{"id":1052,"date":"2025-10-10T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T09:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/10\/10\/2025-10-10-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:07:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:07:29","slug":"2025-10-10-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/10\/10\/2025-10-10-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of autumn in Western\u00a0Pa."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Olivia Petty<\/a> · Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pennsylvania's
Pennsylvania’s only beach: Presque Isle State Park. \u2014 OLIVIA PETTY<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a “broke” college student on a budget, you may assume your autumnal recreation is limited to laps around the quad \u2013 beautiful, but a little repetitive. How about watching the sun set over silver waves or eating cr\u00eapes in an old opera house? Western Pennsylvania offers a handful of inexpensive yet interesting activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost the ocean, Presque Isle State Park waits an hour away in Erie, Pa. Junior Anna Claire Puglia, a native of San Diego, loves Presque Isle for its reminiscence of her home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in Western Pa. I love water and the ocean and the beach, and it’s definitely the closest thing to that Western Pa. can get. It’s worth it because you get to go out into God’s creation, have a little break from campus and walk along the beach,” she states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Pennsylvania’s only “seashore,” this park offers recreational activities, wildlife-viewing opportunities and overnight accommodations, according to “The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you prefer mountains \u2013 or, rather, hills \u2013 Clear Creek State Forest beckons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hemming in the town of Kennerdell, this forest promises a steep hike through meandering woods to the reward of a sunrise or sunset at the end. Senior Ellie Patton confirms the adventure is worth the 30-minute drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The hike is so fun, and the view at the end of the hike is so worth it too. It’s a great view of the Allegheny River, especially if you camp there and wake up to see the sunrise. It’s glorious,” Patton says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If rocks and trees don’t satisfy, seek Presque Isle State Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tiate the hiker, where should they go for fall foods? Iron Furnace in Franklin, Pa. is a lesser-known coffee shop than Collage. It provides good coffee and autumnal sights. According to Puglia, this coffee shop offers a diverse list of fall-flavored drinks, and it provides entertainment in addition to energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Franklin is just the closest thing to a perfect fall town that I’ve ever been in. It has beautiful stone churches and houses. If people wanted to do something where they could see all of the leaves changing color and have a pretty fall drive and also get coffee, that would be a perfect place to go,” Puglia expounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you may still be hungry after hiking and drinking coffee. If so, go to Wunderbar. Situated in Harmony, Pa., Wunderbar offers locally sourced and internationally inspired sandwiches, cr\u00eapes and coffees. Located in a renovated opera hall, this coffee shop serves Italian, French and American treats in a historic German town, according to the Wunderbar website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I only found out about Wunderbar this past summer, but I love the cr\u00eapes. They’re to die for, and it’s such a fun place to go to. The music’s great. Rustic vibes. Can’t go wrong. Even when it’s busy, it’s not too loud, which is nice. Good for studying and for socializing,” Patton says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This life at Grove City College brings you close to historical coffee shops, lakeshore beaches and hill-top sunsets. A well-rounded college experience includes more than rigorous academics and valuable relationships: It also entails late-night hikes to glimpse the star-powdered sky above the Allegheny Mountains and early-morning drives to catch the sun-stained waves at Lake Erie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a “broke” college student on a budget, you may assume your autumnal recreation is limited to laps around the quad \u2013 beautiful, but a little repetitive. How about watching the sun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[209],"tags":[19,34,117],"class_list":["post-1052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-community","tag-issue-2025-10-10","tag-olivia-petty"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-10-15-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa-1-v2.jpg",853,1276,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-10-15-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa-1-v2.jpg",100,150,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-10-15-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa-1-v2.jpg",201,300,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-10-15-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa-1-v2.jpg",768,1149,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-10-15-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa-1-v2.jpg",685,1024,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-10-15-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa-1-v2.jpg",853,1276,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2025-10-10-15-best-of-autumn-in-western-pa-1-v2.jpg",853,1276,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"As a \"broke\" college student on a budget, you may assume your autumnal recreation is limited to laps around the quad \u2013 beautiful, but a little repetitive. How about watching the sun","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1052"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2220,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions\/2220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}