[MplsTodd]

Thanks for your thoughts!

I can't do a detailed city v city comparison on Harrisburg and Lancaster as I'd want more time to fully explore each city. But I really liked both cities. They both offer a great collection of well-maintained historic buildings in their downtowns. Both cities offer city markets, which I've always felt was a great ingredient for a vibrant central city. I was very impressed that Lancaster has two markets (Souther (under renovation) and Central, which wasn't open when we visited). In prior visits I've walked around the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg, but wasn't able to visit it. Generally, it felt like downtown Lancaster had more shops, galleries and restaurants. But one feature of Harrisburg is the broad Sussquahana River, which provides a feeling of nature and bike paths that I didn't sense in Lancaster.

En route back to Ohio, we stopped briefly in Easton, PA. Located just west of the Delaware River, Easton is another very historic small city. The downtown was a little sleepy, but it had a great collection of older buildings and benefits from being headquarters for Crayola Crayons. Here's a few photos:

Along Centre Square, downtown Easton, Pennsylvania by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Centre Square, Easton, Pennsylvania by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Corner Store Entrance, 3rd Street at Centre Square, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Businesses along North Third Street, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Historic Buildings along North Third Street, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Northampton Street, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Northampton Street, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Northampton National Bank Building, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

The Crayola Experience, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Centre Square, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr

Lehn's Court, downtown Easton, PA by Todd Jacobson, on Flickr