*My family was hosted in Fort Wayne for the weekend as part of a Press Trip with Visit Fort Wayne. All opinions are my own.*
We’re doing Tuesday Top 10 a little different this week! If you’ve been following my social media- you’ve *probably* seen all of the fun activities we did over this past weekend. And what better way to share some of my favorites with you, than my weekly top 10?!
I got the chance to join some of my fellow bloggers and their families to visit the town of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Which fit in perfectly as part of my Indiana Summer Road Trip. I’ve lived in Indiana my entire life- and I’ve had NO IDEA all that Fort Wayne has to offer! It has A LOT! I wish we could have spent longer there, but we’ll definitely be heading back up there again ASAP. (It’s only about a 3 hour drive.)
1.) The best part of our trip?! The fact that my bestie– whom I haven’t seen in 2 YEARS joined me! We were able to spend some time catching up, wrangling our kids together- just like old times. It was a great way to reconnect while having a lot of family fun. {You know I love a great girl’s trip! Maybe next time we’ll have to sneak away sans kiddos?!}
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These hushpuppies are to die for!
2.) One of my favorite parts about Fort Wayne was ALL.THE.RESTAURANTS! There were SO many to choose from. I probably spent an hour searching through nearby restaurants for places to eat. But, that is totally my jam. And we were able to sample a lot of eateries on our short trip. Some of my favorites included:
–Conners Kitchen and Bar: I had an amazing Watermelon Margarita, that I’m still thinking about as I type this. We also grabbed a couple of different apps and we all chose different entrees so we could sample off of each others’ plates. What are friends for? I highly recommend the Lump Crab Hushpuppies. And the Smoked Pork Cubano may be the most delicious sandwich I’ve ever gotten at a restaurant. (Sadly that’s what my Husband ordered, so I couldn’t eat it all…)
–Fort Wayne’s Famous Coney Island: this place has been there for over 100 years, and I can tell you why. It is the best place to grab a quick, and I mean QUICK, and super cheap lunch. They literally lined their arms up with hot dogs, slathered them in coney sauce and served them in like a minute. I ate mine in probably 3 bites and had to talk myself down from going ahead and ordering a dozen.
–Shigs in Pit catered a delicious dinner for us one night. They made some seriously good bar-b-que. And I went back for seconds…okay, thirds of their potato casserole and corn ‘spoon bread’.
3.) The Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo definitely tops my list of fun, family friendly places to visit. We LOVE animals, and zoos are always a great time. But, Fort Wayne’s zoo was the cleanest, best kept, and most hands-on activity filled zoo I’ve ever been to! I’ll tell you more about it later- but it’s a great place to visit for my fellow homeschool fams. If you’re local and haven’t had the chance to stop in- make some time.
4.) We were given some samples of DeBrand Fine Chocolates and my life may be forever changed?! Seriously, the best chocolates I’ve ever had in my life. Not even lying. I can’t even describe to you how delicious they were. I would hop in the car right now and drive the 3 hours for another Strawberry Rhubarb Caramel. I know what I’m asking for next Valentine’s Day!
5.) The Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory may be one of the most beautiful places to visit in town. It’s full of gorgeous plants from all over, and we were lucky enough to get to see their butterfly exhibit. The gardens would be an amazing place to get married if you’re on the lookout…
6.) If you’re into street art- there are a ton of murals and cool things to look out peppered throughout downtown Fort Wayne. I was only able to snap photos of a few of them- but ya know your girl will pose in front of a good photo wall…
Midwest is best…
7.) I asked my Husband what his favorite part about Fort Wayne was- and he said he was just really impressed with how clean their downtown was! I agree. There wasn’t a lot of litter or people just loitering. There were lots of construction projects going on- meaning more fun places to visit and eat. And everyone was SO friendly the entire time. People kept stopping and asking us how we liked their town. Or stopped to offer us recommendations on what to choose at restaurants or places to visit. I guess we’re pretty used to nice people being from the Midwest- but for the 2nd biggest city in the state?! I was very much surprised at how nice everyone was.
8.) Okay you may laugh at this one- but I was so pumped that Fort Wayne has Tim Hortons! We do not have them in Southern Indiana, so I was a little too excited when I spotted one on our route to and from downtown. I *may* have stopped more than once on our weekend getaway. Soy vanilla lattes from there are my newest caffeine addiction.
9.) This *is* Indiana- so you know I’m a basketball fan. But, who knew there was also a baseball fan hidden deep down inside of me?! We scored tickets to a Tin Caps game and I had a blast! Not gonna lie, the Wine Slush-ees from Two EE’s Winery may have helped with the sweltering heat. {Bonus- it was The Office night- top 10 fave show, fo sho.} But, apparently we’re a baseball family now. If we lived nearby, we’d frequent the games often, because they’re really a lot of fun- and I think my little boy is hooked.
10.) This last favorite I can’t show you just yet…we got a sneak peek at the new Promenade Park being built from Riverfront Fort Wayne. YOU GUYS- it’s going to be GORGEOUS! It’s going to be an amazing place to hang out and bring your families. It’s going to be a beautiful addition to an already amazing part of town- and I’m hoping to sneak back for the Grand Opening. I cannot wait to see what it looks like finished, and I’m jealous that I’m not going to be nearby to enjoy it every day.
I’m going to be sharing more from our trip in the near future- especially all of the fun things that Fort Wayne has for homeschool families, so stay tuned! What else would you like to see from our trip?
