PA Road Trip: Erie to Pittsburgh September 11, 2008

Day 3 – August 16, 2008: miles driven, 275

 

After having breakfast with Mike at a generic diner in a nearby town to Williamsport, we headed to Erie.  After nearly a 4 hour drive, we arrived at Waldameer Park for the Mid-Summer Scream, an event for coaster enthusiasts.  We started with a ride on Spinning Dragon, which we really enjoyed, and were also impressed throughout the day with the staff’s ability to keep lines moving as fast as possible.  We took a brief walking tour of the park, to be followed by the walk-back to Ravine Flyer II.  I am not a very good photographer, but appreciated the opportunity to be a part of the walk-back and attempt to get some decent shots of the coaster. 

(that last picture is of the bridge the coaster crosses twice — the bridge spans the road that takes you down to Lake Erie)

 

We took another ride on Spinning Dragon and then the log flume before eating at the picnic sponsored by the event.  It was then time to ride Ravine Flyer II.  We waited about 30 minutes and took a seat towards the back.  The ride lived up to everything I had read about it.  It was amazing!  We next took a ride on the Comet, an enjoyable junior woodie (coaster term for a small wooden rollercoaster, not an description that would cause the cops to look at us askance) before heading off for baseball.  We would be back for evening ERT though. 

 

Jerry Uht Park  is home of the Erie Seawolves.  The park is situated right in the middle of downtown Erie.  We had some trouble finding parking due to several blocks of the city being closed for the Celebrate Erie street fair.  We found out later that evening that Foreigner was the headliner for this event.  This would not be our only encounter with them on this trip.  We had seats on the second level grandstand of the first base side.  

What makes this park unique is that in order to conserve space, this second level is built essentially on top of the first level grandstand, rather than being set back as in most stadiums.  This gives you the unusual perspective of being elevated, but also right next to the field. 

The Seawolves beat the Connecticut Defenders 8-2.  There was a fun thing for the kids that I had never seen before.  All of them were offered the opportunity to run from center field to first base between one of the innings.  It took about half an inning just to get all of the kids gathered beyond the outfield wall, and then several minutes for all of them to complete the run and get off the field.  Food-wise, Greg tried the pepperoni bites, which were biscuit-sized balls of pizza dough filled with pepperoni.  I tried one, but can’t say I really enjoyed it (me neither: too much dough, not enough pepperoni).

 

We then headed back to Waldameer.   We had a little bit of time before ERT (coaster nerd term: exclusive ride time), so we rode Spinning Dragon once more, along with the sky ride and Ravine Flyer 3. Ravine Flyer 3 is a kiddie steel coaster with a policy that adults cannot ride unless they are accompanied by a child.  As part of the event though, attendees were allowed to ride without a child, so we took advantage of that.  It was then time for ERT.  We started with the Whacky Shack.  I’m not really a big fan of these types of rides, and not really sure why I rode it, other than that it was part of ERT.  We then went to Ravine Flyer II and got 1 ride near the back and 2 rides near the front.  I almost always prefer coasters near the back, but on this ride think that I preferred the front.  Of course, the darkness added an extra element to the insanity of this ride.  We had to compare this to our night rides on Twister.  I preferred Ravine Flyer II, while Greg still thought that Twister was better.

 

Some other impressions of Waldameer…the landscaping was quite nice, including lots of statuary (some a little strange) of small children.  It was the first park I’ve visited that featured a karaoke stage.  It seemed quite popular, although all of the people we heard as we walked by unfortunately had about the same singing skills as me.  Finally, there was once again free parking, Pepsi, and a paratrooper.

 

Day 4 – August 17, 2008: miles driven, 227

 

Also being fans of gambling, we decided to visit the casino at Presque Isle Downs before leaving Erie.  We visited the promotions booth to see if they had any special offers for new members, which they didn’t, so we didn’t bother signing up for a card.  We stayed for about an hour, each losing money on slots and video poker.  It was a nice enough place but as with most slots casinos didn’t really offer anything to capture our attention for a longer period of time.

 

It was then off to Idlewild Park.  We knew it was not a park geared to thrill seekers, but have heard many positive things about the setting and atmosphere, which proved to be true.  It truly has one of the most beautiful natural settings of any park that I’ve visited.  All of the rides and attractions seem to fit in perfectly with the surroundings.  

 

As for the rides, we started with the Wild Mouse. 

I loved the look of this ride, including the mouse cars themselves, and the unique layout.  What I didn’t like so much was the banging around offered by this ride.  I don’t think it is necessarily more rough than other Wild Mice, but my legs felt boxed in due to the construction of the restraints, which created many opportunities for my knees to get banged up.  I’m glad I rode it, but once was enough for this visit.  We then rode Rollo Coaster, another enjoyable junior wooden coaster from 1938. We also wanted to take in some of the more unique attractions, so we rode the Caterpillar (sort of an old school Himalaya with a canopy that comes up and covers the ride mid-way through), Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood trolley (very nicely done, and a hit with the families we saw) (Greg here: also, Lady Elaine is such a diva, and Daniel is just annoying)  and Confusion Hill (a walk-through attraction where the laws of gravity are defied, that would have benefited from a better tour guide.) (Greg again: seriously annoying. A half-hour of my life I will never get back)  And of course, there was free parking, Pepsi, and a paratrooper.  It was a very charming park and I am glad to have visited it.

 

On the drive to Pittsburgh, we stopped at Sheetz for snacks.  For those unfamiliar, Sheetz is a popular chain of gas stations/convenience stores in western PA.  Being from eastern PA, our loyalties lie with WaWa, a similar chain, but I am now longing for a Sheetz in my neighborhood.  They offer an extensive menu of made-to-order food items, including a large drink menu.  My choice on this stop was a frozen wildberry lemonade (I had some frappuccino knock-off that was just obscene).  Delicious! (Seriously, I don’t know about this epic battle between convenience stores. My heart sticks with Wawa, but my stomach might be churning for Sheetz. This is serious stuff.)

 

We made it to the Hampton Inn in downtown Pittsburgh by early evening.  Now into our fourth day of eating nothing but amusement park and baseball food, we were in the mood for a real meal.  Not much was open on Sunday, but we found a Korean/sushi restaurant, Sushi Kim, around the corner, and had some sushi that really hit the spot (I had some wacky Korean dish).  On our walk back, we stopped in at the bar at Eleven for a couple of drinks.  I had Quintessential and Beefeater martinis with blue-cheese/chives/bacon-stuffed olives.  So good.  They were a meal in themselves! (I had a very nummy Vespa (prosecco, campari, and OJ), and a very nummy Peach Julep (Wild Turkey, St. Germain, fresh peaches, and lemon thyme, muddled). Good drinks at this place.)

 

Next: Pirates and Kennywood