Downingtown = Meridian

Since their arrival in Pennsylvania, the Taters have been temporarily living in a furnished apartment in the Philadelphia suburb of Downingtown. Downingtown is about 40 miles from Philly and is among the farthest west of the string of 'burbs between the city and Harrisburg (to the northwest) and Lancaster (to the southwest).

Unlike Idaho, where the towns and cities fall along fairly obvious geographic features (ie, the Boise River), several hundred years of development have made eastern PA more of a web than a string. For further reference, Vanguard's headquarters and Tater Kenn's office is in Malvern.

A feature that's probably less obvious to our western friends is the rather pastoral nature of the area. Most have read that the Pennsylvania Dutch near Lancaster live mostly on family farms, but it's surprising how much open land is around the towns and cities in this area. Unlike the West, most of the land here is privately owned, so one can't just go traipsing across with dogs in tow, but it's at least nice to look at. In fact, there are so many horse-y types in this area that we've come to agree with the sobriquet given by a traveling companion on a recent flight into Philly: "Pennsyl-tucky."

Like Meridian Idaho, Downingtown sits among these forests and fields as multiple clusters of new shopping centers, strip malls, chain restaurants, and car dealerships. Many of the homes and commercial buildings in the original town of Downingtown, about 3 miles from the apartment, date as far back as the early 1700s. With such a long history, there are many styles of architecture, including plenty of classic mid-Atlantic field-stone houses. However, the predominant feel to the "neighborhood" in which the Taters currently reside is "late 20th century prefab."

The apartment complex sits near the intersection of a major road (Lincoln Hwy) and an even more major road (US 30). The closest analog is Meadow Lake Village near the intersection of Eagle Road and I-84 (no cracks here about the Taters age, if you please). In fact, the marketing material even looks similar:

AVE Downingtown

Aside from its location, the size and finish level of the Taters', furnished apartment is in sharp contrast to the small Boise bungalow in which they lived. While the apartment is certainly adequate to sustain two adults, two mid-sized dogs and a imperturbable cat, it unfortunately lacks in the personal touches that make a house "home." Here's the photo from AVE's website:

Allow your mind to expurgate the flowers, pillows, fashionable lamps, and window coverings (and add a sheen of pet hair) and you have our two bedroom, 1150 sq/ft  abode. 

There are some advantages: 

• The indoor/outdoor carpet gives excellent purchase to the dogs' toenails, so they love chasing each other about. The Taters are, needless to say, less enthusiastic about this feature. 
• The apartments are surprisingly well sound-insulated, so the neighbors and their dogs aren't obvious unless they're outside.
• Small spaces mean no place to store "stuff", so no need to go shopping for anything other than essentials.

The Taters will move - finally! - into the house they've rented (would that be permanently temporary housing?) next Tuesday, November 1st. It's a colonial-style home built around 1940 that's much larger than what they really want or need - 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, full finished basement, etc., sitting on 2.75 acres. The house and neighborhood will undoubtedly be the topic of upcoming blog posts, but as Tater T has said, around Thanksgiving the K-Bar-T B&B will be open for business!