Fort Wayne, Indiana

One of the great benefits of having roommates and friends who work for the airline industry is the occasional free ticket. Before Todd left he was gracious enough to give me a ticket to fly anywhere Southwest flies. The "luv" airline certainly showed me some love this weekend for a quick trip to Indiana.

I had promised my friend Justin that I would come visit in October. I hadn't planned on October being as hectic as it was. I was determined not to make a promise I wasn't going to keep, and I figured this weekend was time to make good. I left the nice beautiful weather of Baltimore for the rather blustery and frigid weather of Indiana. (I'm told the weather was nice there until I arrived. What's that supposed to mean??)

Justin made the two hour trip to Indianapolis to pick me up. We met up my former roommate, Jon (#18) who had been in Indiana campaigning. We had a very nice dinner at McCormick and Schmick's.

Notice the Colts emblem in the background. Did you know the Colts were originally a Baltimore team? After assuring the people of Maryland he had no intention of moving the team, the owner Robert Irsay moved the team in the middle of the night. Scandalous! Needless to say, the people of Baltimore aren't so into the Indianapolis Colts.

There are a few things that I look forward to every time I am Indiana. At the top of the list is a visit to Steak 'n Shake. They have some of the best hamburgers and shoe-string french fries in the country. They also have a side-by-side milkshake. This trip featured a new milkshake flavor... egg nog!


The highlight of the dining experience wasn't the food. Check out the menu and see if you can spot the funny.

After the food we went back to the house to pick up Kent. The three of us went to the Fort Wayne Botanical Conservatory. None of us had ever been there, and being inside a greenhouse on a cold day seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Plus they had an "Under the Sea" exhibit with mermaids and fish! Oh baby!

This tree stood guard over the entrance to the gardens. Kent, a practicing dentist, made sure to point out that this poor guys teeth could use a few whitening sessions. The tree... not me!

How do you make a garden an undersea experience? How about some seahorse topiaries? Throw in some inflatable fish and a bubble machine and you're just about there. They had a scavenger hunt of sorts that the kids could do to find all of the decorations they had laid out in the garden. If the plants hadn't been there I would have thought I was swimming in a dry ocean!


There were two other sections of the garden, the tropical rainforest and the Sonoran desert. Hmm, Hawaii and Arizona. Why did everything seem so familiar? I had some major deja vu. Here we are in the desert section.

After the gardens we headed home, but not without taking a quick tour of Fort Wayne. I'm told this is not the original fort built in the 1700's. If you can't tell this picture was taken from inside the car as we drove past going about 120mph in the Dodge Charger.


Later that night we went out to eat with Chris and Ben at some Italian place. We then topped off the night with a game of Phase 10. Just look at how much fun Justin is having! He sure likes his cheese.


For a quick weekend trip I had lots of fun. Justin has made some wonderful friends, and I was fortunate to grow my circle of friends as well. I just wish it wasn't so cold while I was there.