mechanicsburg

[pinotnoir1]

It is funny that I came across this blog because I was looking for something to do in Mechanicsburg, PA. My son has a school trip to a Asian restaurant on Oct. 30th, and I never heard of the place before. I thought that since I would have to drive there we could spend some time do something up there. Now, I see that I will be driving right back, after lunch.
I am a woman of color, and I currently I live in Philly (Philadelphia) where I was born, but grew up in Westtown, PA, Chester County (5 minutes from West Chester and 30 minutes from Philly). There is a mixture of trashy rundown and classy to decent areas in Philly, which are intermingled by several blocks, unless you can afford to live in Chestnut Hill or Society Hill or in a million dollar penthouse on the waterfront. The decent to great areas are very pricey up North. However, if I had to chose between rural PA areas or Philly area, I would choose the Philly area without hesitation.
Just before I moved to Philly, I lived in West Chester and Downingtown. Basically, I would recommend West Chester because it is the perfect area with Delaware on one side and close to Philly, Atlantic City, NY, Baltimore, and DC. Although West Chester (and other places in Chester County) has this standoffish, unfriendly feel, now, which is quite different when I grew up and compared to living in the DC area. I ran into a lawyer that had moved from New Mexico to Downingtown, PA, and he felt the same way. Therefore, he took a position in DC as a Federal Prosecutor to get out of the area. The rural areas way outside of SE PA are worst and have a more unsophisticated population like coal miner blue collar level.
By the way, I lived in the DC Metro are for over 20 years and moving back to PA was quite an adjustment--cleaniliness of the South, better standard of living, and more to do and see in the DC area (for FREE), although there can tend to be a political aire, depending upon your social network. I love the uptown and downtown areas of DC, Georgetown, nearby suburbs, and having close access to MD and VA. I think I have talked myself in to being homesick, and now I want to move back!
I think you would be better off going to school in the DC or Philly Metro areas. Philly has Rutger's, Princeton, Temple, Drexel, University of Pennsylvania, etc. DC has Georgetown U, American U, and University of Maryland (in Beltsville, MD).

[pinotnoir1]

If your current needs are to have a good school for your children and acess to culture, I would recommend Paoli, Media, Plymouth Meeting, King of Prussia, Westtown, or West Chester, PA. There are excellent schools in those areas, and you would be no more than 30 minutes from Philadelphia for entertainment and culture.