Crooked Lake - Angola, Indiana

I left Cincinnati after stopping at a Subway sandwich shop in Fairfield and proceeded to verbally argue with the artificial intelligence of my GPS unit as the "#1 Corolla Rager" (aka: My Car) trudged up I-75. The sky's were gray and the rain came and went as I passed through St. Mary's and Van Wert before reaching the firework store border of Indiana. Shortly after, I was in Indiana's second largest city; Fort Wayne. After meeting up with my cousin Jeff, who explored Bush Stadium with me last summer, I got to visit with my aunt, uncle and other cousins. We ended up in downtown Ft. Wayne at an Irish pub sharing good beers and great food while the rain outside came pouring down, preventing us from attending a Ft. Wayne Tincaps game. Despite the game's cancellation and being unable to see the new minor league stadium, a quick tour around the city revealed how vibrant and nice the downtown area is becoming. Downtown Ft. Wayne is kind of like downtown Dayton, but cooler. After spending the night in Ft. Wayne, Jeff and I woke up early to head out to Angola, Indiana, a place that held many childhood memories for us.

- Crooked Lake, Angola, Indiana.
My grandparents had formerly lived in a house on the lake that served as a gathering place for our whole extended family in the summers and during the holidays. They passed away in October and December of 2003 and I hadn't been to the lake house since we all helped remove the belongings from it after their passing. Jeff and I decided to go back.

The day started out with the rain pouring down and us looking for the ice cream stand our Grandmother used to take us to. The stand was known for its "Trash Can Sundaes" where they served you ice cream topped with gummy worms in a small, plastic trash can. I still have one of the cans on my desk.

- What used to be the "Trash Can Sundae" place.
Unfortunately the ice cream place had closed some time ago, become a barbeque place and then closed again.

We took a drive around the lake and past my Grandparent's former home. The first place we stopped was Casey's Cove; a gas station we used to pull the boats up to when out tubing or going for a ride on the lake.

- Casey's Cove
Not much had changed in the years since I can remember being there. There just happened to be an abandoned amusement park in the area (which will be featured in a later update) that we ended up exploring. After the amusement park we went to "the beach."

- The Steuben County, Indiana Crooked Lake Beach.
- When I was younger I thought this was comparable to the beach at the ocean.
As I stood on the beach and breathed in the air from the lake, I could remember all those days Jeff and I had spent tubing, swimming and hanging out up there with family. It was a pretty bittersweet moment. Frequent vacations to Crooked Lake as a kid were always just as fun as those "big vacations" your family saves up for every couple of years.


After driving around the lake a few more times, we decided to stop by the old house and get a picture. I pulled into one of the driveways next door and a neighbor came out asking: "Excuse me, do I know you?" We explained who we were and why we were there, she couldn't have been any more friendly.


She explained to us how much she missed having our grandparents as neighbors and introduced us to the new owners of the house (who were also originally neighbors to my grandparents). Despite being soaked by the rain and covered in mud from the exploring we had done earlier, the new owners invited us in to show us how the house. The first thing they pointed out was a photograph of my grandparents that they still kept in the house.

- A photograph of my grandparents that still remained in the house.
The interior had changed, the walls had been repainted, the deck was redone and the shelf that once held all our toys and an original "Battleship" game had been re-purposed. The new owners had changed the house a lot, but did this is an effort to add more living space for when their family came to visit. Despite the changes, they also use the house as a gathering place for their family, just as my grandparents did. No matter how much of the house's appearance they've changed, what they do for their family more than makes up for it.


My grandfather and I on my third birthday in 1992 on the same red steps seen above:


- The dock in the lake as it appears today.
- The way the dock looked when my cousins Jeff (left), Jeremy (center) and I (right) were fishing off of it in the mid 1990's.
- I once even caught a fish.
We thanked them for letting us see the house and decided to take one last look at Angola. We stopped at "Tom's donuts and dogs" for lunch, a joint donut and hot dog stand.


- Inside Tom's Donuts and Dogs.
After leaving the lake we went to "downtown" Angola. The two lane road in and out of town was now a four lane road. The original McDonalds playland was a cell phone store and had been replace by two more McDonalds play places. WalMart, a Menards and a Lowe's all dotted the "skyline" while the center of town was in the processing of receiving new bricks and street scaping. Jeff and I stopped by one of two retro movie theatres in the town square. One we had gone to numerous times when we used to visit.


"You missed the matinee," said the owner as he wiped down the windows outside. "Stopping by tonight for the evening shows?" We explained who we were on our way out and how we used to come there (James Bond: Die Another Day is the last movie I can remember seeing there). According to him, business has been dropping steadily by about 3000 less customers since 2001. He chalked it up to people wanting to stay home with their entertainment systems and large tv's. Hopefully people business starts to look up for this guy.

We hopped in the car and headed back, all in all a good trip that brought back some great memories.

As I mentioned earlier, we came across an abandoned amusement park during our trip, stay tuned next week for more:

Dedicated to my awesome family and the memory of Doris and Alfred Bushey.

Previous Update :: June 8, 2010 - "The Postcard View from WLWT"

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QC/D on Queen City Awesome!

Tune into the "Queen City Awesome" radio show hosted by Jeff Elrod on WVQC 95.7 FM tomorrow where I'll be a guest to talk about abandoned buildings, exploring and other stuff. I'll be on from 5-6 PM. Stop listening to "Eddie and Tracy" on WLW and tune into QUEEN CITY AWESOME at 95.7 FM on your radio or listen live on WVQC.org.



These guys put on an awesome show with lots of cool local bands and other interesting people. Check out their blog and follow them on Twitter and Facebook if you're into that sort of thing.

New QC/D update coming Thursday. If you liked the original Americana update from back in 2007, you'll love what's coming next.

- Gordon

The Postcard View from WLWT

Derek might have said it "would be like this," but Derek Beasley left Cincinnati for Mobil, Alabama some time ago. And aside from Rich Apuzzo, I can't really remember any other Cincinnati weathermen and/or their catchphrases to make vague references/jokes about. Truth is, I don't really watch any of the local news stations, but if I had to pick my favorite: The winner would be Channel 5 WLWT, simply because of their studio's postcard view of the Queen City.


It's been twenty days since I last updated Queen City Discovery (QC/D). For awhile, I was on a kick where I updated it once a week. I've fallen behind and I apologize. I promise more stuff is coming soon (it's definitely good stuff) and I have some new adventures planned for this summer. With school out, I've been busy working two jobs and following the Reds. The first job is at a place I love, but a place that seems to be getting ever more repetitive as the days drag on between the stretches of highway traffic, button pushing and morning meetings.

The second, well, my second job has been an incredible opportunity. The good folks at the Cincinnati Business Courier have been kind enough to let me do some freelancing for them lately. The opportunity has not only allowed me to work with some great people as well as meet and photograph people with interesting stories to tell, but its also taught me a lot and allowed me to see some cool things. Like the other day when I got to go on the roof of Channel 5's studio.


After sitting for 50 minutes in the parking lot better known as: "8:00 AM on I-75," I made good time darting around buses and cars on Reading Rd. while maintaining a speed within the limits of the law (especially since officers in Ohio can just estimate your speed now when giving you a ticket). I pulled into the Mt. Auburn studio of WLWT, grabbed the camera and met "Pete," a station representative.


The former headquarters of Taft Broadcasting (the folks who brought you Hannah Barbera and Kings Island), Channel 5 moved it's operation here in 1999 from downtown. We climbed a ladder onto the roof and were welcomed to a beautiful, cool, clear day atop a building with a postcard view of Cincinnati:

(Click photos for full size)

- Looking West.
- Union Terminal and the West End.
- Historic Over-The-Rhine and Music Hall.
Pete pointed out to me that on a clear day you could see the control tower of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). If you look closely on the top of the ridge line, next to the radio towers, you can see it in this picture:


Here's an "enhanced" view with state-of-the-art computer graphics to point it out to you:


- Downtown and Northern Kentucky Hills.

- Queen City Square, the city's new tallest building.

- The iconic Carew Tower.
- Panoramic View.
Again, to the readers: Sorry for the lack of updates as of late. I'll be updating more often soon with stuff from both outside and within the Cincinnati area. Hope everyone reading is enjoying their summer so far and is supporting the (currently) first place Cincinnati Reds!

- Gordon

Previous Update :: May 20, 2010 - "Cincinnati's Abandoned Subway Documentary to Premiere"

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