Arriving Pennsylvania (6/23/2015)

We had rain again during the night.  It woke us up about 4:30, and we had left windows open in the front, so we got up and closed them.  I think it rained off and on from then on until we left.  Some of the rain was pretty heavy, and Mazie thought it hailed some but we didn't see or hear that. As much as we Arizonans appreciate rain, it was nice to see sunshine again.  We took our time getting ready to leave, but finally had to unhook between raindrops.   We didn't have sewer or water at our campsites, so all three RVs had to take their turn dumping at the dump station (they did have two dump stations), and then filling up with water (one of them was not working, so we only had one faucet to take on water).  But we pulled out just before 9:30, and it had pretty well finished raining by then. 

We worked our way back up to the Lake Erie coast and followed 534, then 531 to Conneaut, where we  stopped at a train museum.  This was a beautiful drive, with only occasional glimpses of the lake, but it took us through pretty countryside, some farming, lovely homes, quaint little towns.

When we were in Florida, Andrew liked to watch "Baby Bum" videos on his Grandpa's Notebook (as well as his parents' computer).  We saw a sign today for a "Bum Boat," and thought of him.  We were thinking a lot of him today because IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY.  He turned 2 years old today. Sure wish we were with him to celebrate, although we did celebrate his birthday before we left.

The next item on our travel list was the train museum in Conneaut, and we got here about 11:55, which was good because they opened at noon (who knew?).  They were already open, and we spent an hour enjoying this little museum.  This is still a very busy train track.  The lady (docent?) here said that about 70 trains pass here every day.  We probably saw 10 while we were there.

Of course, there was a model train on display, which fascinated us all for a while.

There were lots of very interesting artifacts from historical railroad days, as well as some train cars outside that we could walk into.

Collins found a stack of magazines that he needed.  Marilyn convinced him they didn't have room for all of them, so he narrowed it down to a small stack.

We went back to our RVs and had a bite of lunch before moving on.  We took up a bit of space along this street, but at least we had a place to park.

Back on the road, we crossed the Pennsylvania state line about 1:30, and headed into Erie, still following the Lake Erie coastline.  (it is very hard for me to type "Erie, I always want to type Eric.  Wonder why???)   We saw some crops through here, and a lot of very large grape arbors.  We only saw one winery, so maybe these grapes are sold as fruit.

We followed Lucille to our campground and got set up about 2:30.   Then we gals headed to town to get haircuts (Marilyn and I) and groceries (all three of us).  Collins did his walking around the campground and invited us to join him and Marilyn in walking over to the breakwater, but Joe decided he hadn't driven enough yet today, so we went for a drive out to Presque Island, "a 3,200-acre sandy peninsula that arches lakeward into Lake Erie.  . . . Te road system within the park forms a loop about 13 miles in length."  And of course, we drove the loop.  There are at least 11 different beaches, several trails, fishing, boat ramps, at least one monument, and lots of shoreline.  You can see the city in one direction and beautiful Lake Erie in the other.  I could even see our campground from there.

The Perry Monument commemorates the War of 1812.

There are two flags here -- the U.S. flag, and another one that says "Don't Give Up the Ship."

And we had plenty of company with the mosquitos.  All these little dots are mosquitos swarming just above my head.  Fortunately, we had repellant in the car and we sprayed ourselves before walking out to the monument.

And I guess this island is famous for its sunsets, so Joe took over the camera.