Pennsylvania

As part of our rotation of grandchildren, we spent June, July and August in Pennsylvania this year.  We are going to be wise and strategic and NOT spend winters there.  😉

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania, as was my husband.  This is not the first time we have left this fair state.  We did a relocation to South Carolina from 2005 – 2010.  And then moved back.  We did another relocation from 2019 – 2025 to Alabama before we became full-time RVers in December of 2025.  There are some things I love about Pennsylvania. And then things I don’t love nor miss (the snow and the cold!!)

Spending the summer there allowed me to experience some of my favorite things about Pennsylvania.  First, let’s not gloss over the obvious.  We have a son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren there.  We also have extended family and friends.  People, relationships, connections, these are the most important things.  We were able to spend time with my Mom, my Dad and Stepmom, my Uncle and Aunt, as well as some dear friends.  Long distance is okay but really sharing life, creating memories, is a vital part of relationship building. 

Baseball game with my mom at the Iced Coffees (Fightin Phils)

So, people aside, I would love to share a little bit of Pennsylvania with you.

Where we stayed in Lebanon County was a very rural area.  The drive from our campground in Jonestown to, well, just about anywhere, consisted of rolling hills and lush farmland.   Silos, bank barns and beautiful old homes dotted the scenery along with country churches, cemeteries and vegetable stands.  I saw bunnies and deer on a weekly basis; I even saw deer in our campground just outside of our site.

beautiful barn in Lebanon County, Pennsylvaniar

Double Rainbow over cornfield. Lebanon County, Pennsylvania

Traffic jams in Lebanon County are more likely caused by Amish buggies or getting behind a tractor heading to the next field.  The roadkill is different there too, ground hogs, skunks and deer litter the side of the road – never an armadillo like the deep south.

Pennsyvlania Food Favorites

Some of our other favorite things are of course ice cream!  The ice cream in Pennsylvania is by far the best hard scooped ice cream anywhere.  There are farms that have cows, milk the cows and create their own flavors….please check out my bog post on Fox Meadows and TC’s Fox Meadow video!! 

We also enjoyed ice cream at Way-Har, Frost Bitez and Knoebels.

While we are talking about food…how about those Pennsylvania delicacies like sweet bologna, scrapple, ring bologna and chipped beef.  Gary swears by the hoagies in Pennsylvania, and I adore the cheesesteaks, and, if we are being honest, I drink more soda in Pennsylvania than anywhere else….root beer, cream soda…all the yummy options.

Cheesesteak @Brunos Hoagies

Reading Draft root beer

On the sweeter side of things, you can’t forget the bakeries with their fresh donuts, whoopie pies and shoofly pies.  I will tell you though, I make my own shoofly pies, I don’t purchase them!!!

Pennsylvania Dutch Shoo Fly Pie

We also enjoyed fresh blueberries and peaches, although not as much as I would have liked.  There was a late frost this year that damaged the buds and hurt or eliminated some of the summer fruit crops.  The strawberries were scrumptious, I officially picked in three locations with all seven grands…South Georgia with Sterling, middle Georgia with the four Hole children and in Myerstown with the Hagmayer bunch.

We most certainly ate more than our share of fresh corn on the cob!!  This was a weekly staple at our table for more than a month!  The fresh cantaloupe and watermelon were amazing as were the cucumbers, tomatoes and squash.  Oh, and the Lord blessed us with not one but two fresh egg connections!  Sarah’s parents graciously shared from their abundance and the week they went out of town Uncle Mike and Aunt Vikkie showed up with two dozen from their hens!!

The smells are also invigorating.  From the smell of fresh cut grass to the sweet smell of fresh cut hay.  And rain, ah, the smell of rain.  There are, of course, the more pungent smells from the farms, but you just label it “fresh country air” and move on!

One of my favorite things about summers in Pennsylvania that I miss in the south are fireflies.  Whether you call them fireflies or lightening bugs, the bioluminescent insects are a treasure to be enjoyed.  You have to have the right formula of a grassy plot and the precise hour during dusk.   What a sweet blessing.  I enjoyed them in our campsite, over the fields in the campground and on the 4th of July Waylon stayed up late enough that we were catching them in his yard. ♥

And the grass.  My southern friends, there is nothing like walking barefoot on the lush green grass of Pennsylvania.  I wore shoes as little as possible!

PA lush grass

Pennsylvania Summers

Pennsylvania summers.  Where you measure the passing of time by the size of the corn; it was the size of Fallon when we arrived and taller than Zachary when we left.  ♥   

Pennsylvania summers.   Where you mark the weeks by trips for ice cream.  😊

Pennsylvania summers.  Where you get back to your roots, visit with those who have known you for decades and still love you.  ♥

Pennsylvania summers.  Where you measure the need for rain by the prickle of the grass as it turns brown and the trajectory of the corn leaves as they reach toward the sky when they are desperate and thirsty.

Pennsylvania summers.   We will be back to enjoy a Pennsylvania summer next year.  Part of our hearts live there.  ♥♥♥