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Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY things to do


Rachel
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I need ideas for activities with kids in Erie and Buffalo. We are tagging along on a business trip in a couple weeks and will likely be in each location for 2 days during the middle of the week.

 

I have a 7,5, and 2 year old. We like outdoor activities, museums (if somewhat kid friendly), and music. Any good local restaurants we have to visit?

 

What is the weather like up there right now?

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It was snowing in Erie yesterday!  

 

Children's Museum is perfect for your kid's ages.  Zoo is one of my favorites, if it is warm enough.  Presque Isle- outdoor state park, beach, boat rides (not sure what time of year those start)...but, again depends on weather.  

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We love Presque Isle when we get back up that way!  But right now I am thinking it isn't quite beach temperature there.  They had a covering of snow yesterday!

 

There is an indoor watermark in Erie - Splash Lagoon I think it is called.  

 

Don't know much about Buffalo, except that they have a terrific Sweet Adeline's group there.  (My mom sings in it.  I am perhaps biased.)

 

Hope you have fun!

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If you have access to a car, go to Niagara Falls.

 

Eat chicken wings at the Anchor Bar or at Duffs.  Eat beef on weck.

 

I don't know how you feel about art and maybe they're too young, but there's the Albright-Knox.

 

(Ok I'm lame but it's been many years.)

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The indoor water park is fun and if you stay in a connected hotel you get "free" tickets (of course the cost is mixed in to the room).  We always eat at Olive Garden in Erie but that is because we don't have on here and its my husbands favorite chain restaurant.  

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I'm in the Buffalo area. We had some snow yesterday, but the days before that it was t-shirt weather (60s and sunny). I just got back from walking 2.5 miles round trip to the library with the kids, so it's definitely possible to be outside, but I'd check the weather forecast - rain is more likely to be an issue now than snow.

 

The science museum has a nice play area for the kids that both my kids like - actually, the entire museum seems mostly geared towards kids. www.sciencebuff.org

 

When I'm somewhere unfamiliar, I like to check out Google Maps and find the green areas near where I'm staying, and then go into satellite view to see if those areas have playgrounds or w/e.

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We took our then 3 and 6yos to Erie five years ago. (No! It was seven years ago! It was for our tenth anniversary,,and we will celebrate seventeen this summer. Time flies.). They liked Presque Isle, and they liked going up in the tower thing, can't remember what it was called. They also liked the amusement park nearby (Waldemeer -- it was nice for littles because you could buy an unlimited pass or just a few tickets, so we got the pass for DH and DD6, and a couple of tickets for DS3 and pregnant me to ride a couple of rides), and they liked the children's museum too. There is a restaurant that used to be an old fire house or something, but we didn't get to make it to that.

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Oh yeah! I forgot about that place! That's where my prom date took me to dinner just before prom. I can't remember the name of it. Is it just called The Firehouse Restaurant?

 

(He came out of the closet a few years later, so guess what I wasn't doing on prom night after the prom! LOL!)

LOL!

 

I think that's what it's called.

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The few times I've been to Erie we have sat in my in laws tiny living room with the weather channel blaring on the TV for days on end. I highly do not recommend that. ;)

Ha! My inlaws don't live there but my MIL does love the weather channel. My husband sat next to one of their reporters in a plane last week, I asked if he had gotten an autograph for his mom but he didn't think she would find it funny.
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I grew up in Buffalo. One thing we loved was to watch boats go through the locks on the Eric Canal at Lockport. Oh, I see you can take an underground boat ride and also tour a cave. I remember going into a cave near Lockport long ago, but the boat ride must be new (sounds fun!).

 

We also liked hiking at Letchworth State Park and Allegheny State Park (might be too far to go ...oh, I see Letchworth is just over an hour from Buffalo.) There was stuff (including a statue and a small museum) about Mary Jemison (captured by Indians as a child) at Letchworth, which I always found fascinating.

 

Artpark is cool -- it has music, art, and you can just wander around the grounds.

 

The Falls, of course. Maid of the Mist is fun. Go over in a barrel (just kidding!).

 

The Polish market is cool -- we would get butter in the shape of a lamb at Easter (a Polish tradition).

 

Note that I haven't been to some of these places in a few decades (unfortunately), so you might want to check with locals about, for example, how safe the neighborhood around the market is (in terms of leaving your car, etc.).

 

 

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