Lehigh Valley: A High Quality of Life

Not too long ago I was driving south on 100 to Boyertown, through the Butter Valley (where we get our lettuce every week, you should all check out Butter Valley Harvest). It made me smile to drive past the farms. The farmers were out in the fields, and I could see the first signs of spring all around me. Seriously, all I could think about was how I lucky I was to live in the Lehigh Valley.

My husband and I have lived all over the country. We’ve been in Maine, San Diego, Phoenix and Wyoming over the course of 12 years. I admit that maybe we’ve lived places where the weather has been better. But I’m not sure we’ve lived anywhere that we feel our quality of life has been higher.

Maybe I should define quality of life before I go any further. I’m sure it means something different for everyone. For our family, quality of life is about having healthy food choices at our fingertips, places to spend family time, quality education for our child, and having educational and cultural opportunities close by. 

I love knowing the name of the family that I get my lettuce from. I love being able to order from the co-op every week and know my dollars go to local farmers and producers. We love going to the dairy for milk and ice cream. But it’s not just about food. My family loves going to Trexler Park to walk or play. We love the fish hatchery down the street and the new Cedar Beach Playground, all within a few minutes of our house. I love that I can choose from at least five grocery stores (if you’ve ever lived in Casper, Wyoming, you understand that this is a luxury, seriously).  Have you shopped around for pre-schools? The number of quality choices is dizzying. 

I grew up in Connecticut and my family would take the train into New York City for the day all the time. Here I feel doubly lucky because I am an hour from Philadelphia and 96 miles from New York City. When we lived in Wyoming, we would drive 4.5 hours for a Whole Foods or a nice dinner out. Here, if we want to visit a world class museum or see a play, we have so many choices. I think we probably spent 10-20 days this winter at the Please Touch Museum alone.

And it’s not just the cities around us. I spent two weekends this spring at Mud Sales in Lancaster, PA. WOW! Cultural experience in my own backyard. Another weekend we spent exploring Gettysburg. We spent a happy Saturday on the train in Jim Thorpe. At Christmas we rode the train with Santa in Ironton. I have a list now, of all the things we want to do in Pennsylvania. There are so many places to see and experience. Most of them are daytrips from here. When you’ve moved as many times as we have, you learn to write down the things you don’t want to miss because it invariably happens that when we move we regret missing something. (We literally made a stop at the Oregon Trail Wagon Wheel Ruts on our way of Wyoming because I had to see them.) 

And maybe when you’ve lived somewhere where there was no intensive-care unit you can appreciate having quality health care available. You never realize that where you live could actually jeopardize your life until you need medical attention that you can’t get.  I appreciate that the hospital my daughter was born in had a neo-natal intensive care unit, that it was a magnet hospital for nurses and that they continually engage the community in wellness activities.  It’s just another part of a good life here.

Many of you who have been here for awhile might not feel that way.  There are probably things about the valley that aren’t great.  I’m not blind to some of the negatives. I just feel lucky. We’re so happy here; finally feel like we’ve found the place to put roots. And I love that about this place too!