Dine
Recharge after a day of outdoor adventure and sightseeing by parking yourself at the Quaker Steak & Lube, a restaurant with a real working NASCAR, three corvettes, and eight motorcycles hanging from the ceiling. If kitsch isn’t quite your thing, there are plenty of other great restaurants to cut your teeth on like Cappo’s pizzeria, Fuji Japanese Restaurant and Tate’s Place. Or, try a seafood dish at Islamorada Fish Company restaurant during your pit stop at Bass Pro Shops.
Do
Experience Portage’s expanses of nature at sites like West Beach, Tolleston Dunes Trail, and Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. Check out the Sammie L. Maletta Public Marina and get out on Lake Michigan to see the Indiana Dunes from a unique vantage point. If you’re lucky enough to visit during the fall, prepare to get all shook up at the city’s wildly unique Elvis FANtasy Fest or pig-out at the Portage’s most popular event, Bacon Fest.
Of course, it can’t always be rainbows and sunshine on the shores of Lake Michigan. So, for an escape from the rain or cold, head to the GQT Portage 16 IMAX + GDX—the only place in Northern Indiana offering an eight-story IMAX screen—and catch a Hollywood flick.