Erie is Pennsylvania's only port on the Great Lakes, a solid working city on the south shore of Lake Erie with a long industrial history and a waterfront that has been reinvented for visitors. It is the western starting point for the Seaway Trail, a scenic route that follows the shores of Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River across western New York.
The great sight here is Presque Isle, a long, curving sandspit that arches out into the lake and encloses Presque Isle Bay, one of the finest natural harbours on the Great Lakes. The peninsula is a state park, with sandy beaches, lagoons, forests and marshes, and a road loops around it for about twenty kilometres. It is a beautiful ride, with views of the lake on one side and the bay on the other, and on a summer evening the sunsets over the water are spectacular. The peninsula is also an important stopover for migrating birds, and in spring and autumn it attracts birdwatchers from far and wide.
Erie played a key role in the War of 1812. In 1813, Oliver Hazard Perry built a small fleet of warships here, using local timber, and sailed out to defeat a British squadron in the Battle of Lake Erie. His famous message after the battle, We have met the enemy and they are ours, became one of the most quoted lines in American naval history. A reconstruction of his flagship, the Brig Niagara, is moored at the Erie Maritime Museum on the waterfront.
The riding around Erie is mostly flat and urban, with busy streets and traffic lights. The Seaway Trail heads east from the city along the lakeshore, through vineyards and small towns, toward the New York border. This stretch of the lakeshore is one of the largest grape-growing regions in the eastern United States, and the vineyards produce mostly Concord grapes for juice and jelly, as well as wine.
Erie has all services: fuel, food, lodging and motorcycle shops. The waterfront has restaurants and bars, and the downtown area has a mix of historic and modern buildings. The weather here is influenced by the lake, with cool summers and very snowy winters, thanks to the lake-effect snow that falls when cold air blows across the warmer water.