Only 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.

1. Soft pretzels. Especially Smittie’s and Epex. Especially especially ones from the Route 74 “pretzel shack.”
2. Potato chips. Especially Utz sour cream and onion in the waxed bag. Martin’s BBQ isn’t bad either.
3. Growing up in a Blackberry Road farmhouse with chickens, pigs and plenty of trees.
4. Doing things “once” and “awhile.”
5. Taking drives down roads that look like they don’t go anywhere – and knowing right where I am.
6. Hiking and fishing for sunnies at Pinchot Park.
7. Rolling down the hill on my first trip to Ski Roundup.
8. Tending market at the Market & Penn Farmers’ Market for the first 16 years of my life.
9. Shopping at both Market & Penn and Central markets on Saturdays with my mom and daughter and sometimes husband.
10. Speaking of my husband, finding a “keeper” of a guy who’s been willing to make York County HIS home as well.
11. Friday night marching band performances you can hear for miles.
12. The York Fair. Every year, baby!
13. The Dover Fireman’s Fair. I missed last year for the first time in memory, but I’ll be back strong in 2013.
14. 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.
15. My first “real” job, working at the Sbarro’s in the West Manchester Mall.
16. Miles-long rambles through woods, fields and suburban neighborhoods through high school and college.
17. Going to York College – commuter parking experiences notwithstanding, it was a great few years.
18. Applying for jobs OUTSIDE York County and realizing how good our cost of living is in comparison.
19. Writing obituaries as my first job at the York Daily Record. In all seriousness, I met some of the nicest people in this position.
20. Now, sharing stories about everything from memories to weird York coincidences through this blog and my print columns.
21. Alpaca farms.
22. The York County 4-H program.
23. The York County library system, where I have spent MANY hours and read pretty much all the books.
24. Adopting rescued cats from the SPCA, Heavenly Paws, Pet Guardians, random coworkers…
25. 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.
26. Chronicling the stories of stores and restaurants that closed before I was born.
27. Family dinners at places like Alexander’s and Rutter’s (when it was a sit-down restaurant) after church on Sundays.
28. Those Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne dishes. Man, those things will survive the nuclear apocalypse. I love them.
29. Martial-arts lessons, first at the former Kim’s Karate in the Dover YMCA (a looong time ago) and now at Dover Dragons!
30. 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.