Auburn, IN
Auburn taproom of the Fort Wayne brewery, opened in 2002 in the restored Blackwells Department Store two blocks from the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum; raised bar, exposed brick, big windows on Main Street. Family-friendly pub menu, burgers, wings, pizzas, salads, and the full lineup of their own ales and lagers. Open seven days, 11 am to 10 pm, later on Friday and Saturday. After lunch, walk to the museum: pre-war American luxury automobiles, Cord 810s, Duesenberg J-series, Auburn Speedsters, in the original 1930 ACD administration building.
Home to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum — one of the world's great automotive museums. The Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg automobiles built here from 1900-1937 are among the most stunning luxury and performance cars ever made. The museum is housed in the original Art Deco Auburn Automobile Company headquarters (1929) — itself a National Historic Landmark. The Auburn Auction every Labor Day weekend draws 100,000+ collector car enthusiasts. Pair an airport visit with the museum for a half-day of automotive heritage.
One of the world's great automotive museums, housed in the original 1929 Auburn Automobile Company headquarters — a stunning Art Deco landmark, itself a National Historic Landmark. Over 130 vehicles spanning the Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg legacy: cars so beautiful and powerful they were the choice of Hollywood (Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Mae West) and royalty in the 1930s. The Cord 810 is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Every Labor Day weekend, the Auburn Auction draws 100,000+ collector car enthusiasts to town. The museum sits less than a mile from KGWB — easy crew car distance.
One of America's rarest surviving early-20th-century airport hangars. Built in 1930 with massive Truscon Steel Company doors — the only example of their kind in the country at the time. During WWII, the hangar produced TDR-1 Assault Drones, an early version of the cruise missile. Famous visitors over the decades included Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes, Jimmy Doolittle, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Wiley Post. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The future home of the National Airmail Museum, which signed an MOU in 2024 to lease and restore the hangar — they need to raise $5M+ to complete the project. Tour the field by ground after landing — the Carousel Hangar is the only example of Clark W. Smith's patented rotating-door design ever built.
The St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers join to form the Maumee River right in downtown Fort Wayne — a striking three-rivers confluence visible on approach to either KSMD or KFWA. The historic Old Fort site (a reconstructed 1815 fort) marks Fort Wayne's namesake. Promenade Park along the river has reinvented the downtown waterfront. Fort Wayne — Indiana's second-largest city — has the most extensive park system per capita of any major Midwest city, much of it along the rivers and visible from above.
A jewel of Indiana's state park system on the shore of Lake James. The legendary refrigerated toboggan track — a quarter-mile of banked, twisting ice — runs Thanksgiving through February and is one of the most unique winter attractions in the Midwest. Speeds hit 35-40 mph. The Potawatomi Inn (1927) overlooks the lake — a great fly-in stay. Steuben County's 101 lakes form a glittering blue maze from above; this is some of the best summer flying in Indiana. The park is named after Chief Simon Pokagon, the last hereditary chief of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.