The thought of adding tolls on Interstate 80 personally makes me cringe.  If you haven’t heard already Act 44 was passed in July 2007 which gave the ok to put tolls on 80.  Living in the Poconos I-80 is a HUGE part of the transportation flow - for residents who hop on 80 to avoid the slower back roads, for tourists visiting the area, and for commuters that commute to New York, New Jersey and even Philadelphia.  Adding tolls would cause a number of problems - increased traffic on the back roads due to people avoiding the tolls, a possible dip in tourism, with gas prices constantly getting higher for the weekly tourists tolls add on that much more cost to their trip, and to commuters who already are stretched due to gas prices it would be yet another daily expense that cuts into their bottom line.

Many commuters try to find local jobs once they’ve been living in the Poconos for a bit - it saves travel time and money and is definitely a smart option.  The issue is that the average salary and availability of work in the Poconos doesn’t hold a candle to New York City and other popular locations that Pocono commuters work.  Adding tolls makes it that much more difficult for people that want to live in the Poconos and commute to do so. 

The only glimpse of hope is that the federal government has not yet given its approval, it actually denied it back in December due to lack of details.  Pocono commuters and residents putting up a fuss but so are businesses and truckers - businesses are concerned that they’re going to need to increase their prices to make up for additional freight fees.

Whether it gets approved or not I think the bigger concern is will it actually work and do what it is suppose to?  The casinos in Pennsylvania were suppose to make huge changes - have they?  Pocono residents haven’t seen any reduction in property taxes, it might take awhile but will it ever happen?  Adding tolls to I-80 and making it that much more expensive to live and work in and out of the Poconos makes it that much less appealing to live here as a resident.

My hope is that the big Pocono changes and potential changes increase the area as a whole rather then turn it into a “little New York” or “little Philadelphia”.  The railroad system - has the potential to reduce traffic on the roads, help commuters, and bring in additional tourists.  It also has the potential to increase crime and congestion.  I-80 has the potential to assist with fixing our roads - it also has the potential to drive away commuters, tourists and even residents.  The constant building of new stores - has the potential to bring additional employment and tourist to the area and provide residents with a wider variety of options.  It also has the potential to slowly wipe out the beautiful landscape of the Poconos - the changes to Route 611 in the past 5 years are a perfect example.

The Poconos is a beautiful place to live, work and visit.  Change is inevitable and has to be embraced as a part of life and changing times.  Without a doubt the Poconos is expanding and changing daily - I personally would like to see more effort put into restoring some of the businesses that made the Poconos what it is today versus starting fresh - but either way when I stand on my deck at the end of a long day and see nothing but trees and a beautiful sunset I’m reminded of what it is that truly makes the Poconos a special place to live.

Pocono Gear
If you’re ever in the need of Pocono gear - shirts, hats, etc. there is a site called pagood.com that offers a variety of both Pocono and PA items.  I was contacted by the site owner a few weeks ago so I figured I’d drop a line…you never know what people are looking for!  If you have an interesting Pocono site, product, etc. let me know and I’ll be sure to post something about it! 

Comments
We greatly appreciate comments on posts as we love getting feedback - just an FYI though they are thrown into moderation so we manually approve them first to avoid spam messages being posted.  Most of the spam is innocent enough but I’d rather not risk more risque comments being posted so I hope you guys can understand the delay on approval.

Easter Events
The Pocono Record has a list up of Easter Events that are happening this weekend.  I’ve copied the information below but be sure to check out PoconoRecord.com for the most up to date details including a list of places to go out to eat.

Jackson Township egg hunt
The Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Company will host an Easter egg hunt for the children of Jackson Township, ages 12 and under at 2 p.m. sharp Saturday. Pictures with the Easter Bunny will follow the hunt. For information, call Marie at (570) 629-5532.
 
Knights of Columbus egg hunt
The Father DeNisco Council of the Knights of Columbus will host an annual Easter egg hunt, rain or shine, at 2 p.m. Saturday on the council home grounds, 1680 W. Bangor Road, Bangor.  All children of the Slate Belt area are welcome and will receive a chocolate bunny. For information, call (610) 863-9883.

Egg hunt in Milford
Dingman Township Parks and Recreation Commission is hosting an Easter egg hunt on Saturday at the Ann Street Park in Milford. Admission is free. Bring baskets.  Hunt begins promptly at 10:30 a.m. for children ages 3 and under, 10:45 a.m. for children ages 4 to 6, and 11 a.m. for children ages 7 to 10.  Pictures with the Easter Bunny will be available. For information, call (570)296-8455.
 
Easter egg hunt at Pocono Lutheran Village
Pocono Lutheran Village, a Diakon Lutheran Senior Living Community, will host a free community Easter egg hunt at 10 a.m. Saturday on the great lawn at Pocono Lutheran Village, 329 E. Brown St., East Stroudsburg. The event is free and will be held rain or shine. Children should bring their own baskets and dress appropriately for the weather. The Easter Bunny will lead the hunt and be available for photos and to meet with children. There will be refreshments, face painting and also prizes for children who find lucky eggs. Students from nearby East Stroudsburg University will assist during the event. For information, call Betsi Olmstead at (570) 426-4012.
 
Orienteering ‘Eggs’travaganza at PEEC
Pocono Environmental Education Center in Dingmans Ferry will host its fourth annual Orienteering ‘Eggs’travaganza from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. During this family-oriented event, children age 9 and up will learn to navigate PEEC’s orienteering course with a map and compass, and find rewards all along the way. Children 8 years and under, accompanied by their parents, will navigate around PEEC’s campus using a map and will find plenty of surprises along the way. Crafts and egg dyeing will be available before or after your adventure, and ‘egg’cellent refreshments will also be available for a nominal fee. Spaces are limited, so pre-registration is recommended. Cost is $5 per person and free for children 3 years and under. PEEC is inside Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, off Route 209 near mile marker eight in Lehman Township. For information and registration, call (570) 828-2319, e-mail peec@peec.org or visit www.peec.org.

Easter Eggstravaganza at Salvation Army
The Salvation Army will host an Easter Eggstravaganza noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Salvation Army, 226 Washington St., East Stroudsburg. Featured: Gospel presentation; a free Easter egg hunt for children 12 and under with prize baskets for each age group; and carnival-type games for 10 to 25 cents each with tickets for prizes. Hotdogs, drinks and snacks will be available for purchase. For information, call Jayne at (570) 421-3050, ext. 19.

I haven’t kept up too much over the past few months but hope to get back into some sort of steady blogging because I do enjoy being able to share our view of the Poconos with you, the reader

Here are some pictures from an ice storm from this past winter, not to out of the ordinary I just love to go outside once its settled and look around at how the ice has effected all of the trees and surroundings.  This winter has been unusual, but living in the Poconos I’m not sure that there is ever a ‘typical’ winter that you can expect.  We get our waves of highs and lows - there was one point this winter it literally went from 6 degrees one day to 60 the next!  Its never fun to get a bunch of snow then have it all melt and be left with a muddy mucky mess during what should be a completely winter time.

Its now the beginning of March and we’ve had a series of flooding, high winds and power outages but I can’t say that differs too much from what we’ve seen going on in other parts of the country.  What I can say is typical from my experiences of the Pocono winters is that just when you think winter is over another snowstorm or two catches you offguard.  I have learned to wait until about the end of April to be sure we’re not going to see any additional snow falls or freezing so I know its safe to start planning spring planting and trips.

While the snow was piling high this winter we made a trip over to the Monroe County SPCA and adopted a dog who we managed to find at just the right time and has been a perfect addition to our home.  There are plenty of other shelters in the area and I encourage you that if you’re looking for an animal to consider adopting one that is in need.  Its not just cats and dogs - but rabbits, guinea pigs and more!  Although the Monroe County SPCA is a “low kill” shelter, there are animals there and at other shelters that are always in need.

In other news Bill Clinton is in Stroudsburg today at Stroudsburg High School to campaign for his wife.  If anything the Poconos never have a shortage of happenings and things to do!

First, sorry for the lull in recent posting - we’ve had a family cold cycling which is typical with the fall weather.  Moving on…We visited a few different areas this year for trick-or-treating.  One was the Trunk or Treat provided by the Stroudsburg Wesleyn Church that sets up cars in the parking lot for children to trick-or-treat at.  It was a great, safe way for the younger kids to enjoy Halloween.  I also saw that the college was having a trick-or-treat event which we did not make it to but also seemed like a fun safe alternative for kids.  We stopped by a few houses outside town and only about half had their lights on, maybe with so many other alternatives and days now there isn’t that need for everyone to be at their homes on Halloween. 

We then headed into Stroudburg where they shut down a few streets and we were able to see all of the houses that are extensively decorated.  It definitely gets you into the spirit seeing the time and effort people put into dressing up their homes.  I wouldn’t recommend it for toddlers and younger as there were tons of people, you literally had to wait in line at some houses.  The youngest kids are happy enough with a few houses and a few pieces of candy, in town definitely appeals to the older crowd as it has lots of houses together(more candy) plus the scare factor(which again doesn’t appeal to the little ones).

I hope everyone had a great Halloween, if you had a great experience this year we’d love to hear about it!

How many times have you heard location, location, location in reference to real estate?  I believe that location in relation to the Poconos not only impacts your style of living, but your longevity of staying in the area you’ve chosen.

When my husband and I were looking at buying a home our initial thoughts were to get a place close to Stroudsburg so we could still be close to everything.  Some things we were looking for were a decent size yard, 3 bedrooms, a quiet neighborhood, and a location near town.  We went a few times with our realtor to look at places that were located 20-30 minutes away and everytime we thought to ourselves ‘wow that’s a hike’.  After unsuccessful house hunting we took a break, then started again, then took another break.  When we finally purchased our home we sacrificed the ‘close to town’ feature we wanted but were extremely happy that we were able to find a home that fulfilled everything else we were looking for.

Moving further out to get the home you want is not the right option for everyone.  Giving up a larger yard, getting a little smaller of a house or waiting a few more months is definitely a better option for some.

If you do decide to move further out (if you live near a larger town), or you are looking at purchasing a home in the Poconos be sure to do your homework!  Drive to your potential home and neighborhood for a week straight - does the extra time commuting bother you?  Think about your daily activities, do you like to go get coffee every morning, where is your kids school located at, how much driving do you want to do a day?  (more…)

Seeing the enthusiasm of children trick-or-treating, definitely brings out my inner child and adds to the excitement of the fall season.  I love decorating for Halloween, handing out candy, and yes even dressing up.    I’m not ashamed to admit my husband and I dressed to the nine’s last year to hand out candy and to take our son out trick-or-treating.  Our outfits might have been a tad much for our quiet community but we definitely fit in when we went to Stroudsburg.

Let’s get straight to the point - you can go trick or treating multiple places on different days!  Coming from the suburbs of Philly this was an amazing surprise for me when I moved to the Poconos.  Now I’m not trying to advocate the biggest candy heist in history or having sugar poisioning well into next year…nor taking advantage of the generosity of neighborhoods that you don’t belong to, but it gives options.

Option 1 - Take advantage of being able to visit friends and family.

You will need to schedule accordingly but its very possible that you can not only trick or treat in your own neighborhood but spend a different day visiting friends and relatives as well.

With multiple days of Halloween we went with Grandma “trick or treating” (aka showing off the baby to neighbors) one day, we visited aunts, uncles and friends another day and were still able to hand out candy at our own house on yet another day.   (more…)

Living in the Poconos the seasons the season that I think catches most ‘new guys’ offguard is definitely Winter.  The other seasons do not vary too much from city living or other parts of the country but Winter is definitely unique.  Now is the time to get a start on getting your home prepared for winter so come the snowy months you can sit back and relax confidently. 

I moved to the Poconos a little over 5 years ago and the concept of a well, septic system,  fireplace and needing to get someone to plow your driveway were totally new concepts to me.  So hopefully mistakes I’ve made and have learned from that have turned into the tips below will prepare you better.

Prepare your yard and the outside of your home

First and foremost be sure to prepare your yard for the upcoming months by winterizing it as much as possible.  Right now its not too cold yet and it will save you a lot of time and aggrevation to get it done now.

- Winterize your plants.  Cover them, trim them, whatever is necessary, our winters our quite cold and you definitely don’t want to lose the time and money you spent on your yard.

- Clear the yard and cover objects.  Bring in toys & empty plant containers and tarp what you can - lawnmowers, swingsets, large toys.  If you have tables and/or chairs with covers bring them in or tarp them as well.

- Rake and mow one last time.  Especially if you live in an extremely wooded area, the cold and snow can come on pretty quick so be sure to keep up on raking as trying to get up all those wet leaves in the spring is not fun.

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