Take a look at what Pennsylvania has to offer from history to culture to food to entertainment.
As a healthy, budget conscious and adventuresome person, I have visited many cities in Pennsylvania that are large, small, and anywhere in between. Pennsylvania is an interesting state with exciting things to do and see that are historical and relaxing for families, singles, and couples.
The Poconos have many opportunities for shopping, lodging, sightseeing, and dining with various ranged pricing. It is known as a honeymooner's dream or a place for city folk to take a break anytime of year mostly on weekends. Take a ride on many major highways which lead to this area including:
Interstates 78 or 80 east from New York City areas.
PA turnpike from MD, DE, and southern NJ.
Interstate 95 North and South also runs into these major roads.
Interstate 81 runs from MD in the South through NY state in the North, along eastern edge of PA.
Route 611 runs along the PA, NJ border with many scenic areas containing canals, small towns, and hidden picnic spots.
Finding a great place for fun in the Pocono area isn't hard because many attractions are on Route 611, which runs from Mt. Pocono to Stroudsburg and beyond. You will find such places as Quiet Valley, Memorytown, and horseback riding. The route is also dotted with restaurants including a skillet breakfast, steak dinner, or a tasty diner. Remember that the lights go out around 10 pm unless it is a bar or club. Diners are not open all night, but they are open very early in the morning, and usually because of a hunting or fishing season. Many recreational places also exist for water sports, hiking, biking, and camping. Most outdoor sports take place during the fall, spring, and summer. The winter provides other opportunities including skiing, snowboarding, tubing, sleigh rides, and ice-skating. Continue your adventures at cozy, hidden getaways like Canadensis or Albrightsville where you can drive your way into serenity and beautiful views. Antique shops, gift stores, and quaint pottery places are included throughout the many back roads.
Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs are exciting, flamboyant, historical, and even inviting any day of the week or time of the year even though there is a dreadful humidity during the summer. Many colleges dawn the entire vicinity with young people who need fun and educational things to do. When you go to the city, you have your choice of museums, theatres (movie and otherwise), shopping, federal parks, and places to eat. Transportation is plentiful with cabs, buses, trains throughout the city and into South Jersey, and even a ferry across the Delaware River. A major airport is in the city that allows you to arrive from anywhere, and makes it easy to get to other parts of PA. The northeast extension of the PA turnpike also ends near the city, which can take you to the Poconos region of the state in only an hour and a half.
Take the day to engage in a cultural experience in Philadelphia for a better and brighter mind or walk through a hundred year old zoo that wants you to listen and learn about the animals with a special key. No matter where you go in the city, there are a variety of fun and interesting places to be. Philadelphia has many sports arenas and stadiums with the Fightin' Phils, the Sixers, the Flyers, the Soul, and even the Eagles Super Bowl participants.
When visiting the suburbs in nearby South Jersey, look at fish and mammals at the New Jersey State Aquarium. It's just a ferry ride away in Camden, and right next door to the USS New Jersey battleship and the Riversharks Stadium for baseball games. South Jersey has many opportunistic venues for the serious shopper, the avid hiker or camper, and even the scholarly museum hound. (This is another article for another time, but feel free to seek more research.)
The suburbs of Philadelphia on the PA side include Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties to name a few. There are numerous possibilities for excitement and fun. Find a nearby AAA travel center or find internet sites like MAPPOINT by MSN on-line for directions to interesting places. The flora lover will enjoy any day during the year at Longwood Gardens off Route 1. The beginning of the year includes beautiful spring arrangements and even at Christmas time the chrysanthemums are transformed into a brilliant array of seasonal favorites offset by decorated evergreens. Take a quick ride through West Chester, a college town, where antique shops are mixed with music stores and cozy restaurants. Paoli Pike also leads to various shopping centers and various neighborhoods. The curvy back roads of Chester County contain horse filled meadows and mossy oaks with grand homes at the end of hidden drives. These are definitely areas for the Sunday driver who wants to take in the views for relaxation.
Let your imagination run wild with the whole area of Southeastern PA while finding fun things to do and see along the way. This section of PA is very important to me because I grew up there with relatives and attended college for four years, also. Sometimes there's too much traffic, but once you get to where you're going it makes up for it. In PA, I can't think of another region that has so much to do that you need to keep coming back over and over again, and still not see and do everything you want. I hope you get a chance to visit for the first time, or come back again with a new outlook. Philadelphia is the highlight of the area, but you can stay nearby in quiet bed and breakfast lodging for a quick jaunt into the city.
Another major region is in the western part of the state that includes the city of Pittsburgh and the surrounding suburbs. This area is not my forte, but I do have some information about it. First, I was at the Seven Springs resort, which boasts skiing and many outdoor activities in the mountains. It's a drive across the PA turnpike west about 5 hours from Philadelphia and the Poconos. Pittsburgh has several sports teams as well for the athletically aware like the Penguins, the Pirates, and even the diehard fans of the Steelers. The Monongahela and the Youghigheny Rivers converge at the Ohio River for transportation, water views and sports, and other recreational activities. To the north is the Erie region where a small farming community called Greentown has rural schools, cows in pastures, and corn growing in mass fields everywhere.
Visit PA for comfort, recreation, relaxation, culture, and city life. There are many different regions with their own food preferences, style of entertainment, and lists of historical sites. If you already live here, try a new city or suburb for a day trip. If you live nearby or even a continent away, sleep at a bed and breakfast, go camping, or just relax in a wooded glen with quaint cottages. No matter where you are in Pennsylvania, there will be education, culture, laughter, and great food.
