SISTERS VACATION TO LANCASTER COUNTY DAY TWO

 

 

Hello, friends!  I'm back to tell you about my second day in Lancaster County last month.  Beware, there are a lot of pictures to show you.  By the way, I put up Day One on my YouTube channel today.  Day Two will go up on Tuesday.  Then the things I bought will be on next Friday.  Hope you go to see them.  In the meantime, let me show you some of the pictures I have.

Our room was at the very end of a long hallway.  Let me tell you, that was agony on my sore knees.  But I made it.  This picture was taken from in front of the elevator.

There were some beautiful bushes right by the front door.  And a little garden which we could see from the window in our room.

The room comes with breakfast.  There is a little eating area on the first floor.  When we got on the elevator to go down, there was another couple there.  They had been on the floor above us.  We said good morning and then got off to go eat.  I grabbed a table (there aren't very many and they were filling up) while Elaine went to get her breakfast.  This couple was looking around for a place to sit, so I invited them to sit with us.  Their names were Sue and Paul.  They were from New Jersey, but Sue was originally from right outside of Philadelphia.  They were so fun and we had a great time talking together.  I love meeting new people.

We went back to the room and got our things together to check out.  It was a short trip, but so relaxing.  We wanted to head to the Bird-in-Hand area, so that's what we did.

The first place we went was to get some money from the ATM on Route 896.  We had a hard time finding it.  It used to be a PNC bank (where I bank), but now it is one I have never heard of.  But I got the money.  I needed cash.  We passed the Sight and Sound Theater while we were looking for it.

Then we headed for Kitchen Kettle.  I took lots of pictures along the way, but because we were moving, lots of them were blurry.  We started with the plant place.  It is all new and the owner was so friendly.  I bought basil and English thyme.  I planted them in the yard the other day.  They were in bad shape.  The basil came back and is doing great, but the thyme didn't make it.  Oh well.  I use more basil than thyme anyway.

I sat down by a fountain and Elaine went to the Jam and Jelly Kitchen.  She got some really yummy things.

When we left Kitchen Kettle, we took a wrong turn and were heading away from the Farmers Market.  Elaine made a turn into a road, and we were in the most beautiful little community.  Most of the houses were Amish, but we did see some with electricity, so they were either Mennonite or English.  I was snapping pictures right and left.  A lot of them did not turn out because we were moving, but many did.  We were finally able to turn around and head back to where we wanted to be.

We finally made it to the Farmers Market.  I got some chocolate covered pretzels, a loaf of raisin bread, a bottle of Shank's vanilla bean extract, some lebanon bologna, 6 ears of white corn and 3 tomatoes.  The produce was so good.

Then we went next door to the Bird-in-Hand Restaurant for Elaine's birthday dinner.  

Bird-in-Hand and Dienner's are our favorite places to eat in Lancaster County.  I had meat loaf, sweet potato fries (which were wonderful!) and corn.  Elaine had the smorgasbord.  I couldn't eat it all and took my fries home to Joe.  He loved them too.  Elaine also got a piece of cake for her birthday.

We discovered about a week after our vacation that we hadn't taken any pictures of ourselves or of each other.  Wow!  This is the only picture I got of Elaine and it was her birthday!

These beautiful geraniums were right outside of the restaurant.  They were so bright!

And then it was time to head home.  I always hate to leave.  Maybe someday I can live out there.  I hope.

Thanks for being so patient waiting for the end of the story.  I hope you enjoyed coming along with me.  And I will see you all soon.

Kathy

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

SISTERS GETAWAY DAY 2

 Hello, friends.  Welcome back to the second (and last) day of our Sisters Getaway.  

I had a really great sleep.  Elaine, not so much.  But we got up and had the free breakfast in the hotel.  Usually it has a wide variety of food to choose from. This time it was very pared down.  But I had a large fruit cup, two hard-boiled eggs and two mini lemon poppyseed muffins.  Elaine had the fruit, an egg and a bagel.  When we were finished, we went back to the room, got ourselves together, packed up and checked out.

We went first to Rockvale Mall but went to only one store -- Christmas Tree Hill.  It's an annual thing for us.  They have wonderful things there and I always want to buy the entire store.  I didn't, of course.  But I did get a couple of cute things.

I got this cute little concrete bird.  Hard to see but it has wire feet.  Adorable.  It was marked down twice so I got it for only $4.

I also got this fall gnome sitting on a snail.  So cute.  Elaine liked it too so I got one for her.  This cost about $9.

My legs were killing me, so I checked out and went to sit on the bench outside.  When Elaine came out she had bought me this pretty Kurt Adler jingle bell ornament that says "Joy".

We wanted to get to the Strasburg Railroad to ride the 11:00 train.  Well, we got there, but missed the train.  The next one wasn't until 12:30 and we didn't want to wait that long.  It would have made us really late going home.  So we drove over to the Railroad Museum, parked, and got some beautiful pictures of the scenery.

I like this picture of Elaine taking pictures but I'm not sure if she will.

We headed to the Farmers Market after this.  It was so nice walking through it and we got a lot of good things.

First I stopped at a stand which sold all kinds of jams, jellies and relishes.  I got Vidalia Onion Relish, Apple Cinnamon Jelly, Mango Salsa, and Pepper Jam.  I like to put Pepper Jam on the skin of my chicken and then cook it.  So good.

I bought some sugar-free fudge for Joe which he said was wonderful.  

I also got some lebanon bologna which I can't get in Philly anymore.  It is a wonderful lunchmeat which I ate all the time when I was a kid.  I also got some honey ham which is also wonderful.  

Then I went to the produce section and got two ears of corn which had been picked that morning.  We have already eaten this and it was so good!  I got a head of broccoli (also wonderful), asparagus, and a cantaloupe.

When we were finished there we headed next door to Bird-in-Hand restaurant.  We both had the smorgasbord.  I found out that my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach.  There are things I don't get very often and I enjoyed it, but boy did my stomach hurt afterwards.  I especially liked the zucchini casserole.  I have to look up the recipe to make it myself.

Then, sadly, it was time to head home.  We left a little early to try to miss rush hour.  And we did miss most of it.  One of the routes we usually use to get home was closed, so I took Elaine the other way and found it was very easy.  And quicker.

So another year of the Sisters Getaway is in the books.  Hopefully when Elaine retires in a couple of years we will be able to do a longer one again.  In the meantime, it was so good to be together and to spend time in Lancaster.

Have a wonderful day, everyone, and I will see you next time.

Kathy