You know you're in western Pennsylvania when:
Your alma mater's co-op store stocks branded items in camo;
Placemats in restaurants feature a "Hunt Safely" caution;
The mall has walls covered in Vera Bradley;
Annnd, the name of the game is to wear the biggest hoops you can find when heading out with your ladies!
I couldn't have had a better time celebrating IUP's homecoming with three of my closest college girlfriends, Megan, Allie and Hannah. It was an actual homecoming of sorts for me. I haven't been back on the campus in eight years and there's certainly been changes. Both my freshman and sophomore dorms have been demolished to make way for new "luxury" dormitories. Two of the academic buildings I spent countless hours in, Waller and Fisher, have merged to make one mega-building. (Although, I must admit I'm not a fan of the utterly insensitive intervention.) And the University's mascot has changed to a Crimson Hawk!
While steeping myself in nostalgia, I wondered what would have happened if I stayed? This "Christmas Tree Capital of the World" is the birthplace of Jimmy Stewart, home to The Meadows (the pumpkin custard is boss) and of course Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the largest of PA's fourteen state schools. Sixty miles east of Pittsburgh, Indiana is officially part of the Steel City's metropolitan area, although to be in this sleepy college town you'd never know it.
I drooled over the price of houses here. Ranging generally from $130,000 - $160,000, affordability is certainly a plus. Downtown Indiana was declared a National Historic District in 1993, with eighty-six contributing properties representing Italiante and Queen Anne styles. The homes overlooking downtown, atop Vinegar Hill, are large and plantation-like. Beautiful to say the least.
Top left: 1358 Washington St., $118,000; Bottom Left: 1438 Church St., $139,900; Top Right: 1165 Church St., $137,900; Bottom Right: 920 Chestnut St., $134,000
Left: 703 Water St., $160,000; Bottom Right: 145 N. 7th St., $595,000
Come Sunday afternoon the spell had been broken and I came to the realization that I was happy to be heading home to New York. Even the lure of affordable, adorable houses doesn't change the fact that we would be relocating to Indiana, PA. Hardly the creative hotbed for a graphic deisgner and architectural marketer... but surely the perfect place for Ladycation 2014!