Saturday, September 4, 2021

"Dreary Erie" Lived Up to It's Nickname


13 mile paved trail at Presque Isle State Park


After leaving Middle Bass Island we drove on to Erie, PA where I was born and raised. Erie has always had a reputation for being gloomy and dreary, and during our ten days there it upheld that reputation. We had rain most days except a few, so not only was it dreary, it was very steamy with humidity. As expected, my brother said that since we left the weather has been great.

We spent 10 days in a decent Airbnb near Presque Isle State Park, what Erieites call "the peninsula". It's a lovely park that makes Erie worth visiting. We did several walks there in between showers and thunderstorms.



But of course the main reason we visited was to see friends and family. It's not quite the same since my dad and friend Joann died, but we enjoyed seeing my brother and his family. We had a fun dinner and good beer at The Brewerie downtown.

Me, my brother Bob, his wife Sue, great nephew Marques, niece Kara, (Marques's mom), great nieces Lexi and Kendyl, niece Lisa (the girls' mom) and her husband Rick. Kara's daughter Khloe was out of town with her dad so she didn't get to join us.

We went for a walk at the peninsula with my childhood friend Denise and also walked with her at Asbury Woods, a pretty area with hiking trails.


It was pretty muddy where we had to get off of the boardwalks


One day we spent a long time trying to find my parents' headstones at the cemetery where they are buried and finally succeeded. I was amazed by the number of names I recognized that were relatives or parents of old friends and classmates. 



We enjoyed wandering the cemetery so much that we walked around another one on a different day. A large number of Polish immigrants landed in Erie so we found the names entertaining.

Can I please buy a vowel?

There was a neighborhood music festival with live bands playing at five different parks around town one Saturday. We went to Perry Square downtown since there was jazz. Fortunately, it was one of the nicer days with no rain. It surprised us how few people were there, but maybe with five stages there was better music elsewhere.


After we got tired of sitting and listening we walked down State Street to the marina on the bay to check out the boats.


Here are a few more photos from Presque Isle. I realized I didn't take any of Lake Erie, just the bay, since it was gray and unappealing when we walked on the lake side.

Storm brewing over the bay



Nice ride

Perry Monument


We were happy to see that the houseboats are still there. We never knew anyone who owned one but it always seemed like fun since people got to stay in the park even after it closed for the day.



During our stay Jim thought that perhaps we should consider Erie as a place to live so we investigated some possibilities. From talking with friends and family there, they are surprised at the home price increases that have taken place since Covid but to us they were minimal compared to most other places. I just don't think we could tolerate the cold and snowy winters despite the benefit of having family nearby. 

That's about the extent of the excitement that took place in Erie. We also had bittersweet visit with Joe, my friend Joann's partner. She was killed on her bike back in 2013 and this was the first time we'd been back since her accident. It was sad enough visiting Erie after my dad died but with Joann gone it really felt like something was missing. But, life goes on, and since we can't change things we adapt.  


Next up, changing direction and a new state for us.

12 comments:

  1. Houseboats! I thought they were in a flood until I read the caption. :-)

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    1. The houseboats have an interesting history. Long article but you can read about them here:
      https://www.goerie.com/news/20200528/houseboat-history-at-eries-presque-isle-state-park

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  2. There were definitely some bright spots in your visit—time with family and lovely walks and the music festival. It's a challenge to figure out the next step, isn't it? We're not sure that we'll stay forever in Florida (mainly because a very small town is not a great idea for aging in place), but where to go? Long winters are not appealing to us, either. But we also don't want to be in a place with drought and wildfires. Good luck to us all!

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    1. Yes, we never realized it would be so difficult to find a place to land after our years of RVing. PA is appealing as they never have wildfires or smoke, and there will never be a water shortage like there will be out west. If the sun just shone more and it didn't snow for months on end!

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  3. You say Erie is dreary but your post makes it look very nice. I am so sorry to hear about your friend's death. How sad for you the two losses must be when you return "home". It's a tough consideration, weather and family. Are there seasons in Erie that you enjoy? I think I may change my travel style to spending winters where it is warm and summers where it is cool and fall and spring in Virginia near what little family and friends I have now.

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    1. I would want to be gone from Erie during the winter months, just like we want to be gone from AZ during the summer. Your idea of spending spring and fall in VA sounds like a good plan!

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  4. John laughed at your title since he called it Dreary Erie also. Too funny. Slap Jim for ever thinking Erie would be a place to live. The winters are nine months long with mountains of snow and summer is "maybe" three months with tons of humidity. Glad you did have a few nice days especially during the music festival. Nice photo of the family! Safe travels!

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    1. I've warned Jim, and he's been there during the winter when we got snowed in. Of course he thought it was fun at the time, but that was only for a week. We had high humidity and I had "big hair" everywhere we went on this trip!

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  5. Still better than the smoke in the west :-( Hard to return to empty space left by loved ones who have passed. Love the storm across the water - something we rarely get to see. That no vowel name is nuts - I'm sure no one outside the family ever pronounced it correctly! I don't know about the snow, but the humidity makes that area a big no for us.

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    1. We did get a bit of smoke while we were in Chicago but nothing like the west has had. We forgot how oppressive the humidity can be, though. You would think we would have remembered after living in Florida for many years.

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  6. Thanks for sharing nice blog and photos

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