Another moving thread (Philadelphia, Lancaster, Harrisburg: real estate, school districts, college)

[Aubreysmom09]

My husband has been informed we are possibly moving. He works for Hewlett Packard, and I am a Commercial Real Estate Broker. We are pretty excited we live in Norfolk, VA right now, and really need a change. Our daughter is 4, and will start school in a year and a half. I need to know which area has good schools. We have looked in Camp Hill, but would like to know more areas. We were going to have to send her to private school in VA, so we are pretty happy about being able to send her to public schools up there. Any info on Doctors, Vets, areas to live, schools, where is the closest airport??? Any information is appreciated, and we are excited to move. He was the only person at HP to apply for this job, so i'm pretty sure he will get promoted. We will be going up for a weekend visit in March to check things out. Would love to get to know people especially if you have children that are in the 4/5 age bracket. Thanks for the help

[Aubreysmom09]

I also forget to mention what is there to do???

[ki0eh]

I'm sure you've looked in this sub-forum and find the standard recommended schools in the West Shore suburban areas of Harrisburg are Camp Hill (small) and Cumberland Valley (much larger). The CV schools area is also the shopping hub (including Wegmans), although if you want an Apple store there is not one closer than Lancaster; or for say REI, Nordstrom, IKEA, or Crate and Barrel you have to head towards Baltimore or Philadelphia (not a bad day trip on a Saturday actually).

Local tourist bureaus: http://www.visitcumberlandvalley.com/ Visit Hershey Harrisburg, Pa | Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau, Pennsylvania vacations Pennsylvania Dutch Country in Lancaster County PA | Amish Country activities, shopping, dining, lodging
The outdoor exhibit at The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) is a better kid destination than it might at first seem.

On the East Shore the standard recommended school districts are Hershey or perhaps Lower Dauphin. The Penn State College of Medicine is in Hershey, although 2 chocolate factories remain they are highly automated so doctors seem to outnumber chocolate workers in the town anymore. Shopping is a little thin (although with a 4 year old you will love Welcome to Toys On The Square, Unusual Toys & Pottery Painting - Toys on the Square - the actual store is better than the website). A season pass to Hersheypark - featuring 12 coasters and The Boardwalk at Hersheypark! covers free parking, discounts on food in the park, and if bought in the fall without any further affinity discounts basically pays for itself after two admissions.

The Harrisburg International (yes they do have a flight to Toronto ) airport MDT is near Middletown, and for a not-large airport actually has fairly good service if you accept that it's two hops to anywhere. Some folks take the Amtrak train (and a second train) to fly out of PHL, and some make the (in traffic) 3 hr drive to Dulles or 3 hr drive to Newark for international flights.

Train is OK option for day trips to Center City Philadelphia, or weekend to NYC. If you take the train, from Harrisburg you have to pay through the nose for parking, but from Elizabethtown parking is still free (the closer parking lot is day use only though, need to go around back and walk a little further for overnight). Not all trains stop at Middletown and its parking is limited (at least until a new station is built, closer to but not at the airport, and whenever that might be).