I don’t usually write posts as soon as I hear news but this time I have to. Today MegaBus will begin service in Erie and while yinzers may go “Erie? really?” let me point out a few things for you. If you’re familiar with MegaBus you already know that prices start at $1. I’m not joking, ONE DOLLAR! You can’t even get a city block on that much gas in your car. Honestly if you want a great overview of it check out this story from KDKA’s Jim Lokay.
Here’s where it gets good. The total trip is 2 hours long and the drop off point is Presque Isle Downs. It’s a C-A-S-I-N-O with HORSERACING! If you get tired of the casino or you’re like me and don’t gamble, there is Erie’s mass transit which also picks you up at the casino and takes you downtown and to the Bayfront. I encourage anyone who takes the trip to consider making a weekend out of it and in fact the tourism groups for both cities should plan a trip deal around it. “If you’re coming in from “x” via megabus to our city here is what you can do in 1 day..” I think I missed my calling somewhere as a trip planner.
If you’re traveling Pittsburgh to Erie your day can look like this on July 9th for a 1 day trip.
- Leave from Pittsburgh at 7:15am, arrive in Erie at Presque Isle Downs around 9:35am
- Stretch, play some slots and hit up the buffet.
- 3pm is post time for the horse races
- Catch the 5:40pm EMTA into town
- 6pm get off at 13th and State Street and walk 2 blocks to BrewErie for dinner and craft beers brewed on site or ride the bus down to the lake and have dinner on the bay while watching the sunset
- 8pm catch the EMTA back to the casino and you’ll have 1 hour left to gamble before your 9:35pm bus takes you back to Pittsburgh by midnight. If you’re not exhausted yet you still have time to hit up a couple bars in Pittsburgh.
If you don’t want to hit up the casino the EMTA will take you into downtown Erie where you can either walk around or catch a taxi to Presque Isle and spend the day at the beach. Honestly with this plan there should be some kinda shuttle to Presque Isle from downtown. If anyone in Erie knows of one, leave it in the comments.
total travel price for 1 person – $6.50 (plus bus fare which is $1.10 one way)
If you’re traveling Erie to Pittsburgh your day can look like this on July 9th for a 1 day trip.
- Leave Erie at 2pm and arrive at 4:10pm in Pittsburgh at 10th St and Penn Ave (Convention Center)
- Walk around the Strip District or through downtown checking out the city and grabbing a bite to eat
- 7:05 Pirates vs Cubs
- Game should end around 9:30-10pm. Post game you can head back into the city for a beverage or a walk around the cultural district. Maybe catch the T for a trip to Station Square and ride an incline to see the city
- Return to the convention center for your pick up at 11:30pm to return to Erie at 1:45am Sunday
total travel price for 1 person – $6.50
The trip from Erie to Pittsburgh is more ideal if you want to spend a weekend or come down for an event at night and head back. Pirates and Penguins fans will be able to take advantage of this since both PNC Park and Consol Energy Center are walking distance (CEC is a tad of a hike). If there is a show in town that you want to see, the arrival at 4 is perfect to find a place to eat and relax before the curtain raises. If you want good craft beer check out Sharp Edge Bistro on Penn. Its pricey but you’ll have Belgian beers available you’ll never find in Erie.
By no means should you take my suggested schedule as gospel. Everyone has different tastes but this just shows you what is now available at a VERY LOW price if you want to get away for a day or 2.
By the way craft beer loving yinzers, Beer on the Bay is coming up in Erie. MegaBus may give a whole new meaning to beer run and I think SIDT may have a plan for you.
cheers!
Today Lushie, myself and Teaspoon walked the Cystic Fibrosis Great Strides in North Park . Sadie is the daughter of my friend Shane whom you may have heard on SIDT EP 50 and also saw heading up Brewing Up a Cure.
The weather we had to walk in was impeccable. Sun was out, temp was around 58 and the wind only kicked up a few times. Eat n Park and countless of other sponsors made this a day to remember for the thousands of people who joined in. Added bonus was the generous amounts of delicious food which you’d see if I didn’t have a 9 pound teaspoon strapped to me 
We’re becoming walking parents. When you’re in your 20′s and see people with strollers you tend to snicker thinking “that will never be me!”. I admit that in my youth I would cruise Presque Isle believing it and now in my 30′s I’m living it. In fact we’re loving it. Along side the event were a couple of NABA teams playing ball which gave me the itch to bring out my spikes again (I played NABA for a couple years as a Mauler).
Spring is rockin and I need to get out more!
We watched Bella this past weekend and made sure it was filled with activities to keep a 2.5 yr old moving.
Saturday was an interesting day. We spent the bulk of the afternoon at our community pool which neither of us knew about prior to this weekend. What a great place for a family. Lushie and Bella played in the sand, in the water and on the playground while I got to lay back in the pool while soaking up the sun and listening to music with laps shortly following. I have to give a lot of credit to the community for putting this place together. Clean, large and not only very family friendly but also adult friendly. I may have to hit some night time swims after work. My joints felt like a million dollars.
Late Saturday we came back to the house after hopefully tiring Bella out so she would nap. This would be when I had my first experience with Noggin, the Latina Whore (as BurghBaby so lovingly calls her) known as Dora and her pimp Diego. I’m not a fan of making the TV a babysitter for a kid (ahhh the 80′s were great for that) but I do think that, like everything else in life, moderation is good. Personally I found Dora annoying as hell but Bella likes her so I sat back and watched.
Sunday morning we packed up the car and headed to Erie so Bella could see the beach for the first time. The weather all week long was positive and wouldn’t you know it, Sunday turned into a 60% chance of rain. We decide to make the trip up anyways and meet up with the rest of my family who already was up for the weekend.
We’re 30 minutes into our stay at Presque Isle, my brother has dogs on the grill and the day seemed to be going great until Mr. park ranger showed up with some troubling news.
A storm had formed over Lake Erie and was being pushed down from Canada. Per the Life Guard Weather Center Doppler Radar it was big, red and due within the hour. He also suggested that we pack up and get the funk out while we can because it’ll be the end of the world. We oblige and as we’re about to leave the winds kick up and the monsoon hits. Trees are falling down, people are driving like morons and Bella kept saying “WHOA”! I can only image how cool it must have appeared to her.
We head back to my moms and spend a few hours visiting before heading back to Pittsburgh. It was a fast but eventful weekend. Anytime we get to watch the little squirt though it’s a good time.
We had traveled up this weekend to help my mom out around the house. Arrived late Friday night and spent it watching Lifetime movies. I went to bed early. Saturday we got an early jump on the day. It was the yearly Wesleyville block sale so the streets were crowded and I knew that if I needed supplies this is the time to get them. I laid 3 bags of mulch in the yard and headed to WalMart for more when Mother Nature would step in. As I’m loading my trunk with mulch the skies turned black and began to pour down rain. For me it was no big deal but for all of those people with yard sales, they were screwed.
The skies opened up long enough mid-afternoon that I was able to finish the yard work, fix some doors and cook dinner. The fist pic above is the dinner Lushie and I whipped up for mom. Aside from everything that went on with Erie County Farm we were able to pull out a tasty meal. For the record I was hellbent to get seafood so I sucked it up and went to Giant Eagle. There were 2 Delmonico steaks with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, 2 fillets of salmon, 1 pound of shrimp, 4 mushroom caps, asparagus and small red potatoes. Everything we made turned out perfect and then the monsoon came back. Thankfully the cable didn’t go out as we sat in front of the TV for the remainder of the night.
Sunday came and I spent the morning working on my mom’s computer while she and Lushie chatted on the deck. Looked like it would be a perfect day for a drive so mom treated us to Sara’s. When I lived in Erie I avoided the place like the plague. Having been removed from it for 10 years I go back every chance I get. My dad was a regular there so when I found out they used to announce “turn the flames on high, Mr. D wants his dog” I couldn’t help but smile. The second pic is of the footlong and rings I ordered (dad’s favorite).
The day wouldn’t be complete without a trip around Presque Isle. Lushie always jokes that she’ll never go in the water but I think all of that will change soon when we take Bella up there for her first ever visit to a beach. I also know that I’ll be on sand castle detail. At least when we have kids I’ll have enough practice
I could tell you about what happened at the Country Fair across from Frontier Park but I won’t. I’ve bitched enough about the freaks I encountered and besides, I didn’t get a pic of this one. I will say this, once you prepay your gas and pump it, don’t come back in saying you deserve a discount. Get in your car made of bondo and quit holding up the line.
Big contest coming up on SIDT that I’ll announce here also. Yeah, it’s that cool. Plus making it into a national publication for doing apparently what I do best. Drinking a 20% ABV beer very very fast.
cheers n’at!
Yesterday you read about the shoplifter that kicked off another holiday weekend in grand old Erie PA, well today is a story to finish off the weekend.
Since the reason for all of us to be in Erie was to celebrate Easter we went to 11:30am mass at the local church. Amazingly we arrived early and found a seat in the back just before the balcony was opened and the sides became over crowded. We were roughly 4 rows from the back when 2 rows in front of us there was half of a pew with open seats and couldn’t figure out why. That was about to change.
An elderly couple came to sit down when this woman with crazy bitch hair lashed out “SEATS ARE TAKEN!!!”. You know the hair I mean. It’s not bed head or sex head but that bad teased 80s’s poof thing that you’d see today at a Dokken or Poison concert doing beer bongs out of used oil funnels. Lushie and I were at first shocked and then found it humorous as she did this to EVERYONE. It got to the point where she had her grade school aged son sit at the end to tell people that the seats were taken. This kinda insanity would never have happen when my dad was alive and the usher. He would have put the smackdown on this right away. Those ushers were a well oiled machine under his watch. This lady obviously had control of the situation.
10 minutes later her 2 younger daughters finally appeared after having been in the bathroom (everyone for 6 pews heard about it). Before they could enter the mom grabbed the son by the collar of his coat/neck/arm and yelled “GET OVER HERE!!!”. Then in one swoop picked the kid up and had him airborne next to her. Have you played Mortal Kombat when Scorpion says “GET OVER HERE!”? That’s what she sounded like.
For the rest of the mass this lady and her kids were fidgeting, talkin and showing off their French manicures. Thankfully mass was only 45 minutes long so we didn’t have to put up with this behavior very long. I did have to laugh, once mass ended they rushed to be the first ones out of church. Just like those people who leave events early to “beat the traffic”. All of us in the pews turned to each other and let out a chuckle. This is why I miss Erie. You can’t buy entertainment like this in Pittsburgh.
On a side note I did get to drive to Presque Isle and see Lake Erie frozen all of the way to Canada. If you get the chance to do so before it melts I suggest it. Wish I had my camera with me to capture some amazing shots but I’m sure there’s some on Flickr. Erie is only 2 hours max from Pittsburgh so all of you yinzers should make a day trip and head north.
