I grew up close to Boston and came here a few years ago. My husband was born in Erie and moved away for work. Last week I was looking for a shop on Peach St. that a friend was fond of and drove from I90 to the lake. The closer I was to the lake, the worse it got! Parts of Erie look like a war zone and seem rather unsafe. It seems like the better part of what I've seen is owned by slumlords or just abandoned. My children were in the car, and on one block we passed a man wearing a full gas mask and a man "gesturing" passing motorists. My 12 year old was scared to death! And we lived near Boston!!! The politics here are just crazy and downright embarrassing! In other parts of this country this behaviour would not be acepted! This area seems to be far behind the rest of the country, I hope for the future of Erie things change soon.
Awwww, that disappoints me that you had a such a bad experience. I am a big fan of Erie - not so much the politics (those are embarassing!!).
But I love it here - 20 minutes in any direction any you've got:
**Theater (Warner/Playhouse/Roadhouse). I encourage you to see Always Patsy Cline....excellent show if you like country music. **Shopping (Millcreek Mall & Summit) - although beware of Summit traffic - it is insane. **Vineyards, cherry picking, farms, Fuhrman's Cider Mill (you have not had cider until you've had theirs) **Downtown night life with taverns, blues/jazz concerts, restaurant events like the Souper Bowl, Chilie Cook-Off, Erie's Best Chicken Wing contest, etc. **A beautiful baseball park, plus hockey arena, indoor football, the high school games are great too... **Summer Festivals! The Cherry Fest, The Wine Festival, all the misc church / ethnic festivals...the BEST Greek festival anywere (July 8-9-10...don't miss it!) **Family amusement park (Waldameer), indoor water park (Splash Lagoon), sports park (Family First), and THE PENINSULA! with fishing, boating, picnicing, canoeing, nature trails, kites - go to beach 11 for a wonderful kite show any weekend! Presque Isle is one of the few state parks that does not have an admission fee so be sure and donate during the Discover Presque Isle weekend to support it. **There are libraries and museums, if you have kids the Children's Museum is supposed to be wonderful... **Dirt car racing, the Downs for horse racing, and don't even get me started on all the winter activities!! **We are so accessible to the bigger cities and all they have to offer - Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo....and the small cities that have their own treasures - ever feed the fish in Linesville - "where the ducks walk on the fish's backs" ?! That is something you won't soon forget.
Sure, we've got our crazies and our slums, our politics are a mess and our employment is pitiful, our newspaper is disappointing and our climate is unpredicatble..... - but we do have a lot to offer so grab a Thursday paper, check out the Showcase, and give us another shot.
