A Weekend in Fort Wayne

My husband and I took off for northern Indiana
on Thursday for another Masonic event.

Yes, it was once again time for the annual
Scottish Rite Council of Deliberation.

Sounds serious, doesn't it?
But not to worry, a good time was had by all.

Some scenes on the road.

The Nestle factory outside of Anderson, Indiana.

It's difficult to miss the oversize sign featuring the
Nesquik Bunny.

Northern Indiana is flat.

Very flat.

I grew up in West-Central Ohio,
which has similar topography.

I always hated it.

I love the hills of Southern Indiana where we now live.
Coming back to this type of geography is depressing for me.
It is like being in a two-dimensional world.
I need my hills.

We arrived at the Courtyard Fort Wayne Downtown
and let ourselves into the room.

But first for a shout-out to a very nice hotel employee
named Ben.

I just completed another round of physical therapy
for my neck and shoulders and carrying
my purse and bags through the hotel
even for a little bit hurt.

I got into the elevator with this nice young gentleman
and had to drop the bags as I was already hurting.
I told him what was wrong and he immediately
picked up my bags and went with me to my room
so that I wouldn't have to carry them any more.
Ben didn't stick around long enough for me to
give him a tip,
but I did get to thank him as he sped off.

Thank you again, Ben.

This is a brand new hotel.

A nice big shower stall instead of a tub/shower.
Good call.
I never understood having bathtubs in hotel rooms.

The shouwer could have used a ledge so one could
put one's foot up when washing, though.

The view from our sixth floor window, looking east.

Across the way are
the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
and the Foellinger-Friemann Botanical Conservatory.

This is the Embassy Theatre.
If I understand correctly, the part facing us
used to be a hotel.

We were on our own for dinner on Thursday evening,
so we consulted some friends from Fort Wayne.

They suggested Don Hall's Old Gas House Restaurant.

It turns out that we went in the back door of the restaurant.

No matter.
We just walked through to the front of the restaurant
to the hostess stand.

The lighting was very dim in here
so all the pictures were taken with the High ISO setting
on my camera.

The menu.

My order came with a salad and poppy seed dressing.

The salad was topped with tomato, red onion, croutons,
and half a hard-boiled egg.

We were also given a loaf of sourdough bread with butter.

The Foodie Husband ordered
the Bacon Wrapped 8 oz. Filet Mignon.
This was served with a Béarnaise sauce.

He chose German Fried Potatoes as his side.
These were fried with bacon and red onion
and dressed with a warm vinaigrette.

He enjoyed his meal,
but decided that we should have switched side dishes
as he prefers sweets more than I do.
In fact, he did eat some of my sweet potatoes as the soufflé
was just too sweet for my taste.

I ordered the Dan-O's Ribeye Steak.
This was served blackened, with fried onions and
andouille hash.

I ordered the steak medium-rare,
but it arrived medium.
That is normal for a restaurant.
They usually err on the side of caution.

At home we cut rib eyes in half
as we don't eat that much red meat.
Needless to say, I couldn't finish this steak.

The andouille hash had sweet potatoes,
red onions, zucchini, tomatoes, corn
and andouille sausage.

I opted for the Souffléed Sweet Potatoes.
These were very sweet with a brown sugar and walnut crunch
topping.
I would have appreciated just a bit of savory flavor to balance
out the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.

The hotel is next to the baseball stadium
where the Fort Wayne TinCaps play.

It was a bit noisy when they played as they
shot off fireworks periodically.

Meanwhile, parties were being held
across the street at the Conservatory.

The Cathedral is lit up at night.