’s goings-on. So were the humble beginnings of the Indiana Historical Society, now an expansive home for artifacts, images, and a library, all showcasing the state's rich past.

One of the facility's main attractions, the Indiana Experience sculpts the Indiana Historical Society's research into interactive exhibits and programs to forge personal connections between modern populations and their regional predecessors. Within, actors interpret the lives of historical figures and interact with three-dimensional re-creations of historic photographs in the You Are There series, staging periods such as in 1955: Ending Polio, when workers at the Eli Lilly and Company packing line rushed to get shipments of the polio vaccine out the door to help ailing people. Beginning March 26, visitors can also help with the recovery effort after the great flood of 1913, interacting with volunteers to help the flood sufferers and wandering the Wulf’s Hall Relief Station.

The William H. Smith Memorial Library also maintains a can't-miss archive of documents that explore Indiana's history, including films, sheet music, and commemorative coins and medals, as well as more than 1.7 million photographs. When hunger makes its way onto agendas, visitors can dine indoors at Stardust Terrace Café or outdoors on its canal-side patio, returning on select summer nights to gather along the water for special events such as the Concerts on the Canal series.

Orchard in Bloom’s annual garden show and symposium in Holliday Park raises funds for The Orchard School, an independent grade school for grades pre-K through 8. Select local landscapers create macro-landscapes with in-season botany as well as specialized microgardens, designed to showcase specific plant varieties and new design ideas that homeowners can easily incorporate into their own yards. Gardeners can stock up on tools, plants, and art at the Gardener’s Market, full of national and regional artisan vendors. The children’s area entertains youngsters with age-appropriate activities, such as filling flowerpots with soil and playing patty-cake with the limbs of trees.

At Bluff Creek Golf Course, the club's eponymous creek chuckles quietly across 171 acres of relatively open emerald sweeps and 6,525 yards of fairways and greens. Though much of the course roams across flat terrain, certain holes feature sudden elevation changes, including the par 3 10th, where the green rests at the bottom of a 70-foot drop-off that visually obscures the target from golfers. Forgiving fairways, fast bent-grass greens, and thick heather grasses to ensnare poor shots create the feeling of a classic links-style course. Players must take confident swings to evade the water hazards formed by the creek and nine retention ponds, which come into play on the final eight holes and every screaming match with a catfish.

After rounds, a parade of players leads past startlingly colorful redbud trees to the hilltop clubhouse, which sits at one of the highest points in Johnson County. Frosty glasses sing together, the sound drifting off toward the distant Indianapolis skyline. Bluff Creek Golf Course also peddles a variety of clubs and apparel from other top brands in a pro shop, where guests can schedule lessons with a certified instructor to fix a recurring slice or tendency to yell their social-security number mid swing.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 72 course

• Length of 6,525 yards from the farthest tees

• Course rating of 70.8 from the farthest tees

• Slope rating of 120 from the farthest tees

• Three tee options

Though it's an airy indoor facility, The Crag Indoor Rock Climbing gym gleans its name from the jagged outdoor cliffs that climbing enthusiasts often strive to summit. Designed by a respected indoor rock-wall builder, The Crag safely recreates the excitement of inching up a punishing rock formation. However, not every wall at the facility is so challenging. It's frequently populated by skilled youth climbers and kids as young as 8. The younger climbers at The Crag often become adept through joining the youth climbing team, or by attending the gym's skill-building summer camp, where campers learn to scale walls by practicing belaying, top roping, and stealing Batman's utility belt. The facility's designer also kept adults and seasoned practitioners in mind by creating more than 100 routes that range in difficulty from beginner to more advanced.

Started in Boston in 1990 and an Indianapolis staple since 1992, The Mystery Café delights audiences with an engaging dinner show and four-course Italian dinner. Guest sleuths enter the dining hall and have the option to undertake a fictional identity to interact with the cast of professional performers. Upon finding their seats, diners become engrossed in a comedic play in which voluntary participants receive a line to read and a high-speed jetpack to escape with should suspicion fall on them. While putting crime-fighting powers to the test in hopes of not only solving the mystery but also earning the night's grand prize, diners put an end to hunger with savory minestrone, a tossed salad, a choice of lasagna, shells florentine, chicken parmesan, or sausage cannelloni, and spumoni for dessert.