Lake Erie Circle Tour

November 7-11, 2008
804 Miles Driven

Kellisa had a couple of days off from school and I had a few extra vacation days that were not scheduled. That combination can only mean one thing: time to get out the Rand McNally Road Atlas and plan a trip. Driving around each of the Great Lakes had been on my mind since our July 2008 vacation to Sault Ste. Marie. The greatest "Circle Tour" is around Lake Superior. However, we did not have the time for Lake Superior. We did have time to circle around Lake Erie, the fourth largest of the Great Lakes. Lake Erie also happens to be the 11th largest lake in the world.

It was decided we would fly to Buffalo. I know it was Novemeber, but it was early in the month and I was hoping for some mild weather. I was even hoping for a little of that elusive "global warming" you hear so much about in July and August. You will see from the pictures that the weather was freezing, even by northern standards. It also snowed everyday of the trip, including more than 12 inches one day.

First stop on the trip was Niagara Falls:

After Niagara Falls, we started to drive across southern Ontario. A stop to the southern most point on mainland Canada (Point Pelee National Park) was planned, but Kellisa was not feeling right as we neared the park. Plus, it was getting late and we still had a lot of trip left. We will save that for another trip.

Lake Erie from southern Ontario

After I made all the reservations, Lisa asked "did you check to see if the Jaguars had a home game on that Sunday"? In my excitement, I never checked the schedule. The Jaguars were on the road that week and amazingly, they were playing the Detroit Lions. We were going to be in Detroit on that Sunday. Good thing the Lions are a horrible team because I had no problem getting two tickets to the game.

It was all smiles as the Jaguars won 38-14. I was never a fan of domed stadiums, but it was nice to have the cold, wind and snow outside.

After the game, we continued south and then east through Ohio. We spent the night in Richfield, OH, which put us in place for a morning visit to Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Next stop was Geneva State Park, OH:

Lake Erie

After one National Park and one State Park, we finished the day with a visit to Presque Isle State Park, PA:

It was the end of a long day and we stopped at a McDonald's in Erie, PA for dinner so Kellisa could get a chesseburger. We enjoyed playing in the fresh snow in the parking lot. Kellisa had seen snow before, but this was the first time she ever enjoyed playing in the snow, especially throwing snowballs at her dad!