Our destination was Erie, PA, however, upon arrival on Oct. 8th, we quickly discovered that all the hotels were "sold out". The staff at the Town Suites, near the Millcreek Mall were very helpful and located the Hampton Inn in Austinburg, OH - approx. 45 minutes west of Erie. Although we were not planning to travel in that direction, it was getting late and thought we had better take what we could get. I wasn't expecting too much, however, upon arrival was very pleasantly surprised and a little worried when the sign on the door said "no vacancy" as I had only made a verbal reservation. Not to worry though, because Brian, the Manager, had held our room even though it was after 10pm. The room was exceptional even though it was a smoking room and we were a little worried about that. Brian said they had aired it out and surprisingly enough it was great. The complimentary breakfast in the morning was great - make your own waffles, fresh fruit, cerael, biscuits, etc. What I really liked was that we stumbled across the "covered bridge" festival which was taking place that weekend. Even though we were on a "shopping" trip, the idea of checking out the bridges intrigued me. We planned to see three of the 18 bridges. The first one was the longest covered bridge in the U.S. and it didn't disappoint. Actually, it was stunning and the weather being "summer like" only added to the backdrop. What also intrigued us was the "hundred's" of bikes that paraded through. It was really something to see and everyone we met were so friendly. One of the other bridges was on the "Olin" family's land and we met a few of the Olin's. They were so knowledgeable about the bridges as their "mom" was known as the "covered bridge lady" and they even have a museum of all her bridge memorbiallia that she collecetd over the years. Although "mom" had passed on, her family has kept her memory alive with so much knowledge. I could go on (as have) but if you're ever in this area, you must take some time to visit some or all of the covered bridges. There is a tour map that will get you around the area. Enjoy!
- Hampton Inn Austinburg
- Austinburg Hampton Inn
