August 8-13, 2017 Tuesday – Sunday
Aug. 8 – Tuesday: Today we visited Presque Isle State Park, often referred to as the crown jewel of Pennsylvania. The park, a 3,200-acre peninsula, is amazing and has so much to offer it would take days to do it all. Some of the highlights for us; beaches, walking trail, lighthouse & museum, boat houses on Horseshoe Pond, and the Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Monument.
The Presque Isle Lighthouse is the second oldest lighthouse on Lake Erie and has had a resident for 141 years. Completed in 1873, it has been home to nine U.S. Lighthouse Service keepers and their families. The service keeper would climb to the top of the tower 3 to 4 times every night to put fuel in the lamp. The light beam from a single burning oil lamp was reflected through the fourth order Fresnel lens and was visible some thirteen nautical miles out into the lake.
At Horseshoe Pond, here is a community that consists of twenty-four houseboats. These boats, anchored in the calm, shallow water surrounded by sand dunes, beaches, and marshes, share their world with turtles, eagles, fish, and other animals. It is said, the one with a lighthouse catches sunfish through a hole in the kitchen floor.
Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry arrived at Erie, PA in the summer of 1813 and constructed a fleet that included the brigs USS Lawrence and USS Niagara. With this fleet he won the Battle of Lake Erie, sending the dispatch, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” The Battle of Lake Erie ensured U.S. control over Lake Erie and the territorial northwest.
Aug. 9 – Wednesday: No outings today, it was time to service the engine. Rick did the manual labor and I was his gopher for the day. When not working with Rick I conducted other boat duties.
Early this morning, I took a brief video of the marina bath house, this might seem strange to you but we have been to some marinas where the bath house is so bad that we retreat to Andiamo to shower. The facilities at this marina are, without a doubt, the best we have ever had. When you see the video I think you’ll understand.
Aug. 10 – Thursday: With the service on the boat complete, we spent a relaxing day at the Erie Bayfront visiting the Erie Maritime Museum area, checking out the USS Niagara, climbing around the Bi Cenntinal Tower, watching kids play, fishermen fish, and tourist boats.
Aug. 11 – Friday: All week we thought we would be able to leave today, however, Mother Nature had other plans and we had to spend another two days in port. We still had the car so we decided to explore further west following the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail. At Conneaut, it was pouring rain, but there were still lots of people at the park under the covered pavilions or just sitting in their cars watching the storm.
Our next town was Ashtabula, the first city in Ohio to adopt an election system based on proportional representation and single transfer voting. In the middle of the 19th century it was an important destination on the Underground Railroad, at this point refugee slaves could take ships to Canada, gaining the freedom they longed for.
Geneva, originally settled in 1805, is known as the home of American Penmanship. Spencerian Script, developed in 1840, became the standard across the US until the 1920’s, at which time it was replaced by technology. The technology that replaced Spencerian Script was the typewriter, which is now also obsolete, technology marches on.
At Geneva-on-the-Lake we discovered Ohio’s first summer resort, a collection of fast food restaurants, old time arcades, miniature golf, Ferris wheel and more. For all my biker relatives, a major draw to the area is “Thunder on The Strip,” an annual Biker Rally held the weekend after Labor Day,
At Fairport Harbor, we viewed the Grand River Lighthouse, built in 1871, and went for a short walk around town. Unfortunately both the Fairport Harbor Marine Museum & Lighthouse and the Finnish Heritage Museum where closed.
The Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail runs 293-miles from Conneaut to Toledo but it was time for us to return to Erie. On our way back we left the trail to explore a few of the 16 drivable covered bridges of Ashtabula County. Built in 1868, the Root Road Bridge spans 114 feet over the west branch of the Ashtabula River. Both the Creek Road Covered Bridge, 125 feet long, and the Middle Road Covered Bridge, 136 feet long, span Conneaut Creek, nice back road country drive.
Aug. 12 – Saturday: With the car returned to Enterprise, and hopes of being able to leave tomorrow, we spent the day cleaning the boat. We were not alone, the dock was a buzz of activities with boaters repairing boats, cleaning boats, relaxing in the sun, reading a book or just visiting with other boaters. A few took their boats out but didn’t stay long and by 5:00 a dock party was in full swing. Great group of people, we certainly enjoyed our time here.
August 13 -Sunday: Finally, a break in the weather allowed us to leave Erie this morning and once again we find ourselves at Geneva-on-the-Lake. This time we came by boat and are staying at the State Park Marina.
