I know its a few months delayed, but contrary to popular belief I have not moved to the middle of nowhere. For the past eight years I have lived pretty much halfway between Baltimore & Washington DC. This did make a lot of outings very convenient but it had its drawbacks. People in the city get cranky, friends & family show up randomly on your doorstep (which is a bad thing when you need perosnal space btw) and traffic is always part of the daily background noise, even in the suburbs. There is also a rendency to not want to drive more than 15 minutes to arrive at any one destination during personal time after having to commute riduculous distances to work.
The remedy I chose was to move, ditch my overpriced mortgage and not have to spend an hour an a half in the car just to see my boyfriend. Harrisburg, PA is a great area. I admit I was a bit skeptical about the level of cultural stimulation available and the open mindedness of its residents, but after living here for four months I realize I was sadly mistaken.
In fact I have more of a life here than I did back in Maryland. There are plenty of great restaurants, (which I will highlight them individually in future posts), tons of festivals, and really nice and laid back people here to boot. I cannot praise the virtues of the site meetup.com enough for getting me in touch with the local community. I have found energy healing groups, a great wine tasting club, an educated & interesting book club, not to mention groups for fun outings & hikes. There's also a rather large burner/fire-spinning/ hashing community here.
SO, the next time someone tells you that Pennsylvania (with the exception of Philly) is inhabited only by Almish people and simpletons, get them in touch with me I'd love to show them how wrong they are.
