HEADING BACK

Joe did not have a good night at the Inn.  He had an allergic reaction to something in the room and his sinuses closed so he couldn't breathe and I doubt he got much sleep at all.  Besides that he had patches of red on his skin.  Poor guy!  So he was miserable, blowing his nose, and very tired the next morning.  He got ready for breakfast and waited for me outside.  He said he had to get out of the room and I don't blame him.

Breakfast came with the room so we took our vouchers and headed for the restaurant.  We passed by the animals again and I took this cute picture of the chicken sitting on a rock.

The restaurant wasn't open yet by the time we got there.  We waited with a few others to get in and when they opened the doors, we all went in, got seated and went up to the buffet.

Elaine got creamed chipped beef, a biscuit, scrambled eggs and SCRAPPLE!

Joe got French toast, ham and SCRAPPLE!  I know being a Philadelphian I should like it but I just don't.  The two of them and their scrapple!

I got a dish of fresh fruit -- cantaloupe, peaches and pears.  Then I went back for bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs.  I did have a small portion of home fries.  Like 3 slices of potato.

 Even away I tried my best to eat healthy.  I didn't eat like I would have at home, but it wasn't too bad.  After all, it was vacation.

We walked through the stores after we ate.  Joe bought me this beautiful necklace and earrings.

We also got some fresh produce from the farm.  It was picked the day before.  I put the peaches in this shot, but we got them at Kitchen Kettle later in the day.

The cantaloupe was so sweet.  The beans and tomato are for later this week.  The peaches were wonderful.  They are gone!

The zucchini were 3 for $1.  Who could resist?

We went back to our rooms, got everything packed into the car and went to check out.  There were these lovely planters each side of the front door and I just had to get a shot of them.  I'd love to recreate this for my yard.  It's coleus and sweet potato vine.  The colors look so good together.

 A few last pictures of Famous Amos and the lake before we left.

We headed back to Rockvale Mall to go to Christmas Tree Hill.  We didn't have time to go there the day before.  All three of us love that store.  How cool to be able to have Christmas all year round.  Joe got some advent candles for church and for us.  Elaine found a Moravian Star to replace the one she has that broke.  Here's what I got:

Shiny Brite old fashioned ornaments, icicles, bayberry tapers, a reindeer ornament and some pretty napkins to use for our ladies Bible study.

Joe and I both had these kind of ornaments on our Christmas tree growing up.  We didn't even know the Shiny Brite Company still existed.  I had to get them.  It brought back memories for both of us.  I know I have a few of the old ones left, but most have been broken over the years.

 We left Rockvale and headed for Tanger Outlets and the Fossil store.  Joe has a Fossil watch which is still under warranty and needed to be repaired.  

Finally we headed over to Kitchen Kettle. Joe took a picture of Elaine and me when we got there.  You may have noticed that little sweater I was wearing has come off.  It was HOT!

 Elaine and I go every year on her birthday and get one ornament in the Christmas store.  It has to be just right and we spend quite a while looking at everything in the store to make sure we are choosing the right one.  Here is the one I chose this year.

It's a little crystal angel that lights up.

Here's a closer view.  She's blowing a trumpet.

The banjo players were sitting out playing away.  I love hearing them.  They remind me of the Philadelphia Mummers.

Then we went to the Bake, Jam and Jelly shop.  Another one of my favorite stores.  I got a lot there, but not as much as I usually do.

Sunburst popcorn, cinnamon raisin bread, spinach noodles, coffee, K-cups, tortilla chips and mango salsa.

 It was starting to get late so we decided to head home.  But we wanted to eat first.  After going through a list of places, we decided to head for Shady Maple.  I had been there once and wasn't impressed, but it was on the way home and I was willing to give it a second chance.  It is the biggest smorgasbord around.  It's HUGE!  It also has a huge shopping area with a farmer's market, food, furniture and craft stores.  We did not go to the stores.  We were shopped out.

There was a long line and we had to wait awhile to get seated.  The main section was full so we were seated in one of the side rooms.  We had to remember the name of our room because all the side rooms looked alike.

Joe liked it, but Elaine and I were not impressed.  The only good thing was that it was on the way home.

There were these marvelous hand carved scenes in the lobby by Abner K. Zook.  There were signs telling about them but I didn't read it.  I went on Google to see what I could find.  They were just fantastic. According to the little I can find out about him he was born Old Order Amish in 1921 but became Mennonite after he married.  He started doing these paintings in 1959.  He paints the background and then carves the figures and attaches them to the scene with glue and wires so that they come out from the scene and it becomes 3-D.  He died in 2010.

And then there was Joe waiting patiently for us to come out of the ladies' room.

We left and I took a few pictures of the outside plantings.  It was just beautiful.

Since I wasn't sure where I was, I set the GPS to get home.  It took me on the Pennsylvania Turnpike which ended up saving us a lot of time.  From that we went on the Schyulkill Expressway and headed for the Vine Street Extension.  As we were driving along we saw the Zoo Balloon.  I asked Elaine to grab my camera and take a picture of it.

We got home around 4 p.m. and then Elaine had to leave to go home.  Too short of a vacation, but we all had fun.

It's back to real life now.  I have to get my eating habits back where they were.  I'm totally messed up.  And get back on my house cleaning schedule.  And my church schedule.  And my blogging schedule.  And dream about my next vacation coming up in September.

Kathy