Thursday - June 17

 Good Thursday morning from Dunkirk - another pretty day but started out at 52.    Ready for some warmer temps and they should be coming today.

If you want to follow along with the map of our trip, click on our picture on main blog page and there's our tracks!

What a gorgeous day - we left Dunkirk at 9:20 and had a 3-hour chilly cruise to Erie, PA (crossing into PA at 11:00).    No welcome signs on the water!    Mark informed me we crossed the NY/PA border thru GPS.    We quickly shed the hoodies, gloves, etc. - nice 'n warm welcome here in Erie.

Erie has a population of 95,000 and the entrance into the harbor has a large Sheraton connected by a high skywalk to the Bayfront Conference Center.   Several restaurants are along the waterfront just a short walk from the Wolverine Park Marina where we plan to be the next 3 days/nights.    What a nice facility and Tom, the dockmaster is very friendly and helpful.    There is a laundromat just steps away so that's on the agenda sometime before we leave Sunday.    Rain is coming and strong winds (Friday and Saturday), so we are glad to be off the big lake and have a bit of downtime.

It took us 1/2 hour to hook up the electrical cords, water hose, secure fenders and lines and by 1:00, we were off to check out the area.    Had a great lunch at The Cove sitting outside by the water - 75 and pure heaven!!!    When we walked up to The Cove's patio there was a big sign saying "Shortage of Help" (The NEW pandemic).    Sign went on to say they could not accommodate parties larger than 10 and please be patient with the service!   We also heard today that some of the fast food restaurants are closing because of not enough workers.

Came back to Catrina and Mark did some book work, I read and got in a short cat nap.   The Hampton Inn is just across the way and they have a mini putt putt here at the marina.     This evening we walked around Erie's beautiful waterfront, the 187' Bicentennial Tower (opened October 19, 1996 celebrating Erie's 200 years,) Scallywags (pirate ship), and watched as the Victorian Princess departed for a dinner cruise with 87 onboard + crew.

Bicentennial Tower

Scallywags

Victorian Princess

We stopped at the Tower and got a little treat (supper) - we had the big lunch, so not very hungry.   Mark had a  hot dog and milk shake and a snickers flurry for me.   Back to Catrina and sat on the bridge - hard to believe we're going to have nasty weather tomorrow when today and tonight have been so perfect.