We were making our way across to Chicago to meet Morgan and Jakeb, so left New York State and drove into Pennsylvania to stay one night at a town called Erie.
The town is on Lake Erie...which is one of the Great Lakes and is in north west Pennsylvania. Our accommodation was about 15 mins from the Lake, so we left Joshuah (reluctantly for Josh...NOT....large hotel room, TV to himself, no parents to nag him!) and went to look at the Lake. We drove to Presque Isle State Park, which is a thin Peninsula that juts into Lake Erie. There were lots of people enjoying the afternoon...fishing, boating, cycling, walking, swimming.....it also had a big historical section about the famous 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, fought in nearby waters...(I hadn't heard of it either) but upon reading about it, it was very interesting! Google it if you want more!
We drove past a group of houses...with a difference...they were houseboats...with a difference....they looked like proper houses..with fences, BBQ's, dogs etc etc, but they were on pontoons, in the water. It was really quite bizarre....not what you would expect from a "houseboat"...we didn't know where they got their water from, where their waste went.....but it certainly was a unique way of living.
Further round was a jetty that we walked out onto....the amazing thing about all these lakes is they are so huge, that as far as the eye can see is water....like the ocean....but if you went to the other side you would be in Canada, so we did see a few Border Control cars around...it's a bloody long way to swim though to get to Canada!!
When we were walking back from the jetty I think I saw one of the saddest sights I've seen in America........there was this poor man, in the calmest lake, with his surfboard...waiting for a wave.....
waiting...........waiting..........waiting............waiting...........waiting........waiting................waiting...
I wanted to tell him about these amazing beaches in WA, but before I could open my mouth, look what happened! This huge, epic, gnarly?? wave came in....and he caught it.......
Margy, I was thinking of Kym the whole time, wishing he was here to take
on these waves!! Margaret River has nothing on Lake Erie!! (Sorry for
the sarcasm folks....every now and and then I need to let it out....my
sense of humour is lost here!!)
After seeing this guy, Stu got a taste for the water and wanted to add to his swimming repertoire...Rio Grande, Atlantic Ocean and now one of the Great Lakes...(I feel I have missed one) so we found a "beach" to ourselves....(the beaches are numbered, which is a great idea, especially if you are arranging to meet someone)....and in he went....
He too managed to 'catch a wave"in......
he said it was a different experience to swimming in salt water...in a good way.....rejuvenating, fresh and obviously you don't have to wash the salt off when you're done! Unbeknownst to us, he was swimming in a "non patrolled" area ..tut tut....and as we drove a few metres up the road we came to another beach. This one was far more dangerous as it had a lifeguard and you could swim out to about 10 mtrs and across about a 20 mtr span....a tiny area..where no one was swimming....(if you look closely you can see the cones)
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| The patrolled beach! |
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| Lifeguard on duty! |
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| No lifeguard....no swimming! |
Perhaps because we are from Australia we don't "get it", but I couldn't believe you weren't allowed to swim 20 mtrs out to a set of man-made rocks and jump off them...how much fun would that be! The whole Isle is really lovely....green, lush, trees, forests and then water either side....
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| Erie waterfront |
so a great place to spend a quick afternoon....before we headed to our next State.
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