EASTER MONDAY

I took a vacation day on Monday.  Although I have been out of work sick, this is the first vacation day I have taken since I have been back to work following my surgery.

Elaine and I went to Lancaster County for the day.  It was the farthest I've driven the new car.  It handled beautifully.  The day was very warm -- in the 80s -- and I was so glad I had good air conditioning in the car.  It was good to get away even though the day did not go the way we planned.

The first place we stopped was Jakey's Amish Barbecue for lunch.  Joe and I had been there once before and liked it.  But when we went in this time, it was mostly a T-shirt shop with about 4 tables off to the side.  The menu was all changed too and the food was OK but nothing to write home about.

Dutch Haven was next door to them, so we went in and looked around.  I found a few little things there.  I got some sugar-free peach jam for Joe and Elaine got a piece of Shoo-fly pie.

I stopped and got gas because it was $3.82 out there as opposed to $3.89 here.  We were surprised because we always stop at the Wawa on Route 30 and Route 896 and it isn't a Wawa anymore.   Now it is Lancaster Gas and Food.  Wonder when that changed.

We wanted to get take out dinner from Hershey Farm to bring home with us so Joe could have some Lancaster County.  Unfortunately, when we went there, it was closed.  I did take some pictures though.

We ended up at Rockvale Mall which has all the outlets.  The first place we went to was our favorite store Reading China and Glass.  It is a huge store with all kinds of kitchen supplies, dishes, glasses, food, tableclothes, towels, silverware, etc.  You name it, they have it.  Of course I ended up spending $30 there.  

Then we went to Christmas Tree Hill another of our favorites.  We usually find some unique item there, but this time there was nothing.

Next we went to 5 Below which is a dollar store.  I got a couple of things there, but it really didn't appeal to me that much.

We ended up at Lenox.  So many beautiful things, but I am so broke I couldn't afford most of it.  I do have a collection of black cats from them and I ended up buying the third cat in the series.  So pretty.  They remind me of Jenny.

After Lenox we headed home.  But first I took some pictures of the farm across the street from where we were  parked.

The tulips were beautiful.  Hard to believe this is a parking lot.

We watched the cows running and playing.

There were horses too.

We saw a lot of buggies yesterday and lots of Amish people in the stores.  Many more than we usually do.  We were very careful to respect them and not take pictures of them.  After all, besides their religious beliefs about not having their picture taken, I wouldn't want people staring at me and taking my picture.  I really wanted to get a picture of a buggy though.  So when this one went by I waited until it was far enough away so that I couldn't see the people and took the back of it.  It is very picturesque to me.  It reminds me to separate myself from the world and live for the Lord.