Lititz (Lancaster Co) is home to Rock Lititz (if you aren't familiar - look it up) - so there's a direct connection to the entire music industry here. It's not uncommon to see tour busses and trucks from top name performers on the north end of Lititz when they are here to prepare for a new tour; or stop in along a tour for equipment fixes. There's a small venue right on the campus which has an incredible (Claire Brothers) sound system but its mostly tribute bands that play there. The prices are pretty reasonable to get seats, though they recently changed from using Event Brite to TicketMaster so there are probably higher fees now. And you're only about 5-8 miles from Lancaster where there are more clubs, etc.

As others have suggested, there's lots to do in Hershey, so you can plan on spending more than one day there. Depending on when you get here and if you like hockey, you can usually get tickets for the historic AHL franchise Hershey Bears.

Nasty place, especially the catacombs. I would never go back and never recommend it to anyone.

Can you name some in PA who have been proven innocent after they were executed recently? I mean I'm not even sure when the last time we executed anyone in PA, but say in the last 40 years - has it actually happened that someone was executed and later found to be innocent?

What I hear you saying is we need an express lane added!

Elizabethtown ???? Besides the college, I'm not sure what it offers. It's known locally as one of the areas with a lot of poverty and just doesn't have much happening except their annual Fair (which considering all of the fairs in Lanc Co, I wouldn't put at the top of my list).

Lititz was voted coolest small town in the USA a few years ago and continues to be a vibrant community. This week we have "Fire and Ice" going on - it's a winter festival with ice-carvings, chili cookoff and various other events. The organizers have changed things up each year - I believe trying to find the right mix of events so they can attract a large number of people to the downtown area but do so over a longer period of time instead of just 1-2 days.

We also have "Rock Lititz"; which isn't as much of a touristy thing, but it's still pretty cool. It's not every day, but it's not totally uncommon to see trucks and busses from top name music performers coming into and out of the Rock Lititz campus. They do have a small venue on the campus called Mickeys Black Box where you can see live music for pretty good ticket prices. It's small (I'd guess 200-300 people depending on how they configure it) but the sound system is out of this world (Rock Lititz is a partnership involving Claire Brothers who produce concerts for top name performers around the globe and they built the sound system for Mickey's). There is a hotel on the campus which includes a "trendy" restaurant/bar. When they're in town, people like Justin Bieber (and his wife), Shawn Mendez, etc; are known to be seen in the restaurant/hotel.

There are lots of shops downtown and its easily walkable, along with a decent selection of restaurants and bars considering the size of the town.

If you want to see an awesome 4th of July event, the one held in Lititz Springs Park is amazing considering the size of the community. Again, Claire Brothers helps produce the fireworks display and coordinates the entire production to music; even installing a temporary sound system in the park. The event is all-day with a variety of other performances in the bandshell leading up to the fireworks.

The park also hosts a huge craft show each year. It basically closes down town to traffic and fills the park with a sea of white-canopy tents for artists/craftsman to display their goods.

Oh - and Lititz Borough Police uses their FB page to put out some of the funniest (can you say "sarcasm") posts leading up to most of the major events each year.

Drive 15 minutes north and you can be hiking Middlecreek - a state owned wildlife sanctuary which caters to migrating snow-geese.

Ten mintues south and you can be in Lancaster city. Or in various other directions you can see the Amish tourist areas about 20 minutes away. Strasburg Railroad is a little further, but still an easy drive if you're in the Littiz area.

Two different farmer's markets are 10-15 minutes out of Lititz in different directions - one on Tuesdays (Roots) and one on Fridays (Green Dragon).

You could apply for it and take the written test, but it wasn't valid until your 16th birthday (at least that's how it was in '85). My birthday was on a Wednesday, permit arrived in the mail that day and I took my test 3 days later.

Confusing point #1 - the "physical exam" is referring to a doctors exam, proving you don't have any chronic health issues which would prevent you from operating a vehicle safely; including vision issues which would require you to wear corrective lenses while driving. In order to get your permit, you need to have a doctor complete a physical paper. All this requirement is saying is that the paper needs to have been filled out at most 6 months before you apply for the permit.

Confusing point #2 - the site you're linking to isn't official; it looks to be a reference site that gathers info from various states and tries to be a single point of information. These sites shouldn't be trusted IMO. They are mostly out there generating ad-revenue by impersonating authority. In some cases, they may be accurate, but the specific state's own site (in this case PA) would certainly be THE site to trust.

Unless there were a different set of rules in between, the prior rules were that you could go take the written learner's permit test ahead of your 16th birtday (I think 30 or 60 days, but I don't remember exactly). The state would then mail you your permit on/about your birthday, but the permit was still not valid until your 16th birthday. I distinctly remember mine arriving on my birthday mid-week and I was able to go take my DL test on Saturday morning (there was no requirement to hold the permit for 6 months before taking the DL test back then).

I've probably driven my pickup faster on 2-lane roads in PA than most people can on NJ highways - AND I didn't have to smell that unique combination of diesel fumes and rotting garbage like you do when you drive the NJ turnpike.

I haven't read it anywhere, so I'm not sure where he got this info, but a co-worker who lives in the general area said he heard the daughter was experiencing some major health-issue and discussed suicide with her parents who didn't want to go on without her.

I thought the same thing at first, then realize the picture was B&W!

It's an 08 - I guess they were considered 2nd Gen - it's RWD based setup, not a FWD based crossover like a Patriot. I've driven it in the snow and it reminds me of my old Jeep Commander just smaller - decent traction, easy to handle and a bit underpowered so its not going to spin all 4 tires easily even in snow.

I'm in Lancaster so we probably don't get as much snow as you do. Three vehicles in the family:

Jeep Liberty selectable 2WD/4WD

Honda CRV - Full time AWD

RAM 1500 - selectable 2WD/4WD with 4-Auto (equal to AWD)

The Jeep is my daughter's car - used for her to go back and forth between home and college in Pittsburgh; once she gets to Pittsbugh it gets driven once or twice a week for her and her roomates to get groceries or go get a treat at Starbucks. It it's snowing she probably isn't driving anywhere most of the time.

CRV is my wife's - gets driven every day to/from work and other errands.

The RAM is mine - I work from home so I don't need to go out much other than a short trip to take my son to work (less than a mile); but I do like to "play" in the snow so I'll usually go out and drive in snow after I clear the driveway.

I run all-seasons on the Jeep and CRV; mild all-terrains on the RAM. I usually put about 200# of ice-melt and/or salt in the bed of the truck each winter. It helps plant the back end and can be used to gain traction if I'd get stuck on ice.

With that said, if I had a job that required me to be driving more (ie.. my BIL used to have his own appliance repair biz, so he was constantly driving everywhere); then I'd use winter tires. I just don't have enough room to store multiple sets of summer/winter tires given the little benefit for our situation and experiences with our vehicles.

The more you stick to highways the better you’ll be. Turnpike has its own dedicated crews so it’s usually the best kept road in PA (that may not being saying much). Depending on how cold and windy it really gets I would think you’ll be fine on Friday.

Have you tried talking to your state representative?