SISTERS VACATION TO LANCASTER COUNTY DAY ONE

 

Hello, friends!  Hope you are having a great weekend.  It is hot here.  But I guess it is hot everywhere these days.

For those of you who have been with me awhile, you might remember when I had a week away with my sister every year.  But these days we settle for a couple of days.  And our two days away were this past Tuesday and Wednesday.  We had such a good time.

I met Elaine on Tuesday morning in the Wawa parking lot near my house.  All the streets are torn up and there was no way I could explain to her how to do the detour.  So, I led her to my house.  I was all packed and ready to go.  It didn't take long to get us on the road.

I always love seeing how I-76 is cut right through a mountain.  You can see it in these rock formations.

We were hungry when we got out to the Lancaster area and stopped into Dienner's for lunch.  Dienner's is one of our favorite places to eat.  We like going on Tuesdays because the special that day is ham loaf.  So very good!  We both ordered it.  Elaine had sweet potato fries and cole slaw with hers.  I had broccoli and bread stuffing with mine.  I only got the stuffing because Amish bread stuffing is the best!

It was too early to check into the hotel, so we took a ride down to see Hershey Farm.  There was a huge fire there about six months ago.  They had to tear down the restaurant and gift shops.  They are rebuilding, but it isn't supposed to be reopened until the end of 2024.  It was so strange to see the hotel part standing by itself with part of the parking lot and the other buildings gone.

We left there and went to Elaine's favorite store, Antique Village.  She looked around while I sat in the car.  I kept looking at this one metal rooster garden stake.  When Elaine came back, I asked her how much it was.  It was only $14, so I bought it.  I am not a big fan of antiques unless it is something that came down through my family.  But this just spoke to me.  I didn't take a picture of it, but I am putting it in my yard very soon and will show it to you.

We headed to Rockvale Mall then.  There were only a couple of places we wanted to look at.  We started with Christmas Tree Hill.  I usually want to buy everything in that store, but this time nothing really spoke to me.  Very strange.  But then I don't need more things in this house.

We were heading over to Reading China and Glass when Elaine pointed out the sky.  It was quickly turning black.  We knew we were in for a big storm, so decided to head for the hotel which was only a block away.  We just got there, checked in, and the heavens opened.  We couldn't even get our luggage out of the car.  It was like a monsoon.  So we headed to our room to use the bathroom, etc.  In just a few minutes, the sun was out and Elaine went to get our bags.

It was still early so we decided since the storm was over to go back to the outlets and go through one of our favorite stores, Reading China and Glass.  My legs were hurting big time and I knew I couldn't walk through that huge store, but I also knew that a lot of good things are kept iup front right near the doors.  And I would have a cart to lean on to help me get through.

I was right.  The store had been rearranged.  When we were checking out the cashier told us it had been changed during covid when everything was shut down.  They had been wanting to do it for awhile, but this was the perfect time when the store was already closed.  Instead of a large part of the store taken up with cash registers, they are now in a row across the front of the store.  And there is a lot more food toward the front.  There were also all kinds of little gadgets, utensils, etc.  I got a little whisk that Joe was looking for to make scrambled eggs.  He was happy when he saw that.  I also got a Scrub Daddy and a Scrub Mommy, some popcorn jellybeans, and some Joe's Tea iced tea.  Sweet for me, unsweetened for Joe.  We also got bottles of water.  So much cheaper than in the hotel's vending machines.

We weren't really hungry, but needed to eat something.  It was around dinner time.  Many years ago we had tried the Waffle House for breakfast and didn't like it.  But we decided to give it one more try.  Elaine got a grilled cheese sandwich and hash browns.  It was awful.  I got an angus hamburger and hash browns.  It was super greasy.  The grease poured off of it onto the plate.  I will say mine was better than Elaine's which wasn't even cooked all the way.  The cheese wasn't even melted.  So two fails and Waffle House is off of our list of ever eating there again.

We went back to the hotel, turned on a movie to watch, and I went right to sleep.  I am not used to being up all day.  Alright, I admit to taking a nap every day.  I'm getting old.  I was tired!

That's the end of the first day.  I did get up around midnight, got into my pjs and brush my teeth, but that was about all once we got back to the room.  I tried to stay up and talk.  I really did.  *sigh*

I'll be back later with Day Two.

Have a great day.

Kathy

HELLO

 Hello, friends.  Welcome to a hot and sticky Wednesday.  Like most of the country it is HOT.  I enjoy the summer, but I'm not enjoying how hot it is.  I have so much yard work to do, but it is too hot to go outside and work.  I almost run from my car into the air conditioned house.

Joe got sick on Saturday, so we did not go down the shore.  He was feeling nauseous and had a headache.  On Sunday, I had it.  We both got over it in a day, so I guess it was a bug we happened to share.  We lost our deposit of $300 for the hotel room which really hurts, but we couldn't go down there sick.  So that's life.

What has been going on with all of you?  I took Jack to the vet on Monday.  We are going to a new veterinarian who is good and much cheaper than the one we had been going to.  Besides being much closer.  We went from a 30-45 minute ride to a 5 minute ride.  He is about 2 blocks from our house.  Jack has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism.  We give him medicine twice a day.  The good thing is he loves the pill pockets we put the pill into and begs for it.  No problem getting the medicine into him.

Yesterday was Bible Study.  We are still in the Sermon on the Mount, but up to Matthew 7 now.

Today is a down day.  Thank goodness.  Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment in the morning.  Friday I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and Joe has a doctor's appointment in the afternoon.  I am going to need the weekend off to catch up.

So that's what's happening with me.  Next week I will be with my sister and I hope to tell you all about it.

Talk to you all later.

Kathy

DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THE SECOND TRIP TO WILDWOOD?

 

Hello, friends!  We are heading out to Wildwood again today and I realized that I am so far behind that I haven't even told you about the last time we were there.

Cape Community Church in Cape May Courthouse, NJ was being chartered on Father's Day.  Neither of us had ever seen a church chartering before and thought it would be a good chance to do so.  It is rare to see a chartering and most people in my denomination have never been to one.  A chartering is when a mission church signs the paperwork, establishes a membership and elects a board of elders.  They then become a fully established church.

This all took place on Father's Day.  Our pastor was away and we had a friend of ours, Pastor Dennis, as our guest speaker.  His wife Sue and I are great friends.  It was so good to be there with them and to hear him speak.  What a great speaker he is.

We came home from church, got something to eat, grabbed our luggage, and headed off to New Jersey to make it to the service on time.  It began at 3:00 p.m. so we had to go right there.

It was a beautiful drive.  We stopped at the rest stop because driving through is just too much for me anymore.  In fact, I drove the beginning to the rest stop which is about halfway there, and Joe drove the rest of the way so I was able to take some videos.  I just put the video up on YouTube today.  Here is a link to it.

The service was great.  I saw a lot of my friends there that I didn't expect to see.  I got to talk to my friend Donna A. for awhile.  (I know so many Donnas.  At least 5, although I think there might be a sixth one hidden somewhere.)  I hadn't seen Donna in months and here I found out that she and her husband, Dr. Dave, had been in Israel for three months leading a tour group.  They lived in Israel for several years, so they know their way around.  Because Donna is small (shorter than me and I'm a shortie) and blonde, she is a rarity there.  One time a Bedouin offered Dr. Dave a camel for her so he could have her as his wife!  Dr. Dave politely turned him down.  We still laugh over that story.

After the service they put out a big spread of food.  Lots of fruits and vegetable which I was glad of.  And two beautiful cakes, one chocolate and one yellow.  They were so good.  And that turned out to be our dinner.

We checked into the hotel.  It was the same one we had stayed at for Joe's birthday.  But last time I had gotten a deluxe suite and this time a regular suite.  We were very disappointed.  It was run down and although immaculate and smelling of disinfectant and detergent, the furniture was falling apart and the bathroom was so tiny that you couldn't be on the toilet and shut the door at the same time.  To top it off, we had water dripping from the ceiling into the bathtub.  We called the front desk and they sent up maintenance.  Apparently, the water was coming from the room above us.  Well, needless to say we won't be going back there.  Although all the people who worked there were very, very nice.

We went to our old standby, Uncle Bill's Pancake House for breakfast.  Everyone I know that goes to Wildwood eats there.

Then we headed home.  We stopped at the rest stop again for a potty break (and a break in general).  They had a farmer's market there.  Lots of flowers, vegetable and herb plants and fresh fruit and veggies.  My legs were hurting so badly that all I wanted to do was sit down, so I took a few videos for my YouTube channel and didn't buy anything.  I could have kicked myself later.  When I go again if they are there I am going to buy something.  Like fresh Jersey tomatoes which are the best tomatoes in the country.

It was a great weekend and I can't wait to go back.  I have to run now so I will see you all later.  Have a wonderful day.

Kathy