Erie, Pennsylvania

Today we visited Erie, and its' maritime museum. The museum had amazing exhibits about the War of 1812 had of the battles that had been fought on the lakes. I never understood how much of the war was actually fought in the water.
We were actually able to have a tour of the Niagara , a replica of the original ship that fought with Captain Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie. The ship was truly astounding in its' size. Although it was so big the bottom level of the ship was only 5' feet tall! We got to walk along the whole ship and see all the quarters. The ship is actually in sailing condition, so the museum takes people out on sailing excursions in the Summer. One more summer vacation plan!
We also meet a model builder who was building a working replica of the Niagara. All the tiny ropes and pulleys worked and were all made by hand. The man had actually given up on keeping track of how many hours he had worked on it!
I learned and saw so much at the Maritime museum in Erie. One of my favorite museums so far.