What's Erie like? (Pittsburgh, York, Washington: amusement park, theater, universities)

[winter enjoyer]

I'm moving to Northeast Ohio from Western North Carolina and I plan to commute to Erie quite often. I just wanted to know what to expect on an average commute to Erie and what there is to do in town.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by winter enjoyer

I'm moving to Northeast Ohio from Western North Carolina and I plan to commute to Erie quite often. I just wanted to know what to expect on an average commute to Erie and what there is to do in town.

Presque Isle is very nice to visit when you are in Erie and on your commute from Ohio you will drive by several farms and other parks as well. If you like fishing Elk Creek and Walnut Creek are great for steelhead fishing and they are west of Erie. In the city area Erie has a minor league baseball and hockey team and some very nice cultural activities including an art museum, maritime museum, multiple theaters, and a very nice convention center that gets some pretty good events. The universities in the area also offer some additional cultural and music events and there are lots of free concerts and festivals in the summer. There is also a casino in the area, many breweries, great restaurants, and I personally love to visit Waldameer amusement park and they have done some great renovations recently.

[Ohiogirl81]

If your commute will be on I-90, that drive generally is uneventful, unless it's snowing really hard. Not a ton of traffic, moderate truck traffic.

[Jbraybarten65]

Originally Posted by winter enjoyer

I'm moving to Northeast Ohio from Western North Carolina and I plan to commute to Erie quite often. I just wanted to know what to expect on an average commute to Erie and what there is to do in town.

I like it up there, but haven't made a trip in a while. Depending on where you are in Ohio, Erie get's a lot of snow in the winter (if you will be near Cleveland or the lake in general, it will be comparable.)

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Jbraybarten65

I like it up there, but haven't made a trip in a while. Depending on where you are in Ohio, Erie get's a lot of snow in the winter (if you will be near Cleveland or the lake in general, it will be comparable.)

As a native of the Greater Cleveland snowbelt east and northeast of Cleveland, and someone who spent years working in Erie, Erie snowfalls are much more significant than anywhere in most of Greater Cleveland. Perhaps Chardon and northeastern Geauga County at higher elevations in the Greater Cleveland snowbelt have comparable snowfall averages to Erie, but I doubt it.

See 10-year average snowfall here, a website that does a good job of explaining lake effect snow:

https://mrcc.purdue.edu/cliwatch/eNe...1210_full.html

The above map shows Erie receiving 100 to 120 inches of snow annually. Most of the Greater Cleveland snowbelt (in western Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties) receives only 60-90 inches annually.

I'm not familiar with Erie winters since the onslaught of climate change in the last decade, but snowfalls in Greater Cleveland, even in the snowbelt are much less, especially if accumulations are considered.

Here's a more dated map from the end of the 20th century that shows that greatest Lake Erie region snowfalls occur from extreme northwestern Ohio through Erie into the region south of Buffalo, NY. This makes perfect sense because landfalls on the eastern portion of the Lake Erie basin are prone to massive snowfalls from storms driven by westerly winds across the length of Lake Erie.

https://www.gcbl.org/explore/climate/lake-effects

These threads may be of interest, and I'm certain they apply to Erie to some degree.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/clev...s-weather.html

https://www.city-data.com/forum/clev...east-ohio.html

As the OP enjoys mountains, certainly check out Allegheny National Forest.

https://visitanf.com/

Major regional ski lodges such as Peak 'n Peek are in western NY (yet only about 90 minutes from eastern Greater Cleveland (e.g., Mentor, OH), although there are smaller downhill ski slopes even in eastern Greater Cleveland, where artificial snow is more important.

Presque Isle in Erie likely has the best Lake Erie beaches. Lake Chautauqua and the Chautauqua Institution are a very historic and popular summer resort area in the eastern Lake Erie basin.

https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/F...s/default.aspx

https://chq.org/

FYI, Cleveland offers professional sports and some of the best cultural institutions in the U.S. Cleveland's pro sports venues all are located close together in fun downtown entertainment/dining districts (ditto for Pittsburgh). I'm not as familiar with Buffalo, but it's definitely worth exploring. Mentor is the sixth largest commercial area in Ohio with almost every big box retailer. Beachwood Mall/Legacy Village in eastern Cuyahoga County is the upscale shopping destination in northern Ohio. Here's a somewhat dated (especially, it's pre-pandemic), but IMO excellent travel article about Greater Cleveland.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g...Cleveland.html

Greater Cleveland with the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals is one of the nation's leading medical centers. Definitely check out Medicare hospital ratings for any area under consideration.

Grove City Premium Outlets near the intersection of I-79 and I-80 is the region's major outlet store destination.

I really like Erie, partly because of its proximity to Cleveland (I-90) and Pittsburgh (I-79) attractions. Also consider that Erie is only two hours from Niagara Falls and 2 1/2 hours from Letchworth State Park, one of the best state parks in the U.S. Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, OH, one of the nation's best, also are well within two hours of Erie.

https://parks.ny.gov/parks/letchworth

Also check out the distances from Erie to Boston, New York City, Washington, DC, Toronto and Chicago. Lots of 3- and 5-day weekend excitement readily available! The Finger Lakes, especially around Ithaca, also are great!