Herkimer & Perkins: Building Backyard Boats in Buffalo, NY

Winter Dreams Archive:

13 March 03

Erie feeling -- all wet in winter

13 March 03: We're back from a visit to Erie, Pennsylvania, to see Presque Isle State Park (amazing) and the new Splash Lagoon (weird but wonderful), an indoor water park.

Presque Isle offers many opportunities for boating and other outdoor pursuits, and in the winter ice fishing is popular, between the island and the shore. While on the island, we saw ice boats. What a sight! On the way home, we also saw two ice boats off the beach in the Town of Hamburg near Athol Springs (don't even try to get me to say Athol). This was a first for us, both in the category of seeing ice boats, and in the category of seeing ice boats in Buffalo.

The Splash Lagoon indoor water park offered us a way to fight the cabin fever that is setting in with the decline (on paper, at least) of winter weather. It was weird and wonderful to be wet in winter without danger, and to see all the families enjoying themselves. Dads and babies were especially endearing. It's not cheap, but it is worth consideration.

Read the original tone-setting post to this log
Archive of Winter Dreams log entries

Ice boat ghosts along the waterfront in Erie, PA, as seen from Presque Isle State Park.
The Reverend is still walking on water, here at Presque Isle.
A line of large iron cleats demarks the edge of the ferry dock on Presque Isle, with Erie, PA, skyline in the background.
Closeup of one of the iron cleats.
Splash Lagoon, a maze of water slides and other wonders.
There are several fish sculptures at Splash Lagoon. Erie had fish for a civic outdoor art event, just as Buffalo had buffaloes.