The sunshine has people enjoying the Memorial Day weekend, whether they are exploring their own backyard or visiting Erie for the first time. It also had people hitting the road. 


Jim Garrity, the Director of Public Affairs with AAA East-Central said, "It's a road trip weekend and gas prices are cheaper than when they were this time last year, 40-50 cents less cheaper depending on where you are going, you are going to see more people on the roadways."


One spot a lot of people may be visiting is Erie. According to Garrity, "Erie is a great destination, you have Presque Isle, you have Waldameer opening up, the famous wines."


The water brought a lot of people out to enjoy some sun and nature. Susan Rouch, an Erie resident was enjoying a run at Presque Isle and said, "I was wondering if I was even going to get a parking spot here, but it's delightful to see people out and about."


The Memorial Day weekend not only brought Erie residents to enjoy the peninsula, but people from other cities who heard about Presque Isle and wanted to experience for themselves. Like a group of friends from Pittsburgh who were looking forward to a day on Lake Erie.


Vivek Chheta said, "We are going to visit the beach and later on we are planning on going boating and then we are planning on making some food from things we brought from Pittsburgh area."


AAA predicts these specialized vacations are going to be a summer trend. "People are excited to travel, they are prioritizing leisure travel. They are finding things that work in their budgets. What's great about vacationing is that no matter what your budget is or time restrictions, there's a vacation for you and people are finding ones that work for them and if you haven't found one, it's a good idea to think about it now and lock in prices sooner than later, you really don't want to wait to be waiting for the last minute to get your vacation in and banking on getting a good last minute deal, you want to get it on the books as soon as possible", said Garrity.

AAA also predicts that cruises will be popular this summer with more people wanting to see the world through a new way.

After a long holiday weekend, AAA predicts the roads will be busy once again on Sunday and Monday. "The long weekend is great because it gives people the impotence they need to go away and take maybe a little specialized vacation. Maybe it is going to see family and friends but tacking an extra day on to it because we have off on Monday, so why not. In fact, our AAA travel forecast shows that the next busiest times on the road way will be Sunday afternoon with people coming home, but also Monday afternoon with roads expected to be very, very busy especially after 1:00 as everyone gets ready to get home and get back to work on Tuesday", said Garrity.