Love Letter to Erie

Erie isn't a small town, but when you live here your entire life, it can seem closed off and old.  Traveling the same roads every day for years leads to a sense of familiarity that drones on and on the more you drive them.  The buildings fade into obscurity the more you see them.  Even the lake can seem to stop existing after awhile.

Erie isn't my forever home, and I know that, but going away to college has made me respect it in ways never before expected.  It took moving 2 hours away to a major city to appreciate Erie.

I was driving around the city this morning, dropping my dad off at work so that I can have a car to take to my internship, when I stopped at a Tim Horton's drive-through (something Pittsburgh does not have, but should).  While parked, waiting for my coffee, I noticed a tree.  Literally just a big oak looking tree, I don't know trees but it was big.  That one tree made me really stop and think.  That tree made me think of the surrounding neighborhoods, and how they drive by that tree probably every day, without a thought.  Erie, if you open your eyes and take a step out of the mundane, really is a great city.

My mind then went to the lake, one of the biggest lakes in the country, that we have the privilege of living next to.  Most of the United States is not as lucky as us.  The lake gives us resources, and an abundance of activities for both the summer and winter.  It also gives us one of the best sunsets in the entire country.  I know it can get annoying seeing a single sunset on about 30 different Snapchat stories, but coming from someone who was underwhelmed by the sunset at the Grand Canyon because of Erie's... I would say those pictures are justified.  Going to the beach is something I take for granted, but only when I lived in a major metropolis did I realize this.  In Pittsburgh, you can't drive 15 minutes and arrive at a beach.

The further I go into this, the more things I can list that make Erie special to me.  There are many things that I often brag about while at school.  For one, our abundance of grapes, which in turn allows me to brag about Welch's and little known thing called grape pie.  The view from my house being rows and rows of grape vineyard, the smell it creates in the fall.  All of this is stuff I never realized I loved.

The food!  Everyone from Erie knows how amazing a Smith's Hot Dog is (so much so that I have heard of people shipping them to relatives across the country).  Everyone brags about Mighty Fine donuts, sponge candy, and pepperoni balls.  Sara's is a local staple that tourist often overcrowd in the summer, with good reason!  Their local cuisine is messy but loved, kinda like Erie. Other towns have often never heard of these, and if they have anything similar, it never truly compares.  The foods I have grown up with that are nowhere to be seen outside of the tip of PA make me miss home the most sometimes. 

Even the less than desirable parts of Erie create stories in their own right.  The Pizza Bomber seems to be our pride and joy, albeit a morbid one.  When college friends ask me if I have ever watched the Netflix show or the Buzzfeed Unsolved on it, I eagerly reply, "Have I?! My friend's grandma was his landlord!  All of Erie knows about The Pizza Bomber!"  And when my friends complain of snow, like any true Erie resident, I readily explain how used to snow I am, and how it totally doesn't bother me (even though I do hate it, and the only thing Erie has done is allow me to know how to drive in it).

Like I said, I know I won't live in Erie my whole life.  I have too much energy and determination to stay in one place for long.  I yearn to see the world, and experience all that this life has to offer.  I thoroughly believe that life cannot be lived in one spot.  That being said, I am grateful for everything my hometown has to offer, and I am unbelievably proud to call this somewhat forgotten, almost Canadian town my home.  No matter how far away I am, or what I am doing, coming home and driving along the Bayfront to grab Sheetz and go to the beach will always be a welcome and wonderful feeling.

With love,
Sam