Erie

From Washington DC we drove down to ‘Grandma’ Vicky’s house (also in VA). We set up our camper on her land with all the hook-ups! As Claire said, “Grandma Vicky is AMAZING!”

We spent two nights there – highly recommend the breakfast and the company! The one afternoon we were there, we walked across the street to a horse show – like horse jumping/dressage type horse show. Not something we see everyday, so that was interesting.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we got back in the van and made the trek back up to Erie, PA for Matt’s work. Didn’t think we would spend this much time in PA, but it’s been beautiful! We’re here for the week.

So far, we’ve been out to Presque Isle State Park everyday to do school, or hike, or play on the beach, or explore the environmental center there. It’s been nice!

We have never met any of Matt’s co-workers, so it has been nice to meet and hang out with his current co-worker who is on this trip with him.

The Tom Ridge Environmental Center was a neat place to explore. It had a lot about the history and ecosystem of the Presque Isle peninsula. It was an important part in the War of 1812 and has continued to be an important place for recreation and boating/shipping. There was a map there of all the shipwrecks on Lake Erie (many!), and I marked on there where we stayed on Canadian side (Turkey Point) and now where we’re staying on the US side. It’s sort of unexpected that were back up by the Great Lakes, but we’re enjoying it!

There was an art installation at the center that I really enjoyed. Here’s a picture of one of the pieces and the artist’s description of the show. (I also put the description on the quote page if you can’t read it here.)

We also watched a documentary at the Environmental Center about plastic waste in the Great Lakes. It was a well done documentary and super convicting. Makes one want to change ALL the things right now. There were many people introduced in the video that are doing what they can to help the situation. We can all help by cleaning up trash around us, reducing the demand for plastic, and holding corporations accountable to use less plastic. It seems overwhelming, but small steps are often the way things get accomplished.

We’ve been enjoying our time in Erie. Living in a hotel once again is nice and more of a learning curve (we didn’t pack as well this time!). It’s not always glamourous (see hotel view picture below), but it works just fine and we’re grateful we get to spend time with Matt while he’s working.

Like the artist from the show at the environmental center says:

“So here I am. Painting vegetables.”

Here we are. Living each day the best we can.

On the road we often encounter new things to figure out or deal with that can be challenging (as people do everywhere!). We’re trying to enjoy the little things and do our best as we go. In these unusual times, hopefully we can all find some joy and connection with those around us. And we can each take small steps everyday to make the world around us a better place. Keep stepping my friends!