US-20 takes little more than the proverbial blink of an eye to cross the 45 miles of northwestern Pennsylvania, which is part of Pennsylvania only because the country’s founding fathers thought it was unfair to deny the Keystone State a share of the Lake Erie shoreline. I-90 is most travelers’ route of choice, but US-20 does have a couple of worthwhile stops. Twelve miles east of the Ohio border, the town of Girard (pop. 4,722) has the nifty little Hazel Kibler Museum, 522 E. Main Street, documenting local history and the life of circus clown Dan Rice, who posed as Uncle Sam in the famous “I Want You” posters. Girard also has one of the country’s oldest Civil War memorials, an eagle-topped obelisk dedicated with great fanfare in November 1865.
In Erie, the big city in these parts (pop. 101,175), a replica of Commodore Perry’s flagship Niagara is moored along the waterfront at 164 E. Front Street. The art deco Union Pacific depot is now home to a popular brewpub and restaurant, Porter’s (814/452-2787), at 123 W. 14th Street; the even more opulent Warner Theater is a picture palace par excellence, its 2,300-seat auditorium still in regular use along State Street. One more reason to spend time here, especially in the depths of winter: Splash Lagoon, a trio of chain hotels ($90 a night) attached to a 75,000-square-foot indoor water park ($40 866/3-SPLASH), just south of the I-90 Erie exit.
