That's pretty much all of the red areas of PA where they hold family values in such high regard.

I continue to LOL at the idea that ALL of Center County is Penn State. People in Bellefonte would take issue with that. PSU is pretty much isolated to the Happy Valley.

Can confirm. I grew up outside of Wilkes-Barre and went to Penn State. I-80 was all trucks so we cut went down the Selinsgrove and cut west toward State College. There were lots of Amish there.

PS: there are lots of Amish in Ohio too.

Nope. Racism wasn't as big a thing up in NEPA because 100 years ago it was all immigrants who were looking for work and got roped into working in the coal mines. Everybody came out the same color.

They probably drive a rusted out heap that couldn't make it up the hill on the PA Turnpike to the Somerset tunnel. People from Maryland, Virginia and DC area more familiar with western PA than those from the eastern part of the state IME because they pit stop at Breezewood.

As a NEPA native and Pittsburgh resident I see Erie as a pit stop on the way to Buffalo/Ontario. It's defintely nicer than some parts of Ohio I've been through and seems to have a lot more in common with western NY. It's definitely more "Great Lakes" territory than a true part of Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh, Washington (about a half hour south) or Oil City (western PA but closer to Erie.)

The only way to un-register is to re-register as an independent. Your ballot in the primaries will be really short though; you'll only be able to vote for line item issues like constitutional amendments, not for or against any actual candidates. That's pretty much the bare minimum of democracy within our representative republic form of government.

Y'all is like bro country music and shiny pickup trucks. It's totally phony and affected behavior. That being said, I've tried my best to be literate so I don't say "youse" or "you guys" though I'm near Pittsburgh so a "yinz" is bound to slip out.

Irony is lost on them. People these days take themselves WAY too seriously and are always worried about being laughed at, so they dial up the crazy so that other people fear them instead.

To be honest, their experience with the outside world is typically from either military service from before they were financially independent or TV dramas. For them, Myrtle Beach SC is an exotic location to vacation.

Munhall is safe but it borders Homestead which is not. There are regularly shooting there in the early AM hours that are reputedly gang related. That being said, Homestead is pretty much a bigger draw with regards to dining and nightlife than West Mifflin which borders it to the south. You just have to be mindful of crossing the train tracks because some pretty long ones roll through Homestead during all hours of the day and there's no going around the crossings. The nearest access to the Parkway is to go across either the Homestead High Level or Glenwood bridge but the on ramp is in Squirrel Hill and it can be a nightmare during rush hour.

Yeah, the OP was barely into PA. He was up near the Grand Canyon of PA. Down near MD they are confused and identify with the Confederacy.

I wish we had sauerkraut but my wife prefers to make red cabbage.

Public transit is only good if you take the T from the south hills.

I was out in BFE somewhere in SWPA and some guy who was a closet Michaels customer made his own TRUMP sign out of wood letters and a steel beam. He painted it all bright orange and impaled the poor tree with it. The next time I’m in that area I fully expect that tree to have quit life and fall into his house.

Whatever. Spell check messes things up all the time. Regardless, she’s worth more than he is.

Agreed, Gabrielle is the true winner in this whole shit show. Tom didn’t know to walk away at the top of his game. He caught some of that Antonio Brown narcissism.

My in-laws are pittsburgh born and bred but they packed up for Florida years ago. Now they are all “when are you coming to visit?” and “cold enough for ya?” when they call but get suddenly quiet about any plans to come visit (that they suggested) and are now bitching about “freezing” temperatures down there; it’s in the 40s. News flash: freezing is 32°F and it’s been -3 here so STFU snowbird.

PS: in true fair weather fashion they are Tom Brady sycophants but really, stick a fork in him because he’s done. He should have stayed retired - and married.

Hehe - for now. I’m sure the late night video gaming sessions and no income will get old though. I think what she was looking for was more attention from her husband.

FWIW I get it. My wife also makes much more than I did and i still do the whole at home thing. Like you being home to act when the pipes burst, I like to think that I’ve saved us a lot of money with regards to home improvements and repairs. I do all the painting. I redid the drywall in a bedroom. I renovated both full bathrooms in our home - one at a time of course - including tile, toilets and vanities. I also did a bunch of work outside of the house - like doing the grass, landscaping and cutting down trees. The alternative was getting screwed by contractors who start a job but work on their own schedules or nickel and dime you on up charges.

I was born across the river in NY, lived in Pike county my first year on this earth, grew up in W-B/Scranton, left for a couple of years (Navy) but came back to find that NEPA was a grossly depressed area so I went to Penn State Main, met a girl from Pittsburgh, moved in with her in King of Prussia after graduation for a couple of years before we moved her home to da Burgh about 25 years ago. Here's my take on things:

1: more people live east of the Susquehannah but I-476 is kind of the real line where population density is.

2: Even though I'm about 30 miles from Ohio and on the other side of the eastern continental divide I still think of myself as a northeasterner. I don't really see a midwest attitude because the geography is still pretty mountainous. If anything, I think Pittsburghers sort of identify more with West Virginia.

3: I never really felt connected with others when in Philly but my take was that they really didn't think about Pittsburgh or anybody else for that matter. Pittsburghers OTOH call outsides "jagoffs" and it seems to really stick when they come here to visit. It takes a good 6 months to learn the lay of the land.

4: Though I spent a lot of time as a kid in Scranton (my dad's family is from near there) Lancaster wasn't really thought of. In PA, people tend to stay in their own areas and if you're not in trucking or sending a kid away to school and have to go through Lancaster you don't really deal with it. FWIW I went to school at PSU with kids from Lancaster and they told me that the Amish kept to themselves but would hog the roads and that racism was still a thing. Now I suppose it's more out there.

5: As for Somerset and Erie, again two distant spots on the map. Somerset is basically a truck stop off the Turnpike from my perspective and even though we know people in Erie, it's more an eastern suburb of Cleveland and a pit stop for a trip to Buffalo and the Finger Lakes.

FWIW no matter where you go in PA, if you cross the line into another state the roads get instantly better - except for the WV panhandle.

Duck Fougie. While we're at it Tuck Frump too.

Seriously, we need to spend more time and money to do research and create jobs to hire empathic people to take care of the mental health epidemic. Including my dyslexia.

I can imagine. I left 30 years ago and hopped all around the state. Have you considered Pittsburgh or the Lehigh Valley? The rust belt towns seem to be shifting toward high tech.

You know it's bad when Pittsburgh is considered an upgrade. TBH NEPA was always considered to be that part of the state where people either lived there their whole lives and bitched about the mines shutting down or moved in because it was more affordable than the Philly suburbs or north Jersey. I can remember as early as age 14 I couldn't wait to GTFO and at least make it to the Lehigh Valley or King of Prussia.

See?

FWIW I first had Hawaiian pizza on my honeymoon in Honolulu. It even came on a little surfboard. Nothing made here in SW PA comes close though. I guess I’m chasing a memory