Erie PA

Today I took my first trip with the new job. I was sent to the heart of the Rust Belt, Erie PA. Not a very pretty city to be honest. I got in a bit early today, thinking I was going to need to get a jump on work, but I wont actually be going in til 7 tomorrow morning. That gave me some time to do some sightseeing.

After my ancient GPS got me from the even more ancient Eire International(?) Airport to my hotel, I checked in and Googled the area for some sights to see. Well, that didn't take long. 1 gigantic lake. I have never been to this part of the country and was amazed at the size of Lake Erie flying over it this morning from Detroit. It was below the plane just about the entire flight. Big. And speaking of Detroit, what is with the rave tunnel you have to go through to get from Concourse A to B/C at the McNamara Terminal? Cool, but bizarre.Okay, back to Erie. Not much going on so far. I took a trip to the Presque Isle State Park to take some photos, well camera phone photos as least. I got nervous though, as I was running out of gas in my Kia Sedona minivan, so I didnt stick around long. Nice park though. It has beaches, bike and hiking trails, and some roads that follow the shores of Lake Erie and the Presque Bay. A world of difference from Carolina Beach where I spent this past weekend. On the way in to the park, I stopped for a Smith's hot dog at Sara's. Diner food. After that, I took the minivan, still running on fumes, to one of the 13 beaches at the park. Here is my head in the sand and some photos from Sara's.

After the beach retreat, it was back to the hotel for some sleep, since I woke up at 4 fucking AM. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Ah yes, this evening. Local baseball. Why not? I have been going to a lot of games this season, and the local Erie team is roughly 4 miles from the hotel, so baseball it is. When i get there, I realize it is buck night. Whoa. 1 dollar general admission. 1 dollar hot dogs (more of those damn Smith's hot dogs) , pop corn, and sodas, or pop as they call it here. More importantly, 1 dollar beer. Yes, 1 dollar beer. Luck. I didn't go for the general admission seats, I paid for a box seat. Fancy. 2 hot dogs and a "few" dollar beers later, the Erie Seawolves got obliterated by the Binghamton Mets 12-3. That actually sounds better than it was. 2 of the 3 Seawolves runs were scored in the bottom of the 9th inning when the Mets had used up all of their pitchers. Ouch. One thing I noticed about Rust Belt fans vs Bible Belt fans, they get drunker quicker (maybe it was the dollar beer), they dont cheer, and they give up way too quickly. Although, there was one guy who was pretty positive that the Seawolves could pull it off the entire game, screaming in his Labatt Blue and whatever it is they smoke in the part of the country growl. " Come on baby! Throw it in there! That's it!" etc etc etc. The stands were empty by the 5th inning. Maybe they are just accustomed to losing. Still, I had a good time. Hell, I even bought a hat. Well enough of that. I have to go to bed and work tomorrow. Below are some more photos from not so beautiful Erie PA

(video of rave tunnel in Detroit)