SECOND DAY IN LANCASTER COUNTY

 

I woke up today and it was cold!  According to my computer it is 63*F (17*C).  Probably not that cold, but when you've been living in the 80*F (27*C) weather, it is.  And I know my Canadian readers are probably laughing at me right now for being such a wimp.

I want to continue with my visit to beautiful Lancaster County.  This was a fun day!

I woke up around 6 a.m.  (my usual time to wake up).  But since I had fallen asleep around 9 p.m. the night before I had gotten a good night's sleep.  It was dark in the room so I peaked out the window.  Wow!  The sun hadn't come up yet!

We had left a low light on in the sitting area just because we were not familiar with the room and didn't want to trip if we got up in the middle of the night.  So I took my library book, curled up on the sofa and had a good time of reading with no interruptions.  What a pleasure.  Around 7:30 a.m. I looked out the window again.  Oh, there's the daylight.
 

We were staying at La Quinta.  You can see the Days Inn across the street.  There was also another two smaller hotels next to where we were.  You can sure tell this is a tourist area.
 

I have stayed many places in Lancaster County since I've been going out there the last 35 years or so.  Some were better than others.  Most were wonderful.  Joe and I even spent our honeymoon in Lancaster County.  But I must say La Quinta has become one of my favorite places.  Everything is so clean.  The staff is so friendly and helpful.  The only complaint I have is the noise in the morning from the other rooms, but you will find that anywhere.

There was a coffeemaker in the bathroom and Joe had a morning cup of coffee without leaving the room.  He said it was really good.
 

But no wonder it was good.  It was Wolfgang Puck coffee!
 

After a very luxurious and wonderful shower (some hotels are mediocre but this was nice!), we went to the lobby with some of our luggage to put in the car since we were checking out that morning.  We were talking with this really nice and friendly clerk at the desk and I told her I had a blog and asked if I could take pictures of the lobby because it was so beautiful.  She said sure and I told her I would tell you all where this was.  Free advertising for them.  Joe took a seat while I snapped away.  Isn't this centerpiece on the table pretty?  In back of Joe you can see the little breakfast area they have.  It smells wonderful and next time we will take advantage of their free breakfast.
 

When I first went in the hotel I said to myself, "They have a Christmas tree up already?" but then I saw it is a harvest tree.  It was just beautiful.
 

Look at the cute scarecrows across the top of the screen.
 

Beautiful sunflowers next to the tree.
 

I sat down next to Joe and he told me to look up.  Why?  Then he showed me the balcony.  So pretty!
 

The front desk.
 

Look at the pretty pillows on the chairs.  This place thought of everything.
 

This was one of several flower arrangements outside of the front door on the patio area.  So pretty.  Maybe I can do something like that in the back yard since it is now cleaned up.
 

The reason Joe and I did not eat breakfast at the hotel was we were going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  We went for a very special reason.  I was meeting Doris, one of my blog friends, for the very first time.  She is the first blog friend I have ever met and I was so excited!  Here we are sitting outside waiting for Doris and her grandson, Noah, to show up.
 

If you haven't met Doris yet, you really should.  She does a blog called Fun Times.  She and her wonderful family really do have fun times!  I will give you a link to it right HERE

Doris recognized Joe and me right away and came over to us.  She is so sweet and I felt as if I had known her for years.  We spent about two hours together and I wish it had been a lot longer.  But we are going to call each other and keep in touch.  And visit each other, of course.  Here' a picture of Doris and cute little Noah.  What a doll he is!
 

And here we are together.
 

You will notice Noah holding a little airplane.  Joe and I wanted to get him a little something and Joe gave him the choice of anything in the store.  That's what he picked.  It's actually a fan and the propeller spins when you hold in a button.  Doris says he's still playing with it.

After we left Cracker Barrel we went to Lenox.  I had a 50% off one item coupon and everything in the store was 25% off.  Even so there were a lot of things I would have liked but were too expensive.  Let me show you some of the cute things in the store.

When we first went in there was a cute display of pigs.  Christmas pigs.
 

The clearance corner is my favorite part.  I have gotten some really cute stuff there.

These bunnies are adorable!
 

I loved these dishes.
 

 

Birthstone angels.

I love these Christmas dishes.  I have been looking at them for years and have never been able to afford them.  And even on clearance they are still too expensive for me.
 

There was a silver teapot and sugar bowl.  They were so shiny I thought they must be just plated or not even real silver.  But I picked up the pot and it was heavy.  It was real.  Beautiful, but can you imagine how much polishing this would take.
 

Santa mugs!
 

This was really nice.  I have a similar one that I bought here a couple of years ago.

 

I love, love, love this vase.  But $74 is a lot of money for something I don't need.

This piece of driftwood was pretty too.  This and the vase were part of a collection called "Beach Scene".

Joe wanted to stop at a place called Direct Tools.  I went next door to The Loft outlet.  Even marked down their prices were high.  And a lot of their clothes were too small for me.  But I did find a couple of really cute tops $30 each but they were buy one get one.  $15 is OK for a top.  And I found a green cardigan for $14.  Not bad.  But the staff was really rude so I don't think I'll be going back there.

We had to use the restrooms, so we went to the other end of the outlets.  Then we were near one of my favorite spots, Christmas Tree Hill.  We stopped in there for just a few minutes since it was getting late and we wanted to be on our way home.  We got a couple of ornaments, but that's all.

We stopped to get gas and then Joe said he was hungry and wanted to get something to eat before we went home.  He wanted to go to Katie's Kitchen, one of our favorite places to eat.  But when I went out there was an island in the middle of the road and I couldn't make a left to go back there.  So we started on our way home.  But we were still hungry so I pulled into the parking lot of another diner.  I looked for a parking place, but it was full.  So I turned around and we headed back to Ronks (7 miles back) and Katie's Kitchen.
 

It was a good move.  Joe had buttered noodles with shredded roast beef and diced tomatoes on top.  I had grilled chicken breast over stuffing with mashed potatoes and applesauce.  To begin with they gave us homemade rolls with their own peanut butter spread (or schmeer).  It was so wonderful.  I just rolled my eyes in delight when I tried it.  We liked it so much we bought some to bring home with us.  Joe also bought two apple dumplings that we will have for dessert on Sunday.

Finally we headed home.  And it was a long, long drive because we got stuck in rush hour and accidents.  Our 1 1/2 hour trip took us almost 3 hours.  *sigh*  But at least we weren't hungry.  😊

It was a great little trip and I'm already looking forward to going back for Thanksgiving.  Hope you enjoyed going along with me.

Kathy