Coney Island Hot Dogs are a Fort Wayne Tradition

The Coney Island Weiner Stand has been in continual operation in Fort Wayne since 1914. It sits in a traditional downtown storefront building on Main Street, and smells of steaming dogs and buns. Customers are lined up approaching the grill, but parties are seated at old tables. Down the length of the place is the counter bar, with ancient stools propped to view the grills and the workers behind.

The menu is limited and does not change. So customers have been eating the same coney dogs, chili soup, and cheeseburgers for generations. If you came in here to eat in the 1950s or 60s, or 1970s, 80s, or 90s - well, you get the idea. You would get the same coney dog that is a small amount of thin chili over the dog, with a steamed bun, minced raw onion, and yellow mustard. The hamburger or cheeseburger, which is exactly mustard, ketchup, pickle, onion. And no fries - chips, because they used to serve only the hometown traditional brand, made nearby: Seifert's.

The chili, which is more accurately described as chili soup, is great and is unique. The ground beef pieces in it are fine, not chunky. It is somewhat watery but packs a kick in flavor - I really liked it steaming hot in the bowl, served with oyster crackers. You can also get a fountain Pepsi or a Coke in a small traditional bottle.

Food is brought out on trays, and is served on served on tiny, hard plastic plates that would remind a baby boomer of one's grade school cafeteria. I noticed people walking in and out from the back door, picking up box-fulls of dogs, and there it is listed on the menu - served by the dozen. This is all new to me, but I did not grow up here. The locals have always talked about stopping here like it's a favorite haunt. If restaurants are full and you need to get the ballpark on time, the waiting list would be a lot shorter here.

I was too full for pie but I asked about it - the waiter said they had lemon, coconut and apple. Yum! That sounds really good. Coney Island is found at 131 W. Main St. near the intersection with S. Harrison. They are open at 7 a.m. during the week- does that mean it's hot dogs and chili for breakfast? I'll have to ask an old local about that.

Mount Baldy along the Lake Michigan shoreline

A few miles down the beach from the Michigan City scene here, stands Mt. Baldy, a 126-foot high sand dune rising up over Lake Michigan. It is starving, meaning there is more beach sand going out than coming in. When a breakwater was built down the beach for Michigan City Harbor, it prevented the new accumulation of sand at Mount Baldy, hence the 'starving'. But Baldy is traveling.

From the water, the sand moves in to the spot when the prevailing northwest wind exceeds seven m.p.h. This all means Mt. Baldy moves about four feet each year.

It's a fun park, where you can take a boardwalk around and down to the beach, or take a more challenging hike to the summit. Very few plants grow on the dome, so it looks very desert-like. Marram grass, also called dune grass, help to hold the dunes in place. There are also black oak trees on many of Indiana's dunes.

The parking lot is easily accessible from U.S. Highway 12, Michigan City. Drive in and you immediately see the huge back of the dune, about to encroach upon the parking lot. That side of the hill is closed to climbing so as not to hasten erosion. People do swim here in warm weather, and rip tide current signs are posted. Just hiking on the trails and strolling along the beach is very pleasant. Kids like to try and run up and down as fast as they can, tripping or even rolling, but that's kids for you. It's the usual - picnics, volleyball, people burying themselves in sand. Which, by the way, is not supposed to be healthy because of bacteria in the sand. Bummer.

I love taking photographs of the beautiful water and sand dunes. Dune grasses, the aqua water, white sand - I could look at it all day. Changing lights, sunsets - I'm in heaven. It's also healthy walking and great exercise if you keep moving.

Interestingly enough, a sign says not to sled, inner-tube, or snowboard on the dunes. I guess people will try anything. Hidden dangers are cited, not to speak of the danger to other people who simply want to walk on the dunes.

The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is part of the National Park Service. There are more than 390 parks in the national program. This one is just two and a half hours or less drive from Fort Wayne, and I do really like to see it again and again.