30 things I love about living in York County
Guess what? I turn 30 today! I’m really excited about it – I feel like 30 really counts for something, you know? Like “I have arrived.”
Anyway, in honor, I thought today I’d like to share 30 of the things I love from my first 30 years of York County life.
- Soft pretzels. Especially Smittie’s and Epex. Especially especially ones from the Route 74 “pretzel shack.”
- Potato chips. Especially Utz sour cream and onion in the waxed bag. Martin’s BBQ isn’t bad either.
- Growing up in a Blackberry Road farmhouse with chickens, pigs and plenty of trees.
- Doing things “once” and “awhile.”
- Taking drives down roads that look like they don’t go anywhere – and knowing right where I am.
- Hiking and fishing for sunnies at Pinchot Park.
- Rolling down the hill on my first trip to Ski Roundup.
- Tending market at the Market & Penn Farmers’ Market for the first 16 years of my life.
- Shopping at both Market & Penn and Central markets on Saturdays with my mom and daughter and sometimes husband.
- Speaking of my husband, finding a “keeper” of a guy who’s been willing to make York County HIS home as well.
- Friday night marching band performances you can hear for miles.
- The York Fair. Every year, baby!
- The Dover Fireman’s Fair. I missed last year for the first time in memory, but I’ll be back strong in 2013.
- Yard sales, from the World’s Greatest Yard Sale’s heydays in the 1980s with my whole extended family in tow, to little nothing sales in Brogue this summer.
- My first “real” job, working at the Sbarro’s in the West Manchester Mall.
- Miles-long rambles through woods, fields and suburban neighborhoods through high school and college.
- Going to York College – commuter parking experiences notwithstanding, it was a great few years.
- Applying for jobs OUTSIDE York County and realizing how good our cost of living is in comparison.
- Writing obituaries as my first job at the York Daily Record. In all seriousness, I met some of the nicest people in this position.
- Now, sharing stories about everything from memories to weird York coincidences through this blog and my print columns.
- Alpaca farms.
- The York County 4-H program.
- The York County library system, where I have spent MANY hours and read pretty much all the books.
- Adopting rescued cats from the SPCA, Heavenly Paws, Pet Guardians, random coworkers…
- My hairdresser, Amanda Lehman, at Country Clippers in Rossville. Do you know how hard it is to find a good hairdresser? The ladies at Country Clippers, including owner Donna Schrade, who was possibly almost my sister-in-law way back in the day, are just amazing.
- Chronicling the stories of stores and restaurants that closed before I was born.
- Family dinners at places like Alexander’s and Rutter’s (when it was a sit-down restaurant) after church on Sundays.
- Those Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne dishes. Man, those things will survive the nuclear apocalypse. I love them.
- Martial-arts lessons, first at the former Kim’s Karate in the Dover YMCA (a looong time ago) and now at Dover Dragons!
- Smiling every time I cross the bridge from Lancaster County over the Susquehanna, knowing I’m almost home.
What do you love about your life in York? You don’t have to make a list… but I hope you’ll think about a couple things, and maybe share them. My job is really pretty simple: I want to help you see what’s to love about life here in our home.