[[Tenebrous Dragon|Home]] / [[Τα ταξίδια|Travel]] / [[2026-04 Erie|2026 Erie, PA]] # 2026 Erie, PA > [!trip] > ![[2026-04 Erie cover.jpg]] > - **When** Saturday 18 to Saturday 25 April 2026 > - **Where** [[Ήρι, PA|Erie]], [[Πενσυλβάνια|Pennsylvania]] > - **Why** My spouse's injection molding training at the [[American Injection Molding Institute]] > - **How** [[Delta Air Lines|Delta]] through [[Κλίβελαντ|Cleveland]], then a rental car to Erie > - **Stayed** [[Courtyard Bayfront Marriott]] > - **With** My spouse > - **Carried** The [[CabinZero loadout|CabinZero]] %% Specific and sensitive trip details available in [[Trip reference numbers#Erie 2026]] %% My spouse's work is sending him to the American Injection Molding Institute for a week of specialized training. I volunteered to come along because I know what happens otherwise: hotel, training, hotel, repeat. Someone has to make him leave the building elsewise. :) He has class during the day, and I am working remotely. The plan is to do some things in the evenings and the gaps in between. I made a short list of places I wanted to see, and I am bringing a budget for the bookstore that I fully expect to ignore if it has anything decent. The forecast is storms on and off all week, with mornings around 4 to 10°C and afternoons up to 24°C, so I packed for rain and not for shorts (even though I want shorts so badly). This is the first time in Erie for both of us. A week without the cats and [[Lumi Ochizuke|the dog]], just the two of us somewhere neither of us has been. The hotel has a pool. I am choosing to believe it will be open. ***Later**: It was not open! T_T.* ## Days ### Saturday 18 April **Cleveland, then Erie** I cleaned the cat boxes and got everything ready for [[Erin Hunter]] (see her work [[Becoming the Battle Mage|here]]) before leaving, and then we flew Delta to Cleveland. The flight was very, very bumpy, it was my first time on one of the smaller regional planes, and I did not like it at all. Once we landed, we picked up a Jetta from [[Enterprise Rent-A-Car|Enterprise]]; it was not the car we wanted. What struck me about Cleveland was "an old city that really could use more investment in its infrastructure, and probably cannot afford to do it." Finding an ATM from the airport was harder than it had any right to be. After that, we headed to a coffee shop in the nicer part of the city. At [[Lekko coffee]] the cortado came with soda water on the side, which is the correct presentation, and there was a printer set up inside, which was unexpected and thoughtful (I later found out this is the [PrintwithMe](https://printwithme.com) system). We also stopped at [[Murray Hill market]] in [[Little Italy, Cleveland|Little Italy]] for a lox bánh mì. It was passable, and I would not recommend it. We drove past the [[Cleveland cultural gardens]] on the way through, which I quite enjoyed, and next time I would stop and walk through them properly. From Cleveland we drove about 90 km east to Erie on I-90, with [[Λίμνη Ήρι|Lake Erie]] in sight nearly the whole way. I had my spouse start listening with me to the [[Literature and history|Literature and History]] podcast, [episode 13, "His Mind Teeming"](https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-013-his-mind-teeming/), which covers Books 9 to 16 of the Odyssey. We checked in, and it was very cloudy and dreary and downpouring. Once we were settled, dinner was at the hotel grill, where I had a burger and fries. The fries were a big mistake for me, so salty. X_X ### Sunday 19 April **Sunday closures** We found out just how de-pedestrianized things are because of the construction on the Bayfront. It was not at all pedestrian friendly to get anywhere, with all the detours. I started to get a feel for the layout of Erie. The city seems centered around the convention center and the hospital-arts district. Outside that, it's very old, very niche shops, salons, restaurants, bars, and not much else. We were not happy with the food we ate from the hotel restaurant, so we decided to do some shopping, and to get food that was more shelf stable. We went to [[Wegmans]], the [[Erie food co-op]] and [[1000 Beers]], and found that a lot of places were closed or closing for Sunday. At Wegmans we loaded up on food for "charcuterie", plus bread, peanut butter and jelly, and cold brew to drink, and we got goat milk from the co-op. Our charcuterie was oranges, bananas, figs, olives, tinned fish, goat cheese (we had a small mini fridge) and feta. We did find one place with very, very good reviews for pizza, so we tried [[Ippa pizza]]. I had the Rita, and it was good, for Erie. It was much better than the hotel grill, so we ate that and supplemented it with our charcuterie foods. ### Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 April **Training days** On Monday I worked and had a Greek tutoring session with [[Sophia Christoforides|Sofia]]. In the afternoon I did a bodyweight workout, and then a short walk by the lake with my spouse, but it was windy and too cold for a long stint. It was his first day of training, and some of what he learned was 2-stage injection molding. > [!info]- Injection Molding: Filling, and pack and hold > Injection molding has two main stages, and the machine controls something different in each one. > - During filling, the screw pushes the plastic into the mold at a set speed, so velocity is controlled and pressure floats, rising as high as it needs to keep that speed. > - Then the machine switches over to pack and hold, where it pushes in more plastic to fill out the mold and make up for shrinkage. > - Now pressure is controlled and velocity floats, so the screw moves as fast as that pressure allows. > - When the switch happens decides whether a part comes out under-packed or over-packed.[^erie-molding] --- On Tuesday I walked around the shoreline and did a 20 minute run with [[Nike Run Club]]. On the bayfront path I met one of Erie's giant frog statues, from a public art project that began in 2004.[^erie-frog] Dinner was our own charcuterie, with canned fish, olives and figs. After, I ordered an espresso martini from [[Shoreline bar and grille]] and drank it while I did my homework from another session with Sofia, a handwritten shopping list in Greek. --- On Wednesday I did some work at the hotel and needed to get out, so I walked to [[Pressed books]], which is about 3.7 km and 55 minutes on foot from the hotel.[^erie-walk] I listened to some [[Language Transfer]] tracks on the way. Once I arrived at the bookstore, I looked around, and honestly I was not impressed by the stationery. The classics section left much to be desired (I have been trying to get a nice [[Richmond Lattimore|Lattimore]] set of the [[Ιλιάδα|Iliad]] and the [[Οδύσσεια|Odyssey]] for ages, and the same for [[Stanley Lombardo|Lombardo]]). I ordered a cortado and worked there for a while. When I was done, I walked back, with some more Language Transfer but mostly Greek music. :) When my spouse got back, we went to [[Purrista cat cafe]], which had good coffee and nice cats, though I may have had an allergy reaction to them, as my skin began to break out after touching them. We drank their cold brew special, which was probably a mistake for sleep. Then we went back to the hotel, ate dinner and did more studying. Though it was hard, I got in more than 20,000 steps today. ### Thursday 23 April **Arboretum and plushies** I worked, and my spouse went to class. Afterward I took a long walk with him to the [[Lake Erie arboretum at Frontier Park]], and did some photography. I photographed a heron, the brook, some flowers, and a stone path maze they had there. ![[2026-04 Erie heron.jpg|400]] Then we went across to Pressed Books, where I had a cortado, which was *still* okay, and I found [[Punchkins]] plushies. While at the store, we talked about needing to remove distractions to make more room for creativity, and it turned into an idea note: [[Creativity requires removing distractions, not just finding more time]]. We tried getting dinner from [[Ember and Forge|Ember+Forge]], and it was terrible. We ate a plate's worth and then threw it out. ### Friday 24 April **Work day, and Nori** I got a text from Erin that Nori came out today, but refused to be still for a cute picture. I walked to Pressed Books again and worked there, and then walked back. My spouse had his final and the practical that day, and he later found out he passed the written results, missing only one question. Dinner was at [[Oba sushi Erie|Oba Sushi]], which is a diamond in the rough. It is hidden, absolutely hidden. If you go to Erie, you must go here. Their selection is small, but that is how they keep it quality. ![[2026-04 Erie Oba Sushi.jpg|400]] ### Saturday 25 April **Home** We drove back to Cleveland, and on the way we finished the Odyssey with [episode 14, "The Autumn Leaves"](https://literatureandhistory.com/episode-014-the-autumn-leaves/), which covers Books 17 to 24. We stopped at Lekko coffee again, and I picked up a sandwich from [[Larder|Larder Delicatessen and Bakery]]. It was expensive, but it was easily a lunch and a dinner in size. We killed some time at [[SouthPark Mall]], walking around, before we headed to the airport to turn in the car and fly home. We picked up Lumi from boarding when we got back. ## Where I stayed > [!stay] Courtyard Bayfront Marriott > The Courtyard Bayfront is on an actual pier, which feels like appropriate redundancy. Our room was on the courtyard side, so it was not really a view, but we could see the water and the pier, and a tanker sat parked in the bay most of the time. It had a mini fridge. Parking was $16 a day, which my spouse's work reimbursed. > > I called ahead for a king and got a double queen, which was not a dealbreaker but is worth knowing. All the pools and hot tubs were closed and under construction. The grill spots were heavy-handed with the dressing, so ask for less on the side. ## What I packed > [!pack] The CabinZero > The CabinZero held a week of clothes, linen included. I wore the waterproof shoes, the fleece and the nicer outfit. I never wore the rain jacket, and I never got to use the swimsuit. I did not bring an umbrella. ## Lessons > [!lessons] > 1. **Call ahead and confirm every amenity with a human** > The website said heated pools. There were no pools available, and no hot tub either. :( > 2. **Plan around Sunday, not into it** > Sunday closures in the eastern US are not suggestions. Erie shut down hard, and coffee shops and specialty stores were closed, not just restaurants. Greece and much of Europe treat it the same way, so it is worth adjusting expectations now. > 3. **Linen does not pack tight** > It takes up too much space and is not sorry about it. I still need travel pants that fold small before the next trip. > 4. **Don't forget the ginger chews, again** > I use them for nausea on flights, and I forgot them again. They go on the pack list now, and I should keep a spare bag in the CabinZero so they are already there. ## Planning notes > [!plan]- What I wanted to do > - [x] Purrista cat cafe, booked for April 22, 6 to 7 PM > - [x] Pressed books, a bookstore with a coffee bar, going in with a budget and a plan, and ignoring both. ***Later**: I stayed under budget and only bought coffee.* > - [x] Ippa pizza, Neapolitan pizza, open Sundays noon to 5 PM, ordering the Rita [^erie-molding]: PubMed Central, [From Manual to Automated: Exploring the Evolution of Switchover Methods in Injection Molding Processes, A Review](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12030100/), which describes velocity-controlled filling followed by pressure-controlled packing and holding, and says switching over too soon or too late affects the part. [^erie-frog]: Erie Arts & Culture, [Erie's Iconic Fish and Frogs](https://www.erieartsandculture.org/blog/eries-iconic-fish-and-frogs-a-public-art-legacy-that-leaped-to-life), which says the LeapFrog! project introduced two frog statue designs, painted by local artists and displayed throughout the city. [^erie-walk]: Distance from OpenStreetMap routing between the Courtyard Erie Bayfront on Sassafras Pier and 1535 West 8th Street. The 55 minutes is from my walk.