I love my town of Erie, PA! It just doesn’t get enough loving in my opinion. I was born in Erie, I grew up in Florida, and I also lived in California for almost 5 years. Then I moved back to Erie to stay for good :) Here are all of the things I LOVE about Erie! In no particular order :)
- Experience all seasons – In FL and CA, the weather was pretty much the same every day – sunny. Every once in awhile, it would rain. But in Erie, PA, the weather changes daily, and usually even multiple times per day! I love it because I never get sick of one kind of weather, because it changes so much! And variety is the spice of life :)
- Inexpensive housing –
One of the reasons I moved to Erie was to pursue my dream of becoming in artist – I knew I could never do that in CA! I have an awesome two-story house with an attic and basement for about 1/10th of what it would cost in CA! - Less competition for local businesses – Erie is small, and the great thing about it is that you can start a new business without much competition. Example: We have 1 movie theater, 1 mall, 1 paint-your-own-pottery studio, 1 dinner theater, 1 zoo, etc.
- No fear of natural disasters – In FL it was hurricanes, and in CA it was earthquakes. Erie, nothing too scary!
- Most houses come with basement & attic – In FL and CA, you were lucky if you had a little crawl space under the house. Sometimes there’d be an attic, but it was harder to get to because you had to pull those stairs down from the ceiling. In Erie, there’s a basement and an attic in most houses! And they have normal staircases so they’re super easy to access. I have so much storage space! It took me awhile to get out of the habit of storing things in weird places like under/behind the couch.
- Less traffic – Erie is a small enough city that there is really not much traffic at all. Sure, people may complain about Peach Street – but they just don’t know how good they’ve got it until they spend some time driving in Orlando!
- Low curbs & other driving barriers – In Erie, the curbs along the street are so low that it wouldn’t hurt your car if you accidentally went over one. Similarly, there are virtually no speed bumps (except in the Giant Eagle parking lot on 12th ;)) and you also will rarely see those parking bumper thingies that mark the parking space. I’m guessing this is because when it snows, you wouldn’t be able to see them, and you’d be clunkin’ around all over them. This brings me to…
- When it’s snowing, you can park anywhere! You can pretty much make your own parking space, because you can’t see where any of the parking lines are due to the snow!
- We still have local video stores! Erie is a little behind in some things, and I love it! We still have actual video stores, which is awesome. I love being able to go and browse the videos instead of picking them out on a computer screen on Netflix. Bonus: Family Video has a pizza store attached to it, and they’re connected by a window, so you can order your pizza right at the window inside the video store!
- Tiny airport – This airport is SO small, you wouldn’t believe it! Going through security takes like 2 minutes. You can check in like 20 minutes before your flight. It’s amazing!
- Close to major cities – If you get tired of little Erie and want something more, it’s just a couple hours to Pittsburg or Cleveland! It’s even closer to Westfield, NY and Chautauqua, NY.
- Great zoo at a great price –
The Erie Zoo is a great size (not too big, not too small) and the price is way less expensive than zoos in bigger cities. Even the food and snacks are low-priced! When my sister, who lives in GA, comes with her family for vacation, she is always amazed at the Zoo prices. - Less bugs – In Florida, bugs were everywhere! Especially palmetto bugs, roaches, love bugs, & fire ants. Also, you have to do bug control like every month to keep the bugs away. In Erie, there’s only 1 bug I hate – centipedes – but as long as you spray like twice a year, you’re pretty safe. I’m still always amazed at how bug-free my life has been since I’ve moved here!
- Real soil in the ground – Ok, this is an odd one, but a good one! When I lived in Florida, if I wanted to plant something in the ground, I would need to get soil from the store because the dirt is not soil, it’s sand. In Erie, the ground is actually soil, so it’s helpful to buy soil because of the nutrients, but not necessary! I think that is so cool.
- Support for local artists –
Erie may be small, but it has a lot going on! There is so much great support for local artists. There are tons of annual art shows and festivals, as well as great local organizations (like Erie Arts & Culture) that give artists lots of opportunities for work. There are also local art shops and galleries to help artists sell their work as well! - Outside = freezer in winter – This may sound a little weird, but having previously lived in FL and CA, I just love the extra convenience of being able to put extra food outside in our attached shed in the winter! Also, if you go to a restaurant and have leftovers, you can keep them in the car as long as you want, as you do other things, and don’t have to worry about them spoiling. I could never do that in FL!
- Don’t need sprinklers – In FL, sprinklers are the norm, because it is SO HOT that you have to water your grass every day or it’ll die! In Erie, you rarely see sprinklers. Although some days it may be as hot as FL, the weather changes so much that you have enough mild/cool days to keep your grass happy :)
- Cute winter clothing – In FL, I always wanted to wear cute scarves, but it was never cold enough. In CA sometimes I could get away with lighter scarves. But in Erie, I finally get to live out my dream of wearing cute scarves, hats, gloves, winter boots, and cute coats! (I am so obsessed with boots now!)
- White Christmas – One thing that made me sad during Christmas in FL was that it never really felt like Christmas. You couldn’t even wear a Christmas sweater unless you’d be inside all day and would crank up your A/C. But in Erie, we always get a beautiful white Christmas! Not to mention, we get to drink hot cocoa and sit by the fire too!
- Seasonal Activities –
In FL and CA, it’s pretty much the same activities year-round (although in CA, at least you can drive to Lake Tahoe for winter activities). Erie is so exciting because the fun things change throughout the year! And as you know by now, I like variety :) In the summer there’s kayaking, beach volleyball, and picnics at Presque Isle, plus the Zoo and drive-in movie theater. In the winter we have ice fishing (!), skiing, sledding… Well, really just too many to mention! There are also more fun things close by like Peek’n Peak (zip-lining in the summer, skiing in the winter).