This past weekend, the BF and I decided to take a little road trip. Both our Mama's were going to be away for Mother's Day and we decided we had worked so hard the previous weekend on landscaping that we deserved a little break ;)
We drove about 2 hours
north of Pittsburgh to Erie, PA. We have both been through Erie plenty of times but I had never really taken in any of the 'attractions' there. The first place we went when we arrived late Saturday morning was Presque Isle State Park. We had hoped to rent bikes and ride the nice flat trails around the park but sadly did not realize the bike rental place doesn't open until Memorial Day. So we just decided to walk the beach for awhile.
There were TONS of baby geese everywhere. I am normally not a fan of 'big' geese but the babies were sooo fuzzy and adorable :)
I was surprised to find quite a few of those shells (below) and Jon was a cutie and proclaimed his love for me in the sand ;)
The beach also had plenty of smooth, flat stones (took quite a few home for some future terrarium making) .... and seagulls.
Presque Isle State Park was a very beautiful place with plenty to do. Next time we will be more prepared to spend some more time there.
When we had enough of the beach and driving around the park, we stopped for some lunch at
Sara's. A friend at work had told me we had to stop and get a hot dog. The fun little diner ended up being right at the entrance to the park so it was kind of hard to miss. The place was packed and the food ended up being pretty good. Sara's really has a fun 50's vibe to it. AND we even got Coke in glass bottles ;)
Next stop was the Erie Zoo. Until talking with a co-worker the week before, I never even knew there WAS a zoo in Erie. It is quite a bit smaller than the Pittsburgh zoo but the animals seemed to be a lot closer and easier to see (zoo's make me sad a little bit actually. I was holding back tears when watching the gorilla. She seemed so sad.). Most of the animals seemed pretty active and the rhinoceroses and orangutan's really put on a show. I was super fascinated with the pig in the bottom left corner. I think the sign actually said he as a miniature pig..HA!
And check out the video below! The baby orangutan was sooooo cute! He was flipping and playing all around. I am glad I was able to catch some of it on video. He knew he had an audience and we definitely giving us a show :)
Just some flowers and trees I thought were cool.
After freshening up and having a quick Chinese Buffet Dinner (Jon's request - I wasn't feeling it), we headed to Waldameer Amusement Park. A cute, little amuesement/water park also near the entrance to Presque Isle. The nice thing about Waldameer's is that you can get in for free and just stroll around. And if you decide you want to ride anything you just have to buy tickets. The park was only open unitl 8:30 and we got there around 7...but it was plenty of time for us. We walked around the park and decided to buy enough tickets for 2 rides - a wooden rollercoaster called the Ravine Flyer 2 and a nice leisurely ride on the Sky Ride which is just like a ski lift that takes you across the park and back. The Ravine Flyer 2 was a lot cooler than I had expected - a pretty big drop in the beginning and a lot faster than I expected.
A shot taken while on the Sky Ride. You can sort of make out Lake Erie in the background.
It was a fun little getaway. Always fun to explore new places and try new things with the ones you love :). If you live near enough to Erie and are ever looking for to take a day trip or quick weekend getaway - Erie has plenty of fun things to try!
~ All photos (and video) above were taken with my Iphone. Both just the normal camera and Instagram.
