Presque Isle

I wrote a long post last night from the old 50s/60s motel I was in, and apparently because I was in the middle of nowhere, the post vanished into cyberspace when I hit the “publish” button. So, once again, here is a post from yesterday.

When I was looking at a map of Pennsylvania, I noticed a spit of land that jutted out into Lake Erie, with a lighthouse at the end – Presque Isle State Park. I had to go explore. But before I left, I researched food pantries in the Erie area, and discovered a Second Harvest Food Bank. So on my way out of Meadville I stopped at a Walmart and had fun picking out $56.44 worth of snack size items for their Backpack Program – juice boxes, cheese and crackers, applesauce, raisins, granola bars, fruit snacks, animal crackers and ritz bits. It filled about 6 shopping bags. I drove in the drizzle upto Erie and found the food bank – a huge, clean facility that clearly serves a lot of people. Then I found the road that led to the state park and had a good couple hours there-Tula and I logged 3.8 miles and found the lighthouse. I then wanted to walk on part of the Seaway Trail, but didn’t pick a good spot because the road next to the trail had a lot of traffic so I only walked .6 mile. I headed west – almost to the New York border (which wasn’t far)- and then turned south. I passed lots of vineyards and came to the historic town of North East – “heart of grape country” – and Tula and I logged another 2.6 miles wandering all over town. Quite by accident I walked past Mercyhurst College where several of the DAC/YDT dancers have attended summer dance intensives and graduated from college there! I always thought Mercyhurst was in Erie. I got a Subway for dinner, and ate half of it, intending to save the rest for lunch tomorrow. But as I was checking into the little motel, a certain unnamed dog couldn’t resist the other half which I had tucked away, and I came back to a chewed up wrapper and picked-off veggies. Bad dog! She looked so guilty it was almost funny – she does not typically do things like that! I walked my last mile in falling darkness near the motel.