Crooked Lake - Angola, Indiana
Crooked Lake - Angola, Indiana.
I left Cincinnati and proceeded to verbally argue with the artificial intelligence of my GPS unit as the "A#1 Corolla Rager" (aka: My Car) trudged up I-75. The skies were gray and the rain came and went as I passed through St. Mary's and then 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 area is becoming. Downtown Ft. Wayne is kind of like downtown Dayton, Ohio, 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.
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 barbecue place and then closing 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 on the lake. It felt the exact same as it always had.
Casey's Cove.
Not much had changed in the years since I could remember being there, but 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.
That story is now published and now here.
But after a day at the amusement park, we went to "the beach."
The Steuben County, Indiana Beach of Crooked Lake. 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 weekend trips to Crooked Lake as a kid were always just as fun as those "big vacations.”
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 infringing on her property—and she couldn't have been more welcoming.
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.
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 had done this all in an effort to add more living space for when their family came to visit. It was incredibly fitting how they were using the house as a gathering place just as my grandparents had.
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.
199?
We thanked them for letting us see the house and decided to take one last lap around the lake—stopping at "Tom's Donuts and Dogs" for lunch.
After leaving Crooked 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 now a cell phone store and had been replaced by several more fast food play places. Wal-Mart, a Menards, and a Lowe's all dotted the "skyline" while the center of town was in the process of receiving new bricks and landscaping. 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. “Stopping by tonight for the evening shows?”
We explained that we weren’t from the area and on our way out of town, but that we had good memories of going there as kids (Die Another Day is the last movie I can remember seeing there). According to him: business had been dropping steadily—down about 3000 customers since 2001. He chalked it up to people wanting to stay home with their entertainment systems and large TVs.
Hopefully business starts to look up for this guy.
We then hopped in the car and headed out. All in all: a good trip that brought back some great memories.
And as I mentioned earlier…
…we came across an abandoned amusement park during our trip.
That story is here, but this one is dedicated to my family and the memories of Doris and Alfred Bushey.
Since 2007, the content of this website (and its former life as Queen City Discovery) has been a huge labor of love.
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