Camping Companions

Visiting Lake Erie State Park was a total surprise. Friends of ours had been before, so we got together with them and booked a trip where we would be next to each other. Part of the surprise is that this park is only a little over an hour from home, yet we had never been there before. The second, and bigger surprise was when we found out that the park was having live music and food trucks to kick-off summer. In all of the years we have been camping, there has never been such an event at a State run campground. More surprising yet was that the park offered a lot of things usually only found at resort campgrounds, such as face painting, movie night, bird walk, tons of games, indoor and out, free popcorn, and more. There were still the amenities that a lot of State Parks have, like a small catch and release fishing pond, nature trails, pavilions, Frisbee golf, playgrounds, volleyball courts, and ice & firewood for sale at the camp store. Not a bad deal for $30. per night.

Other, not so welcome surprises came once we got there however. Knowing we had booked only a 15 amp site, and knowing we wouldn’t be able to use our air conditioner, we brought a floor stand oscillating fan. Was that the surprise you ask? Nope – it sure wasn’t. What surprised us is when we got onto our site, we noticed that there was not a power pole for us to plug into, but it did have a patch of fresh dirt that looked like we used to have one. So I walked to the front check in and asked about it. After a quick phone call, we found out that we actually share a power pole with the neighboring site. We weren’t that happy about that because the woman on the site next to us was relaxing in her lounge chair right next to the power pole and we had to invade her space and peace in order to plug in our camper. To top that off, the cord for our camper did not reach the power pole, and neither did the combination of our cord and an extension cord. With the addition of the 30 – 15 amp dog bone, we were totally unable to plug in because of the angle of the plug to the power post. So NOW WHAT? We don’t carry an additional extension cord (yet), so we asked our neighbor and friend if they did. Unfortunately for us, they were using it. But after a few quick calls to some friends who were also staying in the park, we not only had a loaner cord but also a “light” in shining armor. Bad jokes aside, we didn’t have to drive out of the park to a nearby town to purchase one, so we were pretty happy about that.

The park is located on 355 acres of the south shores of Lake Ontario, which makes for beautiful sunsets. There is a rocky beach within the park for your rock skipping and sea glass searching pleasure. Swimming is allowed, however there are no lifeguards to watch over you. There are 97 campsites within 3 loops of the park ranging from 15-50 amp power service, and 10 rustic cabins that have electricity, a picnic table and a firepit. Up to 2 pets are allowed per site with proof of rabies vaccination. The standard season for 2023 runs from May 19th – October 8th.

Nearby, we found a few great places to visit, such as Barcelona Lighthouse, next door to Barcelona Harbor & Pier, Asses and Angels Book Museum, 21 Brix Winery, where we took our picture with a pink elephant, and Luensman Overview Park, which you can see Downtown Buffalo, Port Colburn Canada, Nanticoke Canada, and Crystal Beach Canada, all from one vantage point.

Live Music was provided by Old Dawg Bluegrass, and our delicious meals were created by Dorothy’s Delight – Over the Rainbow food truck. When we got back from our trip I reached out to the Roby who was running the truck that day via Facebook to follow them and compliment the food. They responded that they had been having a very rough week because the on-board generator had died, they had lost a lot of food because they had forgotten to turn on the sandwich unit one night, and prior to coming to the event, had driven away without first unplugging, causing the electrical cord to be ripped out of the truck, and yet they thanked us for helping to fuel their passion of serving the community with delicious food! What a trooper!

Click on the video below to see the video tour. Pressed for time? Watch the 60 second version at the bottom of the post. Thanks for visiting!