I recently spent a day discovering all there is to see and do at Presque Isle State Park. (To see what I came up with, look for the story Friday in the Erie Times-News and on GoErie.com.) The eight-hour day cost me $25.10, but I really could have done it for less.

My big expense was a one-hour canoe rental for $10 to explore the lagoon area. If I’d gotten there soon enough, I could have signed up for a free pontoon boat tour instead. Or, if I’d taken someone with me, we could have split the cost of the canoe.

My second biggest expense was $6.23 for a hamburger and 20-ounce bottle of water from a concession stand for dinner. Lunch was $5.18 for a jumbo pretzel and similar bottle of water. Normally I would have packed at least one of those meals with less expensive and more healthy choices, but I was trying to get an idea of what the stands offered and their prices.

The one expense I couldn’t avoid was gasoline, but even that wasn’t bad. I used up about a gallon driving around and it had cost me $3.69 at a gas station the night before.

If you do a little planning, you can fill a whole day with fun at the park for very little cost.

Check back here this weekend for more about how you can Discover Presque Isle without emptying your wallet completely.