Restaurant reviews aside, if you find yourself outside of Harrisburg, the Keystone State capital, on its west side, you’ll find a very well meaning Cracker Barrel parking lot that is much larger than most of its sister national chain restaurant corner corrals that has more space than most and in this particular restaurant’s case, an incredibly well-poured paved parking paradise for your overnighting pleasure. Fairly conveniently located right off the Pennsylvania Turnpike(I76) as it intersects Highway 15 running north-south, this is an incredibly EZ on and off experience and because you are far enough away from the hustle& bustle of nearby Harrisburg, there’s a decent sense of calm here in this location as well as a real good feeling of safety complete with really great lighting.
If you do decide upon this particular location, you’ll want to‘set up shop’ on the restaurant’s southwestern periphery, which looks more like back-up parking in the case that there’s a mad dash for those biscuits& gravy, but when we stopped by, this area was fairly vacant, making for a nice lay-over. The watch out over here is that while you may find ample space, you’ll want to take note that you are in the southwestern quadrant of where I76 intersects Highway 15, so there will be no end to the non-stop buzzing of passer-by traffic, but this is really the only downside you will encounter, so if you have earplugs, you should be golden. And while there’s not a ton of amenities immediately on your doorstep as you are on a hotel corridor of sorts, you won’t have to terribly far to go in case you need to stock up on supplies.
Insider’s tips? Here’s a few:(1) Should you need to load up on anything, there’s a giant, well, Giant grocery story, but for anything else, you’re going to have to get in the camper and take a bit of a drive, like to Paul B Hardware that is just south of here;(2) If you need ANYTHING to get better equipped for your camp outing, there’s a sweet Mountain Man Outpost less than a 10 minute drive north of here on Highway 15;(3) In the event that you might be RVing with your four-legged friends, then you’ll be incredibly grateful to know that just due southwest of this location you’ll discover a nice slice of nature called Spring Run Park that has a basketball court as well as nearby Mt. Allen Park, which is great for birding and seeing local wildlife as well as offering up some decent bike trails and hiking paths for you and your pet to stretch your legs; and(4) When you grow tired of trying to conjure up that next meal from the remains of what is in your onboard mini-fridge or you simply want to try out some local fare, then you’re in great luck as nearby there’s Isaac’s Craft Kitchen& Brewery, Tatiana’s for excellent Ukrainian(take that Putin!), Sunlight Diner and Moe’s Bar& Grill, The Cracked Pot Coffee Shop, Hoss’s Steak& Sea House… suffice it to say, while you might be tempted to eat that roadkill-esque platter at the Low Country joint you find yourself parked at, do yourself a favor and RESIST!
While scoring criteria may vary from one person to the next, here are the 5 most important criteria that informed my rating of this overnight location: convenience(EZ on- and off-access), safety& security, quality(of facilities), peace& quiet and amenities(either on-site or nearby). Here’s how I ranked this particular overnight spot:
Convenience: 5
Safety & Security: 5
Quality: 5
Peace & Quiet: 2
Amenities: 3
Overall, I scored this location a 4
Happy Overnighting!
