Lining up ducks

[saanen]

It's time to get my ducks in a row. I'm moving in two weeks, all the way from Tennessee to Pennsylvania. I've never even visited Pennsylvania even though my brother's family has lived there ten years. Now I'm moving to a town just outside of Pittsburgh. It's going to be a big change

Comments

Pennsylvania

[mizannie]

I am in awe of your family. All of you
are there for each other. I wish you a
safe journey. Soon you will have a job
suited to your educational level, a new
city to get used to and wonderful adventures.

Re: Pennsylvania

[saanen]

I do feel really lucky to be part of this family. We get on each other's nerves sometimes, of course, but never seriously, and we're always standing by to help one another. After all the help I've received lately, I figure I need to get down to the hard work of building up my resources so I can offer help back when it's needed by someone else. Hopefully this move will lead to that.

[sina_says]

good luck with the move. sounds like you'll be very close to me (i'm in north central wv, bout an hour out of pittsburgh).

[saanen]

Another cool person from the PA area! Until this last week I wasn't even sure where WV and PA and other states up there were in relation to each other. This is going to be a real education in every way. I found out Maryland is right there next to PA, so I'm planning to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year.

[kessepha]

I meant to go to Sheepfest in Avella PA last year, but something came up. We can try again this year (September). It's only about an hour south of here.

Maryland isn't bad, either... about 4.5 hours to DC. Parts of MD can be reached in 3. You'll be shockingly close to parts of Ohio, too. :)

[bezigebij]

Pennsylvania is really nice. I'm only really familiar witht he eastern part of the state, where I lived for four years, but all good times. Western PA is fairly rural and I'm sure in many ways similar to Tennessee though less hilly, maybe.

And maybe the traffic laws will be a little different to keep you on your toes.

Have fun preparing for the move.

[saanen]

Mom says the Ambridge area is actually hillier than around here. It's the same mountain chain, but here I live in the Tennessee valley and the hills are low unless you head out past Maryville. It gives me a little comfort, in leaving the area where I grew up and which I love, to know that I'm in the same mountains--just a little further north. I plan to spend the summer with Jasper exploring the countryside and seeing which plants and birds are the same as here and which are different.

[bezigebij]

I can imagine being in the sme mountains will be a comfort; it will feel like the continuation of the same story, if a different chapter. Reveling in the new is always less frightening if you can also take comfort in the familiar.

Pennsylvania is the starting point for a lot of ecosystems that then continue north and south respectively (at least this is the case is the Piedmont area to the east)so there will lots to see -bird and plant wise. I miss mayapples which you will be able to find under oak trees (along with morels) and spice bushes (mmm) whose yellow blossoms should just be starting around the time of your move.

What they said!

[zoe_1418]

Congrats and have fun!

I went to school in Indiana, PA (yes, indeed, there IS an Indiana in Pennsylvania; there's a California, too!), about an hour or so from Pittsburgh. Never spent much time in the city, but I think it's an interesting one. Someone I used to know back in those days now lives on a boat one of the Three Rivers!

Re: What they said!

[saanen]

Every time I think of the city of Pittsburgh, for some reason I think of it as huge, gray, and empty, like a deserted city in the far future. Now I know that's ridiculous, but it helps to hear from someone who's actually been there that it's an interesting city! I'm hoping to actually take advantage of being so closeby, and go to operas and plays and concerts and things.