I think it's interesting that this thread is "scraping the muck off your soul." As I told someone at the Thanksgiving event, going back to PA (I'm from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) completely killed my soul! Moving back West this year was incredibly therapeutic for me... and I believe the healing process necessary after those 10 long months in hell has yet come to an end. If you put aside all the crime, the unemployment/bad-paying jobs and the outrageous cost of living (maybe not from a NY perspective, but still more than double what utilities and other essentials cost out here), it's still the culture--or lack thereof--that really killed me. It was just horrible... I am not trying to exaggerate.
The thing is, most people don't see it like that. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that those who look at Wyoming as an empty, barren waste-land have never lived out West and have never had the chance to adjust to the culture here (i.e. heal their souls). This process for my wife and I started when we lived in Alberta--it was supposed to be a fun adventure for us; one that was supposed to end with us moving back to Ontario after college. Within a week of moving to Alberta, I had an inkling that the West was a special place. After 2 years in Alberta, we went back East to visit our family in Ontario and Pennsylvania and we couldn't wait to get back home--the East was not and never could be home any longer. I, too, was one of those persons who thought I could never live in a place without trees. Now, I hate trees. I love the prairie and I love the wind. Driving from Rock Springs to Sundance and back this week gave me a chance to rediscover the incredible, breath-taking beauty of the prairies and mountains. Aside from that, it's the people and the culture that really makes this part of the continent home for me. I don't even like calling businesses that have call centers out East (like my bank) because their reps are so damn Eastern! I don't know if I could adequately express what makes someone Eastern (this type of personality is certainly not restricted to any geographic location, but the coasts generally have a nauseating concentration of them), but I'm sure you know what I mean, Novak.
Our situation was very different from yours. Moving out West made both my wife and I see the light (the next logical step was moving from "Montana-light" to the real deal down here in Wyoming). I know if you guys managed to spend enough time out this way your wife would go through some severe culture shock upon returning to PA. Once you've seen the light, you can never return to your previous ignorance.
Depending on your wife's feelings about various issues, one thing I would point out are the gun laws in PA. They are fairly symptomatic of the general mindset toward a large number of other things in that state: For instance, you cannot use force against someone who breaks into your home unless they have committed a felony against you or a member of your family (i.e. assault, rape, kidnapping, etc.). Basically, you can't fire at a person who has broken into your home unless you were fired upon. Sure, people will tell you the whole thing about if you shoot them and drag them back inside it's all OK... but if you look at the laws on the books (and the AGs in many counties in PA who enforce those laws) shooting a poor, innocent criminal who has broken into your home will get you up on murder charges. Criminals have rights, too. This is one of the many things we love about Wyoming: the recent Castle Doctrine bill doesn't require us to become victims before we are allowed to protect ourselves and our children. This isn't something merely theoretical--we had many, many scary situations in our own home living in a small town outside Wilkes-Barre. I was prepared to face prison time if it meant protecting my family, but no one in a "free" country should be forced to make such a choice! Pennsylvania was hardly any better than Canada in regard to self-defense. In addition to being threatened by theft and possibly violence in our own home, I was genuinely frightened to go many places in downtown Wilkes-Barre or Scranton at any time of the day. Another time, many of the buildings near where I worked in Hazleton were being evacuated and others were forced to take refuge in the basement to avoid being hit by stray automatic gunfire while two gangs had a small turf war. All the police could do was tell people to hide--the criminals out-number and out-gun the police in northeast PA and the individual citizen is legally prohibited from defending themselves from agression. Some place!
Now, that being said, your wife and her relatives and most of my relatives would probably say I sound like a paranoid kook. Well, they've never lived in a place where they don't have to be afraid to walk down an alley after dark, they've never lived in a place where your neighbors and the random passer-by are friendly acquaintances rather than potential threats. Humans can learn to live in all kinds of adverse situations and maybe even come to think that those things are normal facts of life that must simply be dealt with. It doesn't need to be that way, but it might take a prolonged "vacation" out here and some time spent with FSWers to help her (and you) begin the healing process.
