A Weekend in Erie

Erie, Pennsylvania…probably not the first place you think of when you think vacation destination but here I am writing this post about our weekend spent there!

We just returned from a quick weekend trip visiting family in Erie which is located about 8 hours from Chicago.  This past trip was definitely Davis’ longest time in the car and to our surprise he got pretty car sick.  Unfortunately we learned that looking at the iPad is a no no for him when in the car.  Lets just say it was an interesting trip full of attempted toddler entertaining.

Our first stop in Erie was lunch at Sara’s, an old-fashioned diner.  We picked up some char dogs, curly fries and cokes to go from the retro drive through and headed down the road to Presque Isle National Park.  There we sat in our cars, windows rolled down, heat blasting (because it was snowing in April!) We finished our lunch and chatted across cars while watching the birds and waves roll in on Lake Erie.

With our bellies full and Davis well-rested (he car napped for about 2 hours while we ate & drove around Presque Isle) we headed to the Children’s Museum.  It was Davis’ first time at a children’s museum and he was in heaven! Growing up I used to LOVE the kid sized grocery store in our local children’s museum and this one had a kid sized Wegmans complete with a“sushi” bar.  It was a wonderful way to spend a few hours in Erie.

For dinner we knew we wanted a laid back family friendly atmosphere because dining out with two rambunctious toddlers and a newborn can be a bit of an undertaking.  Enter Voodoo Brewery! I know a brewery probably doesn’t sound like the most kid-friendly of places but it was perfect.  It’s a huge space so getting a table was no issue.  They don’t have a wait staff which I actually love when dining out with kids and in groups. You are able to order your food at the bar, pay right there and bring a pager back to your table.  There is nothing worse than waiting for your check when you have a fussy toddler and or figuring out how to split the bill with a group. The space is so large that the kids were able to run around a bit.  The food was decent, amazing sweet potato fries but I’d stay away from the black bean burger.  And of course the beer is great!

While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you add Erie on your list of vacation destinations if you are ever in the area there is definitely fun to be had.  Check out some photos from our weekend below!