From Wikitravel

Pennsylvania [1] is a state in the eastern United States. It is known for its revolutionary war era historical sites (mainly in Philadelphia) and its steel industry.

Contents 1 Regions 2 Cities 3 Other destinations 4 Understand 5 Talk 6 Get in 6.1 By car 6.2 By train 6.3 By air 7 Get around 8 Eat 9 Drink 10 Stay safe 11 Get out

Regions

• Coal Region
• Cumberland Valley
• Delaware Valley
• Lehigh Valley
• Northern Tier
• Northwest Region
• Pennsylvania Dutch Country
• Laurel Highlands
• The Poconos
• Susquehanna Valley
• Western Pennsylvania

Cities

• Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
• Altoona
• Erie
• Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon
• Johnstown
• Lancaster
• Philadelphia
• Pittsburgh
• Reading
• Scranton-Wilkes-Barre
• State College
• Sunbury-Lewisburg-Selinsgrove
• Williamsport
• York-Hanover

Other destinations

• Chadds Ford near the location of the Battle of Brandywine, fought September 11, 1777.
• Jim Thorpe
• Pocono Mountains

Understand

The State of Pennsylvania is a geographically diverse state with a great lake on one shore and a major seaport on the other. The climate of Pennsylvania is pleasant, with cold winters, mild to hot summers, and gorgeous springtimes.

Pennsylvania hosts a number of vital cities, from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. The city of Philadelphia houses the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, two major national historical landmarks. The interior of the state has a number of subcultures worth exploring, including the famous Amish countryside, a religious community based in Christian Anabaptist dogma.

Pennsylvania is also host to a diverse group of people, with ethnic enclaves of black, Hispanic, and Southeast Asian populations in its major cities.

Talk

Most Pennsylvanians speak American English, although many subtle regional accents and 'dialects' do exist. There are large Latino, Spanish-speaking populations in Reading, Allentown, Pittsburg, and Philadelphia, and Philadelphia and Pittsburg have their share of Asian, European, and other languages. There will be no problem communicating with people who live in Pennsylvania, except, of course, if they resort to the famous Pennsylvania Dutch "Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch" dialect of German. Although widescale non-Amish use of the language faded circa 1950, there are pockets of young people who are learning the language as a way to preserve their heratige.

Get in

By car

Interstate highways lead most traffic into the state.

• I-70, traffic from the midwest
• I-78, traffic from New Jersey and New York City
• I-80, traffic from New York
• I-79, traffic from the Great Lakes region and West Virginia through Pittsburgh
• I-83, traffic from Baltimore
• I-76, the Pennsylvania Turnpike
• I-95, traffic from Washington DC and New York
• I-90, traffic from Cleveland to Buffalo through Erie

There also exist a huge network or backroads, state highways, and private roads that stretch along it's mostly forested and farmed rural areas. Speed limit signs are almost exclusively posted in Imperial units. To out-of-staters many of the roads in the mountainous areas of the state are treacherously winding, curving, and narrow; however, this barely slows down many of the native drivers in this area. These online Pennsylvania Maps include a detailed road map which can be viewed and printed in sections.

As conditions go, there's an old joke that Pennsylvania roads have two seasons; winter and construction. This is true for much of the state, where blizzards, ice, and excessive snowfall can 'snow in' many rural inhabitants and render many backroads impassable. It's advisable to use extreme caution after even a relatively light snow, and out of state drivers should stick to more well-travelled state roads and interstates.

By train

Amtrak serves the state of Pennsylvania with major stops at Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. Philadelphia is a stop on the Northeast Corridor.

By air

The two major airports in Pennsylvania are Philadelphia International (booking code PHL) and Pittsburgh International (booking code PIT). Philadelphia is a major hub for US Airways and Pittsburgh is an large focus city for the same carrier. Both are served by all major carriers and have low fare service by Southwest and AirTran Airways. Philadelphia also gets a good deal of international service.

Regional airports in Pennsylvania include Lehigh Valley, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. All of these airports are served by US Airways, US Airways Express, Delta, Northwest and Continental.Erie is slightly bigger. Lehigh Valley has low-fare service by Lehigh Valley Air and TMA, and Harrisburg has service by TMA as well(TMA suspended flights in 2005).

Get around

Eat

Drink

Stay safe

Get out

This article is an outline and needs more content. It has a template, but there is not enough information present. Please plunge forward and help it grow!