Our Blessed Family: Trip to Lancaster/Harrisburg

Last week on Wednesday, Steve, Emma, Stephen, Ruby & I headed out to Lancaster and Harrisburg for a mini trip to attend the CHAP (Christian Homeschool Association of PA) Homeschool Fair. Something we figure we have been doing for about 14 yrs. now (except for last yr. as Kara & Derrick were having a reception after their wedding up in Milan, PA). We decided to go a few days early so we could go to eat at Shady Maple Smorgasboard! no I'm not kidding, we did go just to eat there! if you've ever been there you know why and if you haven't well you really need to go there yourself and then you'll know why. We stayed at this Farm Bed & Breakfast which was literally over the hill from Shady Maple, this way we could actually go there twice on our trip!! lol! We knew we had been there long enough when we arrived for lunch the second day and the cashier looked at us and said, "Weren't you here yesterday?". Now that was quite a feat seeing that they seat thousands of people every day. Look it up on line and you'll see how humongous this place is! Well worth the trip, in fact the lady who has cut our hair will make the 4 hr. drive in a day to go there to eat, well you get the point!

So after pigging out as much as possible, we headed over for an enjoyable evening to explore the farm. This is more of an agricultural farm with a minature horse, donkeys, cow, fish, a big dog, chickens, and some cats that were not to be found. (Emma was looking for the cats). We enjoyed the beautiful weather and sitting outside till evening when we headed into sleep. We got up in the morning and did some local shopping at the Re-Uzit Store, 2 giant floors of stuff! while the guys went to the Sporting Goods Shop. This is all in the little town of New Holland, we've made some big purchases in this little town, including our big van, which we bought years ago out there at 4-Way Auto Sales. Then we at a huge lunch and made a stop over in Lancaster at a few of our favorite shops. Kitchen Kettle Village was one of those stops where we went to buy snickerdoodles (do you think we like to eat??) and the leather store where Steve bought his new cowboy hat you see below. He always wears one when he's volunteering at the fair. Then we drove on to our hotel.

We rarely stay at the same hotel in Harrisburg, but this time I believe we will be repeating our stay at the Country Inn & Suites. It was a lovely hotel that served, you guessed it!, choc. chip cookies in the lobby! and a full hot breakfast in the a.m. They had a nice pool and fitness room (which I did check out & use, seeing as how we were eating so much!!). The price was super reasonable for all that was included. Steve says we will be staying here again unless the rates jump tremendously We headed to bed early as we had to be up at 6a.m. so we could be at the Farm Show Complex by 7:30 a.m.

We had a wonderful day, looking at books upon books! seeing Doug Phillips, Ken Ham, and some other wonderful folks. Then we headed back to the hotel and ordered pizza with our friends the Emslie's. Now that meant that there were 11 of us eating together in the lobby! We asked if we could go to a conf. room or the breakfast area and they said no they were closed but we were welcome to eat there. So we sprawled out our giant pizzas and took over the couches and ate. Then it was more swimming and to bed early to get up and repeat the day. We stayed till the traditional American Girl Doll drawing was over at 1:00 and then decided we could go ahead and start home rather than stay till the fair ended at 5:00.

It was a wonderful trip and went way to fast as do most trips. I'm enjoying looking through my purchases today.