SISTERS GET-AWAY TO LANCASTER COUNTY -- DAY TWO

 Hello, friends.  Hope you had a great Monday.  I thought I would tell you about our second day in Lancaster today.

We got up and got ready for the day.  It was Elaine's birthday so she got to open her gifts.  It is a custom with us to open our gifts first thing in the morning before breakfast.  I had brought the gifts from Joe and me.

We weren't sure if the hotel was going to provide the free breakfast they are famous for, but were pleasantly surprised to find there was something.  It wasn't the hot scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns of the past, but there was plenty there.  Doughnuts, bagels, English muffins, hard boiled eggs, coffee, tea, juice and water.  We did not go hungry and everything was good.

We went back to the room, got packed up and ready to leave.  I took a picture of the view outside of our room.  I think this patio was off of the pool area.

When we got into the car to leave, we were sitting in front of a cornfield.  We're not in Philly anymore.

We had so much planned for our two days so we tried to pack everything into one.  The first place we went to was Rockvale Mall.  It has lots of discount and specialty shops in it.  Unfortunately a lot of the stores have closed.  My friends had told me it was because they had to close during Covid and couldn't make it to reopen.

We started out at Christmas Tree Hill.

I went in to get a couple of battery operated candles.  I ended up getting a lot of other things.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them.  But I got a little gnome riding a turtle, a jingle bell hanger for the front door for Christmas, some coasters (a red truck for Christmas and snowmen for January) and a couple of Christmas gifts.  I do have a picture of one of the candles in my front window.  It looks so nice.

Then we went to Reading China and Glass.

I cannot go in that store and not spend money.  Joe had just bought me a new non-stick frying pan and I wanted to get some nylon utensils.  I found two spatulas (large and small) and a spoon shaped one.  My sister found a mayo knife.  It is shaped like the inside of the jar and will get every last bit out.  I got one too.  I also got a chopper.  I've been wanting one for a long time.

We left Rockvale and went up the road to Hershey Farm.  I got honey wheat bread, two apple turnovers, a pumpkin whoopie pie for my friend Donna, a new book from Wanda Brunstetter and a pretty blue t-shirt that says Life is Simple ... Lancaster County, PA.

Of course if you are at Hershey Farm you have to take a picture of Famous Amos.

When we left Hershey Farm we turned the opposite direction and went to the antique store that Elaine likes.  I stayed in the car and made some phone calls while she investigated.

We were moving right along here.  We headed for the Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market.  I knew I wanted to get some fresh veggies.  But I also got some lunchmeat because I knew we were out, and two beautiful pork chops.  We already ate them and they were wonderful.  In produce I got two ears of white corn that had been picked the day before, two beautiful big tomatoes, a green and a yellow zucchini and a nice head of cauliflower.

We headed over to the Bird-in-Hand Restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner.  That was where Elaine wanted to go for her birthday.  We both got the smorgasbord.  We were so full that neither of us ate later that day.  Elaine ended her meal with a piece of cake for her birthday.

We looked around the store attached to the restaurant a little bit after we were finished and Elaine bought a couple of things.  Then we got ready to go home.

We were going to go down to Intercourse to Kitchen Kettle but it was after 2:00 p.m. and we wanted to miss rush hour on I-95.  So we left for home.  We did pretty good, though, because that was the only thing we didn't do.

I took a few pictures of the landscape as we left.  Here is a family in a buggy.

And Elaine said to take this one.  One buggy is coming and one is going.

I took these only because you couldn't see the faces of the people.  I would never take a picture when I know they don't want me to.

Here's some more landscape.  It's such a pretty part of the state.

We had a pretty easy ride home.  We knew we were back when we saw the Philadelphia Art Museum and the city skyline.

I-676 and I-95 were packed and it was slow going but that was OK.  Most of the way was pretty good.  Here is some of the traffic on I-95 and the commuter train (the elevated train).  I remember when this station was built.  It was controversial putting it in the middle of a highway, but it has turned out great.

And that ends our get-away for this year.  Thanks for coming along.  Hope to see you back here soon.

Until later,

Kathy