I left WPA for WNC 16 years ago. When I would get home sick I would watch YT videos of Pittsburgh Dad.

I've got cousins around Pittsburgh.

They've got spigots ("spickets") inside their house, where my house has faucets. Our spigots are just for hoses outside.

I'm still always surprised when a spigot is new and shiny. I picture something old fashioned when I hear "bathroom spigot."

20+ years in Raleigh from Indiana County.

Pittsburgh Dad like someone mentions. Trips to Kennywood when I come home. Gallikers iced tea and smiley cookies.

Love to visit, but it's not home for me. Got a family here now.

I do enjoy schoolin' folks down here on what are gumbands, redding up, school being off the Monday after Thanksgiving for first day of deer hunting (does that still happen?), gobs, and others.

But, I did single handedly get Sheetz to come down here almost 20 years ago, so that's good.

Left when I was a kid. The 2.5 hour drive feels like traversing the continental divide and at least a decade.

My family has spigots, too. Some of them also have Pittsburgh toilets, aka commode.

I love to visit too, but likewise I have my own family and home and I'm pretty happy where I'm at. And yeah, people pick up where I'm from sometimes based on my vernacular.

Smiley cookies were one of my favorites. We also have friends in Glen Campbell that we visit a couple of times a year, not sure how close that was to you.

So funny--I had never heard of it before now. Looks like it's the NE corner of the county. I group up south of Indiana (the county seat) almost into Westmoreland County.

We just moved from TN to Pittsburgh yesterday, still trying to cope with the youns thing

One of the things I enjoy about SW PA is the diversity of the environment you can experience without having to go far. In my experience visiting other areas like say, central Ohio its just flat for 2 hours in every direction.

We used to go to Indiana town of, occasionally to eat at, I think it was Fire Mountain maybe? Previously Ryan's? I think.

Also, yes, my kids still have off the Monday after Thanksgiving. However, rifle opens the Saturday immediately following Thanksgiving now.

Get used to it, lol. Also, I believe the correct spelling is yinz. I wouldn't ordinarily correct anyone, but seeing as how you live there now, I thought you may like to know.

>Gallikers iced tea

I like how even that is only east of Pittsburgh.. at some point it transitions into either Ritchey's or Turner's or whatever. What is it with W PA buying up instant iced tea already mixed for us?

Yes, I drove through Ohio a few times on my way to Michigan. Both were painfully flat.

Srsly. Turner's...I forgot about that one...

Decade away due to military, and then another five-ish years in Chicago. I have a love/hate relationship with PA. Not sure I consider Lancaster a greener pasture, it's still very much Pennsylvania no matter what corner you're in... just a slight variation of the same.

Closer to Philly definitely makes me feel a bit less like I'll be battling zombies any time soon but then I miss the wildness. If I was independently wealthy I'd likely hang out in large population areas for a few months at a time (London, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo, etc.) and then spend the other half of the year in New Zealand or Alaska just trying to avoid people.

I sometimes miss the healthier lifestyles of the West Coast but I don't miss the woo woo.

Agreed, at this point I’ve had sheetz fries three times and nothing but diarrhea

How does the definition of a hill differ? We have a lot of hills in Western PA and they are just, you know, hills. Some steeper or longer than others.

That sucks. I've never had an issue with them, but I also grew up with them.

In my town in Lancaster county, the poverty rate is 5%, and the town I used to live in is 17%. Salaries are also significantly higher where I live now, the area is growing, and downtown is busy. Where I'm from, the population is shrinking pretty quickly, and lots of downtowns are filled with mostly empty shops. So comparatively, it's much greener in some ways. But I still like it out there.

But you are correct. It is still Pennsylvania.

🙄. Pennsylvania is known nationally for being very different between city and the boonies.
Maube it’s been a while for you but Lancaster and Pittsburgh don’t have a ton in common.

The angle of the hill. Relatively gentle rises are often referred to as hills here. Whereas no one I know out in western PA would count the same rise as a hill.

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More likely you haven't visited the right pockets of Pittsburgh.. you go two blocks over and suddenly you feel like you're in Lancaster only they eat gobs instead of moon pies. Pittsburgh itself is a bit bipolar like that.

I've lived in both Pittsburgh and Philly.. Philly feels more like living in Chicago, San Diego, Phoenix, Seattle (other places I've lived). Pittsburgh is rather unique and boonies in its own way.

Whether I'm around Danville, Gettysburg, York, Lancaster, Sharon, Oil City, etc. there is definitely a sort of commonality although it's hard to describe.

>the population is shrinking pretty quickly, and lots of downtowns are filled with mostly empty shops.

Sadly common place no matter where you go in PA. On the other side of that coin, at least entire neighborhoods aren't being bull dozed to build new 500k condos where they can fit four units where one house was previously which was common in Seattle and San Diego when I was there.

Honestly that's the most depressing thing for me being back in this state, I just feel like all the momentum is elsewhere. There's a "land that time forgot" sort of energy, although still comforting in its familiarity and I do appreciate the local history.

The rural areas are just not super sustainable and too far removed from city hubs. It's funny but I sometimes forget where I live until I want to go out and try some new restaurant and realize there are no new restaurants to explore!

Is glen campbell the singer from there

Moved from Westmoreland county to Holiday, Florida in March of 2017. Moved back in June of 2021. Loved Florida and the people for the most part but also hated everything about it. Insane amounts of traffic the summers were brutal. The pay was shit and the bills expensive. Idk how anything making less than 6 figures enjoys living in Florida honestly. For me it was constant stress over money. I was paying double for rent there compared to what I pay on my mortgage up here. And I couldn't buy anything worth buying in Florida because I made so little and the home prices were through the roof.

If you can’t sled down it, and pick up some good speed, it’s not a hill.

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No, but he did visit it.

Where did you land in WNC? I love those mountains so much and want to do the same!

I live there.

My grandparents and some friends lived in Westmoreland.

My coworker was thinking about moving to Florida from Lebanon County PA. He couldn't do it because the highest paying job he could find in the same field was a $ 17-hour pay cut.

Exactly. Not here, though.

I was comparing Lancaster County to Armstrong County. Not Lancaster city to Pittsburgh.

Also, the exact point I was making is that Western and Eastern Pennsylvania are different from each other.

Indeed!

Yeah I took a pay cut to move down there and when I moved up I was still 10 cents short of being equal at $20/hr. Moved back up here and within 6 months I was making $25 and currently making $27.50 and planning on getting a raise around summer when I get my crane license.

Nice! That's a good license to have.

Very recently, actually.. I grew up in Kittanning. Moved to Central Illinois back in July.

I'm from Leechburg, and I also lived in Gilpin Township for a little.

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I like it out there, too. I miss all the woods. There is a lot of development and farmland where I'm at now.

I moved from California's Bay Area with trips to the LA to stay with the other half of the divorced family to the East Side of PA.

It was nice to come back here and not have the endless 24/7 grind.

Yeah you're really close to the Coyahuga valley national park in Ohio too.

Went there and had a lot of fun.

Being close to Ohio is okay so long as there's no toxic spills

From “yinz” to “yous.” Haha

Really depends where you are.

I don't know what it is but sheetz food makes me so ill except for hot dogs for some reason.

I believe the definition of a Pittsburgh toilet is one in the basement near the plumbing line, walls optional.

Do not get them anymore. There are better choices nearby, no matter where you are in the ‘burgh.

Yes. I grew up in western, Pa and my entire family still lives there however I moved away about 17 years ago. I am never moving back. I don’t miss it and the longer I live outside of that part of the state the more I fucking can’t stand yinzers.

I can’t stop, everything has fries on it.

Yinz

Living near Ohio is preferable to living near New Jersey.

Yes, it is. My family also referred to a toilet as a commode.

Pretty much so lol

Left Erie in '99 for the military and haven't been back there for more than a weekend visit since. I’ve spent time in North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland. A year and a half ago I moved back to Pennsylvania, Adams County.

Well, then I'm confused why you so strongly disagree with the above statement.

The dialects change but it's still guns and Jesus country no matter what corner of the state you go to. And yet, there's also a unique character in those red areas that still make it feel like Pennsylvania rather than Ohio or New Jersey although as I stated above I'm really not sure how to describe it but it's something different and still unifying.

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I don’t know what you mean by strongly disagree.

Not a bad place to live. My wife really wants to go take pictures at the Gettysburg battlefields.

I grew up in Allegheny County then moved to Perry County shortly before I married my wife, who is a native to the area. It was a bit of a culture shock at first, but over the past thirty years, I've come to love it out here.

Pretty similar experience here. Even married someone native to the area also.

There are things I like, things I don't - as with anywhere.

Gettysburg is a good spot, worth at least one visit.

Perhaps I just misunderstood your comment, given the eyeroll emoji.

Maybe. Cheers.

I drove through New Jersey twice in my life - to and from Rhode Island, so both times on the same trip. I felt my soul being sucked away and a sense of existential dread each time - like there was a great dark force coming for me while I was there.

When I go to Ohio I just get a mild depression and fear of the Ohio Highway Patrol.

This is all countryside shit, people actually in Pittsburgh don't talk like that.

I'm from the Philly area. Moved to Pittsburgh over twenty years ago. Would move back to Philadelphia in a minute if the job market for what I do didn't suck in Philly.

My family is from eastern pa from the NY, NJ, tri-state tip and I’m moving to western pa north of Pittsburgh. Any advice?

Do not get them at Sheetz. Also, you can tell any restaurant (even Primanti’s) no fries.

Even if people in Pittsburgh talk that different from the country (which having lived there, I'd argue there isn't much difference), my point is that there is a some distinct differences between west vs east dialects.

At least there is stuff to do in NJ + NYC is pretty close.

I'd rather go to OH than NJ or NY as a Pennsylvanian since my LTCF is recognized in OH. Going to NY or NJ will only catch me a felony charge.

Enjoy yourself! There's lots of nice places to live out there. Before I had a wife and kids, I seriously considered moving back to the west end of the state.

It's not culture shock by any means. It's just different in some interesting ways.

Its Yinz

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My parents moved from Washington County to Cumberland County before I was born. Ofc, I'd go back there with them sometimes to see family. There's definitely linguistic differences. My speech is primarily South-Central PA (soda, not pop, tvym) with a few Pittsburgheze words/syntax thrown in, but I can understand Pittsburgheze.

And the hill thing! What they call a hill, I call the side of a mountain! (My parents are STILL that way, over 40 years later.)

Cumberland County is a pretty nice place, we get over to Pine Grove Furnace to swim every summer.

My wife from Lancaster still makes fun of the way I say some things after being together almost 14 years lol

And yeah the hill thing really amuses me. It's really fun driving a manual transmission out there.

Philly is rough but unless you're hanging out in parts of North or West it's not that bad. Just need to spend time with people who've been around for a minute and don't spend all day on the next door app, they're not as on edge.

I'm more stressed about the housing costs in Philly, montco and delco.

> And yet, there's also a unique character in those red areas that still make it feel like Pennsylvania rather than Ohio or New Jersey although as I stated above I'm really not sure how to describe it but it's something different and still unifying.

You've put in words something I've been trying to put in words for years.

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All the stuff I like to do is available in western PA, Ohio, and West Virginia.

What stuff do you think is lacking?

I mean if you're being purposefully obtuse that's an interpretation you can go with.

The bigger issue is crime is attached to poverty. Neighborhoods in North and West are poorer and higher crime.

But hey if you were scared of being in the city it's good you got out. It's not for everyone.