Indiana comes alive through all the exhibits at Fort Wayne’s History Center, except for this surly mannequin serving consecutive sentences for crimes of fashion.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

For the last few years, my wife and I have spent our respective birthdays together finding some new place or attraction to visit as a one-day road trip — partly as an excuse to spend time together on this most wondrous day, partly to explore areas of Indiana we’ve never experienced before. My 2015 birthday destination of choice: the city of Fort Wayne, some 100+ miles northeast of here. It’s home to several manufacturing concerns, one major insurance company, a selection of buildings with historical importance to the locals, and a small comic book convention I’d never heard of before this year. We checked out the area, we found ways to enjoy ourselves, we got some much-needed exercise, and we took photos.

Fort Wayne’s tourism documents pitch a number of downtown leisure options for curious visitors — an art museum, an arboretum, their minor-league baseball stadium (home of the Fort Wayne TinCaps), a museum of religious artifacts dating back to the 13th century (closed weekends, alas), courthouse tours, and so on. After much consideration and random wandering, we settled for a post-lunch tour of their History Center. My wife is a history buff. I like places made of exhibits. Best of all, it was just three blocks east of where we had lunch. Who could deny so many converging criteria?

Right this way for random historical things!