Tag Archives: Lake city pa

Castle Ice Cream and Castle Mini Golf

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Castle Ice Cream and Castle Mini Golf

Getting ice cream at a stand in the summer is great, but pair it with putt putt and we think that’s even better! We recently enjoyed an evening at Castle Ice Cream and Castle Mini Golf in Fairview, PA!

Location:

Castle Ice Cream and Castle Mini Golf are located at 7334 W Lake Rd, Fairview, PA 16415 and 7354 W Lake Rd, Fairview, PA 16415. We wanted to provide both addresses, but please know that these are literally right next to each other and basically connected by the picnic tables and giant dragon (for kids to play on) in between.

Castle Ice Cream

Property Description:

Castle Ice Cream is an ice cream stand that also has a drive through! There is parking available right in front of the stand. There are picnic tables located in between Castle Ice Cream and Castle Mini Golf that you can enjoy your tasty treats at.

Seating Area

There is ample parking, and you can find it in the front of both the ice cream and mini golf locations.

Ice cream parking area

Castle Mini Golf is a putt putt course with 18 holes. It’s landscaped beautifully, with lots of greenery, flowers, and water features. There are many Instagram worthy photo locations throughout the course.

A great spot on the course to take a photo
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What to Do:

Castle Ice Cream offers several different flavors of ice cream, as well as sundaes, ice cream cookie sandwiches, soft serve, and smoothies. If you’re looking for something less sweet, they do offer hot pretzels, hot dogs, and chips. We really enjoyed our ice cream cones, someone went big this time and got a triple scoop! Their pricing for their ice cream is 1 scoop for $2.60, 2 scoops for $3.50, and 3 scoops for $4.10, in either a cone or a bowl. Soft serve is different, in size small, medium, and large ranging from $2.39-$3.49.

Orange Milk Shake

Castle Mini Golf is a professionally designed 18 hole course that allows you to have a friendly game or a major challenge with anyone you bring. The pricing is $8.00 for adults and $7.00 for kids (ages 5-12). Please note that adult supervision is required for kids to play. A fun fact about pricing is that the 2nd consecutive game of mini golf is 1/2 of a regular priced game! They will give you a pencil and a scorecard, so you can decide whether or not you’d like to keep track.

Practice green at the beginning of the course

Who Can Go:

Anyone can enjoy ice cream but there is a step up to get to the window in front to place your order. Also, keep in mind that you can order through the drive through if you would like.

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Castle Mini Golf is actually one of the handicap accessible putt putt courses in Erie, PA, giving anyone the ability to enjoy a round of golf. The course gives a challenge to any age; we had people age ranged in our group from toddlers to 60’s. The course was played well by both, and someone even got a hole in one!

We also want to mention that because this course is handicap accessible, it’s also very easy to push a stroller through if you have a little who’s not quite ready to play yet.

Accessible Pathways between holes

Final Thoughts:

We had a lot of fun playing putt putt and getting ice cream in Fairview, PA. The course wasn’t too crowded when we went, but there were consistently people behind us coming in as we played. We would recommend splitting up your group if it’s very large to avoid backing up the course.

If you’re looking for mini golf and ice cream in Fairview, this is the place to be!

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[Editor’s note: Please be aware that we are not affiliated with Castle Ice Cream and Castle Mini Golf in any way. This is true of all of our posts. We simply enjoy wandering around the Erie area as we know finding what to do in Erie, PA can be hard.]

Elk Creek Access

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Elk Creek Access

We’re coming to find that there are many different lake access points in the Erie area, such as Shorewood Park and Walnut Creek Marina. Elk Creek Access is not only one of these Lake Erie access points, but a great spot to visit!

Location:

You’ll find Elk Creek Access at the end of Elk Creek Road, Lake City, PA 16423. We’ve included a map below to help you figure out where the destination is.

Brought to you by Google Maps

Property Description:

This is beach and water access, near homes and summer cottages. There’s not a ton of space to park, but you should be able to find a spot being that this is a pretty unfilled area when it comes to outside traffic. You’ll find a little sand, but it is mostly rocks and pebbles on the beach.

What to Do:

There is no lifeguard available, so we would advise staying out of the water for swimming purposes. We did dip our feet in, walk along the edge, and look for beach glass, and we found so many pieces! This beach was full of it, so we highly recommend coming here if collecting beach glass is something you like to do. We heard the best time to pan for beach glass is after a storm, so this may be the perfect place to come the morning after one of Erie’s nighttime thunderstorms.

Beach glass among rocks and pebbles
Our beach glass haul

We are sometimes lucky enough to view things that we wouldn’t even think of, and our trip to Elk Creek Access was one of those times. A couple of guys had brought their dog, who they were teaching how to retrieve in the water. The kids loved watching him run back and forth, and it got us thinking that this beach in particular is probably a great place to bring your dog to play because it is definitely not a busy as some of the other beaches in Erie, such as Presque Isle.

If you’re looking for the best place to watch the sunset in Erie, add this to your list of options. We did come to this beach at sunset, and noticed that although there were still people there, the actual beach itself wasn’t very busy. The people who live in the area were watching, but mainly from their own property; we saw roughly 3 groups besides ourselves on the beach.

Who Can Go:

All are welcome at this beach and creek access point in Lake City. This is definitely a cozy place for a date night in Erie, but it’s also a great place to hang out with your family and friends or bring your dog to run and play. You do have to walk across rocks, so it’s not most easily accessible place to visit if you want to get close to the water.

Be aware that there is some private property in this area, so not all points are accessible to the public.

Final Thoughts:

We really enjoyed our evening at Elk Creek Access. We highly recommend this beach if you are looking for beach glass in Erie, PA and the area surrounding the lake.

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[Editor’s note: Please be aware that we are not affiliated with Elk Creek Access in any way. This is true of all of our posts. We simply enjoy wandering around the Erie area as we know finding what to do in Erie, PA can be hard.]

Mason Farms Pickle Picking

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After traveling down the path known as the Corry Junction Greenway Trail, we looked for an opportunity to get outdoors but also knew there would be a few days of rain coming. For that reason, we knew this was the perfect season to go gather some Pickles at Mason Farms.

This is certainly not a *new* destination, as we previously have been to Mason Farms for both strawberry picking, as well as raspberry picking. However, as the seasons change, so does the type of fruits or vegetables that are available.

Location

If you haven’t been here yet, now is another great opportunity! Mason Farms Country Market is located on 8603 W Lake Rd, Lake City, PA 16423. It is located on Route 5, and while the stand is open at the front of the property with a small parking lot, if you are trying to go pick pickles (cucumber pickles that is), you need to drive the dirt road back into the field. It’s a simple road that is a straight shot back, and in addition to pickles there are other items still in season.

Property Description:

In addition to cucumber pickles, at this point Mason Farms still has raspberries, as well as Blueberries to be picked. There are other items getting ready to come into season, however, so by the time you read this there could be other fresh fruits or veggies to be had.

Things to do:

This was a very simple day compared to the other times we have been picking items at Mason Farms. Compare the size of a strawberry or a raspberry to a cucumber, and you can imagine why. We filled up a basket which gave us probably around 4 or 5 dozen pickles. They vary in size, but the average one was about 4 inches long, and 2 inches in diameter. Filling up a basket of pickles literally only took about 10 minutes.

One point of note: While we only picked a single basket of pickles, there were other patrons there who picked multiple baskets and of multiple fruits and veggies.

Who Can Go:

This activity was actually one of the easiest we had done. Compared to the size and fragility of raspberries (not to mention the prickers on the vines), picking cucumber pickles is a very easy thing to do. The cucumbers are much more stable for young hands than a raspberry (so less “destroyed” produce at the hands of our toddler). In addition, the size of the cucumbers means it’s a lot easier to spot one compared to trying to find berries behind leaves.

Final Thoughts:

Because this was such a short activity, we actually used many of the cucumber pickles themselves to jar pickles. This is another activity that can be done off of the cucumbers, and with a few more items that can be grabbed from the farm stand at the front of the property (for example. We grabbed peas, cauliflower, and peppers). You will of course need the other supplies such as vinegar and the mason jars, but this was an additional activity we were able to do in order to preserve the vegetables over the coming weeks and months. After all, while fresh food is a healthy part of any diet, it may be hard to eat 60 cucumbers in a week or two before they start to rot. For that reason, both the experience of picking the cucumber pickles, as well as the process of preserving them in jars, is a set of fun activities that the whole family can participate in.  

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Pleasant Ridge Park – Fairview, PA

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When it comes to getting outside in this climate, one of your best options is traveling to a park. We explored Pleasant Ridge Park in Fairview, PA and it checks off all of the boxes for a way to get out into nature.  

Entrance Sign

Location:

Pleasant Ridge Park is located in Fairview, PA, on the west side near the border with Girard, Pa. It is located at 8271 Barker Road, Girard, PA 16417. It can easily be reached by taking U.S. Route 20 westbound until you get to the border of Girard and Fairview.

Property Description:

This park is an 80-acre recreational park with portions that include woods, trails, sports fields, and rolling fields. In addition, there is a small playground and a pavilion which can seat approximately 100 people and can be rented out.

Athletic Fields

Things to do:

The specific sports amenities include full-sized soccer fields, softball fields, a sand volleyball court, and a small playground. Also, there are ample trails to walk or run. The park is open year-round, so the hills are great for sled riding and the trails double down as cross-country skiing when snow is on the ground.

In addition, the trails, trees, and scenery make for a popular destination to anyone having pictures taken. This includes family portraits, wedding photography, senior photos, and other announcements.  

Playground

Who Can Go:

Pets are welcome at this park. It should go without saying that you are responsible for your pet, as well as cleaning up after them. While you should check to be certain before you go, we have seen horses and horseback riding on the trails in the past. The trails are made of dirt and grass, and while maintained and wide, they are not paved. They do provide for very easy walking, however, individuals requiring a flat surface may want to be aware of this before venturing too far back.

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More Information:

With respect to the size of the trails, you could easily spend 30 minutes walking, but there are different trails to run and you could easily pick up a few miles in the longer loop, while also being able to take shorter routes or different paths every time you go.

One point to note. There is a drinking fountain at the entrance as well as bathrooms which are well maintained. During this current COVID crisis, bathrooms are currently closed (This blog post was written in 2020, please check the website for current bathroom operations).

Park Scenery

In addition to the items already mentioned, this site is great for bird watching as there are many different species throughout the park. There are also deer trails, and occasionally deer can be spotted. You also won’t mistake the sound of bull frogs which can heard in the frog pond in the corner of the larger field, and also as you walk across the foot bridge.

Park Rules

Be aware of the basic rules before you go. Some of the basics are that the park is open from dawn until dusk. In addition, be smart. This is a community park, so clean up after yourself and your pets. And if you have any other questions, you can also contact the Fairview Parks and Recreation Authority at 814-474-5077.

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[Editor’s note: Please be aware that we are not affiliated with The Buffalo Cherry Blossom Festival in any way. This is true of all of our posts. We simply enjoy wandering around Erie as we know finding what to do in Erie, PA area can be hard.]