Good Ol Pennsylvania...

Since there was a topic for Texas, I was curious how many people are from PA, and from what part?

I am originally from Bear Creek (outside of Wilkes-Barre). Where my parent's property line ended, it was all game land going on and on and on...

Now I'm in the western suburbs of Philly. Trust me, I miss the woods and try to get out camping / hiking whenever possible...

My wifes ex is from there, her oldest daughters ex is from there, her late sisters husband is from there. But we won't hold any of that against you...

I have family ( a couple I'll even admit to, and a bunch I won't) in PA and my paternal grandparents were from Wellsboro.

Ouch!

My wife and I lived next to the Chaddsford Winery for ten years, about two miles east of Longwood Gardens. The Brandywine Valley is a beautiful area to live in, and we still have some very close friends living there.

Jim

Gorgerous area. We had our engagement pics taken at Longwood Gardens. Love Chaddsford wines too!

I moved to the Dallas, Pennsylvania (outside Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) area almost a year ago ( Time flies!). Big change from the Riverside/Moreno Valley, Southern California environment… lot more trees, lot less people.

I had family in the Dallas area... I still ASM for a scout troop my brother is SM for based out of Kingston.

Yeah, big difference for you I bet!

I live in a small town south of Erie, Pennsylvania, its one of those blink and your through it, only one light and everything shuts down after 12. It used to be ok but some of the neighbors are getting a little to weird for my liking. I'm thinking it might be time to look for a cabin in the woods and scale back operations. We have a lot of wineries located around here, North East is the most famous as well as Conneaut Lake and Willhelm.

Of course I started that thread because we seemed to have many members from Texas and, more specifically, the Metroplex. I wanted to confirm that.

Jeanette Isabelle

it also seems like there are many from north of our border, too.

I turned around in Bear Creek once. I am originally from Chenango Bridge, NY..Just outside Binghamton, NY.

So, I am not from PA at all.

I live in Joisey but I work in the Lehigh Valley, does that count?

My Grandfather was an ol' coal miner in the Scranton area, and my Grandmother and most of my Mom's side of the family is still there. Grandama still makes her own pierogies from scratch, dontchaknow.

"...pierogies..."

Had to google it.

I learn something new here every day...

You Sir, have lived a deprived life.

If you are ever in the Scranton area, drop by Grandma's most any Sunday afternoon and fill up on pierogies, kielbasa, pigs-in-the-blanket, cole slaw, etc. She usually has a literal buffet set out for whoever might drop by. Although my Grandfather once complained that she doesn't make her noodles for her beef soup from scratch any more because "she's getting old".

If that's too much of a trip, Mrs. T's brand are acceptable. Start with potato & cheese. Boil and serve w/ melted butter and fried onions and/of sour cream. Sauerkraut filling is for advanced users.

Home made pierogies are definitely a treat. As is halusky, glumpki, chrusciki, and paczki. Yeah, my mom is 1/2 Polish.

You definitely know if someone is from the area when they start talking about those things... Seems a lot of people in the coalmining towns were Polish. A good mix of Irish and Italian in there too.

I like mine boiled then fried just to lightly brown them, served with fried onions, butter, sour cream and big hunks of kielbasa!

Not to mention scrapple and Italian water ice.

Jim

"...You Sir, have lived a deprived life..."

Indeed I have ( .) Some also say depraved, but we won't go there...

If you are going to speak of Polish food, please do not for one minute think that anything made by Hillshire Farms resembles a decent kielbasa. A decent kielbasa has chunks of pork in it and so much garlic that it cannot but help to be smelled for more than 30 feet away, if left unsealed. I've put a few of them in three layers of ziplocks bag and a fedex box, and the smell came through the outside of the box.

OMG.. Hillshire Farms is not, I repeat, not Polish food... heh heh... My mom makes a mean kielbasa served with homegrown and homemade horseradish that will eat away your sinus!

Yet we digress... I suppose I started this thread to see who else was from the area (or visited) and what recommendations they may have in some outdoor adventures?

I personally enjoy a nice hike in Ricketts Glenn State Park. I am also planning a 15 mile hike of the AT.

Sorry for the detour. That glen looks pretty cool on Google Earth.

What part of the AT do you have in mind? I've started at the NJ side of the Gap and hiked NE from there, but I'd like to start somewhere in PA and hike to the Gap some day.

I believe the group I was going to go with was metioning starting at the DE Water Gap. So, sounds like the same area. Wasn't sure if we were planning on heading NE or SW from there...

How is the NE section? Places to pitch a tent? Etc... etc...

Ricketts Glenn has some beautiful waterfalls to see along the hike. I highly recommend bringing a decent survival kit with you. Very very easy to wind up hurting yourself in a fall. If you hike in very late in the day, I can easily see rain washing down the trails making it hard to hike (I've hiked in the rain there and it is challenging). Definitely a place to be prepared!

I miss grandma's home made ones. My Aunt also made very good ones, but Mom never quite picked that knack up. They were from NJ, but..

Old time Jersey City, and the Union/Linden NJ area too. I'm 1/2 Ukrainian, and for most purposes, the food is interchangable. And yeah, Hillsire farms isn't 'real' , but sometimes it's the best you can get. I'm lucky, there are a few places around to get the good stuff

If you are going NE, I highly recommend the set of four Kittatinny Trails maps.

I'll get back to you with some more specifics when I check my maps, but there is parking area off rt. 80 in NJ just before the toll bridge where you can get dropped off. The AT goes up a gully but there is an alternate trail that goes up the knife edge of the ridge that has a nice view.

Then on to Sunfish pond. Yard's Creek Reservoir I think is off-limits due to security. There was a water spigot available to hikers at the camp at Catfish pond. There was an old-fashioned hand pump for water near the trail by Fairview Lake. Then there's Long Pine Pond. Crater lake is more crater than lake. There is supposed to be a spring near the Brink Road shelter. More later...

Note that Fairview Lake Rd. is blocked off at the bottom of "Fiddler's Elbow" (a distinct zigzag switchback) if someone is coming to pick you up there. I grew up about two miles from there.

Bucks County, PA. WAY at the top. I'm adjacent to state Game Lands # 57 not far from Lake Nockamixon

The Allegheny National Forest and Cooks Forest both have some excellent trails I have hiked both.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/allegheny/recreation/hiking/

Tore my knee up pretty bad, I doubt I will be doing any long hikes anymore.

I've lived in Southern Chester County most of my life and have seen it morph from farm land to suburban sprawl over the past 50 years. There's still a lot of beautiful countryside to walk thru (the movie, The Village, was filmed nearby). But traffic is brutal, newcomers complain about the smells emanating from the mushroom houses, and my town is becoming a tourst destination.

However, I'm not ready to move to Alaska yet as I do love scrapple, TastyKakes and Herr's potato chips...

Actually it is only recently that you can buy beer on Sunday's. There used to be "blue laws" where you couldn't.

Central Pa about ten miles from Penn State.

I am moving back to Upstate NY soon and can't wait to go to the small restaurants run by those of Slovak and Polish descent. Those things are great!!!

I'm gonna pay you and her a visit. Real kielbasa...MMMM!!!

Yeah, nothing better than real kielbasa... There was a great little store in Frackville that sold kielbasa loaf! Nothing like a few slices of that on some bread...

I actually have some piergies vacuum packed and stored in my freezer the last time her and I made them by hand.