Fort Wayne is one of our favorite places to visit. It's a small city and is easy to get around and most things to do are all close to each other.
We actually stayed 2 nights in order to have down time and not be rushing through all of our activities. We stayed at Hotel Fort Wayne just outside of downtown. This is a great option for families. The hotel is large and older and many updates have been done. There is still a lot of work needed but it was comfortable and made for a good home base for our weekend. I was most impressed with the customer service. And I say go for the concierge level - evening snacks, fridge with soda and water, breakfast, a great view of downtown, and a concierge there to assist you if needed.
Our first night, we headed straight to Parkview Field for a Tin Caps baseball game. We are big fans of minor league baseball - I personally like going to minor league games way better than major leagues! And the Tin Caps know how to make it a fun evening! We were there for "Saturday Night Live" night. The team wore jerseys based on the "Spartans cheerleader" sketches. Every player had an SNL clip that played. It was really fun! Also, this ball field had the best cotton candy I've had in a while. It might sound silly- but so many places these days just sell it in bags and you don't know where it came from or when it was bagged. Parkview has a vendor by the lawn section that makes it fresh right in front of you! Ours was so fresh that it was still warm! And I highly recommend the lawn seats - bring a blanket and have a little more freedom than you get with the seated area.
Sunday morning, we hit the pool. Lots of folks check out on Sundays so we had the place pretty much to ourselves! This was really fun family time. We brought a beach ball and some dive sticks and we spent a good 90 minutes just playing together.
Lunch was at a 101 year old hole in the wall hot dog place called Coney Island. The menu is coneys, burgers, baked beans, chips, soda. Very basic, very fast. There is a big counter to sit at or tables that are a cozy fit in the space. The kids had never experienced coneys so it was a fun adventure. It's rare for me to like hot dogs but I will almost always go for a good coney!
Sunday afternoon, we headed to Science Central. This was the first time we'd gone where the kids were really at the right ages and interest levels to really get a lot out of it. Teagan especially loved it. She participated in demonstrations, tried out all of the displays, interacted with various employees. They also offer weekday camps and if we lived in the area, I'm sure my kids would love to spend a week at a science camp!
Next we headed for a quick visit to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art. This is a small museum and the displays didn't hold the interest of my kids. We did walk through and we were able to talk about some of the pieces of art. But the real winner is the kid area - a room that shows a video that teaches something about art and there are stations for creating! There is an area for drawing and coloring, an area to sit and read, and an area to build with blocks or legos.
We stepped outside of the museum with the intention of heading over to Ribfest but instead we found Fort Wayne's Make Music Day. The park/arts area outside of the museum had varous tents set up with different stations. Each tent had a different music experience. Teagan played a ukelele for the first time and I got to play a scale on a hammered dulcimer! There was a drum circle, a tent where you could all be part of a band, a guitar area, and more. There was also live music on 2 different stages. And there were food trucks!! Jeff and the kids loved Pizza Bomba (so did I - some of the best pizza crust I've had) and I fell hard for Affine Food Truck.
More pool time (that's what makes it a vacation for my kids - a hotel with a pool) and we called it a night.
Monday was dedicated to one of our favorite places - the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. I always enjoy this zoo and I always feel like I get closer to the animals here than at most zoos. This was our third trip to this zoo so I also love the memories over the past few years!
Fort Wayne is always a favorite weekend getaway for my family - it's almost like home but different enough to feel new. You should Visit Fort Wayne! You can check out even more pics from our weekend here!
We were provided with hotel accomodations and tickets to various experiences around Fort Wayne. All opinions are completely my own!
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