MINI VACATION DAY TWO

Joe and I are still away and having a wonderful time.  I have tons of pictures to share with you today, so be prepared.

First of all, I want to highly recommend the LaQuinta in Ronks.  If you are ever in Lancaster County, it is the place to stay.  It is clean, convenient, and the people who work here are the friendliest, nicest people around. 

We began by having breakfast at the hotel.  They have a very good free breakfast.  Joe had oatmeal with raisins, a fried egg and fried potatoes.  He also had a large glass of orange juice and a banana.

I had scrambled eggs, fried potatoes and peaches.  I also had citrus water from the container they keep in the lobby.  It has lemons and limes sliced in it.

Our friend Jessie works in the breakfast room and it was fun seeing her again and getting to talk to her.

Every year the hotel has a different theme for its Christmas decorations.  This year the theme is Gingerbread.  It is fun going around the hotel and trying to find all the gingerbread decorations.  Here are some of the decorations and gingerbread I found.

This was on the wall in the dining room.  I don't know why the pictures turned out with this yellowish shade.  I think it was the lights.

This was on the front desk.

So was this.

One of the tables in the lobby.

The table in the center of the lobby had this cool train.

See the little gingerbread boy peeking out from the caboose?

The balcony has a little gingerbread village on it.

So many beautiful trees.

Another section of the front desk.

Another table in the lobby.

Everywhere I looked there was more and more gingerbread.

This wreath was behind the front desk.

There is more gingerbread decorations around and hopefully I will get pictures of them before we leave tomorrow.

After we ate Joe said he wanted to get a haircut.  We asked Brittany behind the front desk where to go.  Yes, we've been going there often enough that we know Brittany too!  She told us of a place just a block away.  We went there and it was a 45 minute wait so Joe put his name in and we left and went to Target.

What a nice Target they have.  We got so many Christmas gifts and a few things for ourselves.  Again, I will show you everything when I get home.

We left there and headed back to the hair cutting place.  The last customer was just leaving, so Joe was able to sit right down.  The cutter did a fantastic job on him.  I told him he should go there whenever we are out here.

Then we still had time so we took a quick trip into Reading China and Glass.  We went in to get a can/bottle opener since we can't find ours and came out with $25 worth of items.  How do we do this?  But more Christmas gifts and some cute decorating items to use for Christmas and January cookies that I will make for Fellowship Time at church.

We came back to the hotel, changed our clothes and headed to Sight and Sound for the show.  Even though we were early, we saw the parking lot was filling up fast.  I was concerned about having to walk a long distance in the parking lot.  Joe had the idea for me to put my handicapped tag in the window as I drove in, so I did.  When the guy showing us where to park saw the tag, he opened up a row for us with other handicapped cars and we were able to park fairly close.  The actual handicapped spots were taken and those people were actually in wheelchairs so of course they should have the closest spots.  But we were only five or six cars back so it helped a LOT.  I was going to take my cane, but didn't feel like having to deal with it, so Joe became my cane.  I just held on to him!

Here are a couple of pictures of Sight and Sound.  It was decorated so beautifully for Christmas.  And that wreath was HUGE!!

We saw the show "Jesus."  I wasn't sure what to expect because I had heard mixed reviews from my friends who had seen it already.  Let me tell you, the show was fantastic!  I have been to many shows at Sight and Sound and this was by far the best I have ever seen. The actors, the scenery, the stage production...  excellent!  Now, of course, there was some poetic license taken to make the story flow, but the main story spoke to me so much.  I found myself so involved in it and I felt God talking to me and teaching me so many lessons.  I told Joe that when the DVD comes out that we have to get a copy of it.

It was dark when we came out.  I asked Joe to get a picture of me in front of one of the lighted Christmas trees, but his hands were shaking too much.  They all turned out blurry.  So I had him stand next to me and I took a selfie.  Rarely do my selfies of the two of us turn out on first try, but this did.

The place was even more beautiful all lit up for night.

By this time it was around 5:30 p.m. and we decided to go get dinner.  My stomach was still acting up through the entire show so I wasn't sure how much I could eat.  We decided to go to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  We are out here and didn't eat Amish food once.  Oh well.  So we headed down the road to Rockvale Mall and drove around until we found the Cracker Barrel store.  It's tucked away and I always have a hard time finding it.  But Joe had an idea of where it was and we didn't get too lost.

It was very crowded but we got seated right away.  Joe got the turkey dinner and I got my favorite pork chop with mashed potatoes, broccoli and two biscuits.  Let me tell you, my diet has gone out the window during this trip.  I will get back on it when I go home.  I have lost 9 pounds so far and I want to keep going.  But a vacation is only a few days and I will be fine.  I like Cracker Barrel and wish there was one near me.  There isn't a single one in Philadelphia.  I have to go to New Jersey or into the suburbs to get to one.

Joe bought me the scarf I'm wearing when we were at Target this morning. I certainly did not bring warm enough clothing for the outdoors.  Indoors is fine.  I layer things.

After we ate we headed back to the hotel which is where we are now.  And tomorrow morning we are heading home.  Just a couple of more things I want to do here before we leave.  But I want to get on the road early to miss rush hour on the expressway.  I have done that before.  Not fun.  A two hour trip turned into almost four.  Nope, I'm heading out early.

This has been so much fun and exactly what I needed.  I have been blessed beyond measure in the past two days and thank God for giving me this chance to rest and recover.

Kathy

The view from our hotel parking lot.