{"id":16009,"date":"2023-06-27T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thefullpassport.com\/?p=16009"},"modified":"2023-08-14T20:40:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T00:40:41","slug":"southern-juniata-county-pa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefullpassport.com\/southern-juniata-county-pa\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Reasons Why You Should Make Southern Juniata County, PA, Your Next Long Weekend Destination"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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This post about Southern Juniata County, Pennsylvania, was created in partnership with the Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau<\/a>. As always, however, all thoughts, opinions, and experiences are my own.<\/em><\/p>

Additionally, some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, which means that I may earn a small commission from your purchase at no additional cost to you. You can find the full disclosure here<\/a>. Thank you for supporting Full Life, Full Passport!<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I didn’t truly appreciate the place where I grew up until a couple of years after I left.<\/p>

I never hated it, per se; I wasn’t one of those small-town kids in the movies who feels like she’s suffocating and can’t wait to leave. I knew that Juniata County, Pennsylvania<\/a>, was a nice place to grow up and that I had had a good childhood. But it was home: old, familiar, normal. I didn’t think it was anything particularly special, and it certainly wasn’t all that exciting.<\/p>

That all started to change in the summer of\u00a02007, when my high school friends Heidi and George got married and I brought my college friend Steve as my plus-one to their wedding. Steve and I were making the familiar drive back to my parents’ farm, motoring along up Route 322 as it followed the Juniata River west from Harrisburg. Born and raised just outside of New York City, Steve was practically hanging out the window, gawking at the tree-covered ridges of the Appalachian Mountains and the sun glittering off the steady Juniata. And then he said something I’ve never forgotten.<\/p>

“This is incredible. I can’t believe you live here.”<\/p>

I think I laughed then, but the words crawled into my brain and opened my eyes. Suddenly, it was like I was seeing my home region for the first time. And it\u00a0was<\/em> incredible. How had I not realized how beautiful it was?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Juniata River flowing through Southern Juniata County<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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My appreciation for Juniata County deepened as I graduated college and started finding my way in the world outside of my rural home community. Although there are a lot of benefits to the Philadelphia suburb where I now live, I’m still keenly aware of things I miss from home: natural beauty, open spaces, farm-fresh produce, empty roads, and, perhaps most importantly, a deep sense of community.<\/p>

When I got the opportunity to partner with the Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau<\/a> to showcase this beautiful and often-overlooked part of Pennsylvania, I jumped at the chance. I couldn’t wait to share a place I love so ardently with the Full Life, Full Passport community. While we decided to focus on Southern Juniata County (the area south of US Route 322, which cuts directly across the county and is the only four-lane highway in the area), many of the charms listed below apply to the northern part of the county, as well.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The view of Mifflintown, the area's biggest town, from High School Hill.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This is a place where the pace of life slows, where you\u2019re more likely to be renowned for your own integrity and decades of hard work than for the car you drive or the size of your house. Where community and tradition are woven into the fabric of life, where churches still hold bake sales and chicken barbecues and where on any given Saturday you\u2019ll find a group of old-timers enjoying a fundraising breakfast at the local grange hall, fire house, or community building.<\/p>

I hope that this post inspires you to experience Juniata County for yourself, and I hope you come away just as in love with it as I am.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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