I'd been really looking forward to visiting Lancaster County to capture a peek into the Amish lifestyle. I learned that it isn't pronounced as Lancaster, CA but instead the accent is on the first syllable; LAN caster. Hard to get used to saying it that way after so long.
Our home for the the six nights was the Ephrata Elks Lodge. A quiet and very wooded site, with only one other camper there, also Californians. There are three water and electric sites and it made a great central location for us. We had moved early so we had a full day to see some of the area and decided to drive to the little town of Intercourse for lunch. Right across the street from the restaurant was this beautiful horse and buggy, one of many we'd see over the next few days. The area has become so commercialized we were both disappointed to see what has happened. It was a Friday and the town and streets were crowded. I can't imagine what it must be like in the summer! We drove on to see the nearby village of Bird-In-Hand with the Farmers Market and Amish quilt store. Such unique names.
Then we wanted to just drive around and see the beautiful countryside, get out of the traffic and do the back roads. So much better! The Amish farms are much larger than I expected but you can still see the hand held tools and the carriages in the yard and often the long laundry line blowing.
It was a plowing day for this farmer and his herd of horses.
Little farm stands usually offer fruits and vegetables for sale. But this one had beautiful floral bouquets most made with pumpkins as the containers, and the most expensive one was only $10. If I lived here, I'd be stopping by every week.
Saturday was cool and cloudy and a good day to visit the city of Lancaster. Nearby is Wheatland, the home of our 15th US President, James Buchanan. The only president to never marry, Buchanan purchased the home and 22 acres in 1848. We toured the home learning all about his presidency and his life there.
Our guide was dressed in period clothing and showed us through the 17 rooms of the house. Very few changes have been made since President Buchanan lived there; his furniture, Presidential dinnerware, library and even the original tin bathtub still remain.
We had a quick lunch and then went into town to visit the Central Market and join a walking history tour of Lancaster. The Market is the oldest continuously operating farmer's market in the country all inside a beautiful 120 year old red brick building.
It was almost closing time when we got there, hours are 6-2 on Saturdays, but we had just enough time to try a pastry and pick up some veggies. Lively, lots of people and so many different booths offering every kind of food and even souvenirs.
Our tour took us all over town hearing interesting tidbits of history. The weather had turned chilly that day so we were eager to get back to the car and head back to dinner and a drink at the Elks that night.
Sunday we decided it was time to drive west to Chocolate Town, USA, aka Hershey, Pennsylvania.
What an experience, couldn't believe the huge numbers of people!!! We had lunch first outside at the Hershey Hotel, that was wonderful. Then to the factory to see how the chocolates and candies are made. Absolutely crazy with people crowding everywhere. The automated factory tour was the only free activity offered.
It was like going on a Disneyland ride as we moved along in a chocolate chip bowl-car hearing all about the process. Paul enjoyed a fantastic chocolate milkshake, we looked at the oodles of candies and things for sale and then got out of there. Not sure I'd recommend Hershey's Chocolate World as a must do, I guess it's just such an iconic part of Americana.
We did find an unexpected piece of history on our way back. I love following what we call "Brown Signs" those historical markers along the road ways. We were taking a back road home and decided to check out the sign and visit the Cornwall Iron Furnace. It shows America's most complete charcoal fueled iron-making complex which operated from 1742- 1883. It was late in the afternoon and we were the only ones there, this happens often, so we had a fascinating one hour private tour.
It's been beautifully restored and is the only surviving intact charcoal blast furnace in the Western Hemisphere. Around it developed a village with company housing for the furnace workers and miners, still being used today. In addition there were shops, stores, schools and the home of the wealthy iron master/owner. That home has since become a retirement home. It turned out to be such an interesting stop before our drive back to Ephrata.
Monday we needed to do something other than tours and history so I found a great bike path that took us from the little village of Warwick to Lititz. Beautiful, so well maintained and peaceful. Perfect!
After our ride we packed the bikes back on the car and drove over to visit the Sturgis Pretzel House and factory in Lititz, PA. So much fun and such fantastic warm pretzels.
This is still an operating pretzel factory but on a much smaller scale, and during the tour we learned how to roll and twist a pretzel of our own. That was too fun! As with so many things and places here in the East, the factory is the oldest commercial pretzel bakery in the US. Built in 1861 by Julius Sturgis and there's quite a story as to how the recipe came to be.
My own hand-twisted pretzel!
Using only a narrow dowel to roll the bread into the rope it's then to twisted into a pretzel
and dropped into a fryer. Great fun!
The little town of Lititz is also known for the fabulous Wilbur Chocolates so that was next. Its a small operation (nothing at all like the Hershey extravaganza) with a self guided history tour and a chance to watch candy-makers hand dipping chocolates. There is also a little video about chocolates and lots of supplies and molds used besides all the wonderful candies for sale.
They are known for their Chocolate Buds, absolutely wonderful melt-in-your-mouth chocolates. Sure wish we'd bought more.
Earlier in the week we had stopped at a small SAAB mechanic's shop to ask about fixing the mechanism on the convertible top so we could enjoy it now that the weather was so mild. We decided to go ahead and get it done since we'd be in the area for a couple of days, all we needed was a rental car to get us around. We picked one up at Enterprise and then took the car to the shop. Interestingly, the mechanic works late hours, he comes in at noon and works till 10 at night. That's a first. It took two days but so nice to have it working again and fixed at a really reasonable price. The evening we picked it up, Paul was in talking to the mechanics and I stayed out in the car. The streets and nearby houses were dark and every so often I could hear the clip-clop of horses' hooves, and sure enough, there would be a horse and buggy coming down the road with only a small light or flasher. But the craziest thing was the way cars zipped around them, hardly slowing down at all! The horses never flinched, just kept trotting along and they'd disappear into the darkness. What a strange experience to look at life a hundred years ago against the present time.
With Pennsylvania's capitol in Harrisburg only an hour away we decided to spend a day there visiting the town and the buildings. But first Paul wanted to have the RV brakes and transmission checked out so we were up early on Monday. Guess that's just part of our life...motor repairs! We drove it north to a transmission shop, left it all day, found someone to groom Foster and keep him all day for us and then we were off! The bummer was, when we returned that evening to get it, they hadn't done a darn thing. They said it just wasn't their "thing" to work on RVs, though they never told us that earlier.
But our day in Harrisburg was terrific! Another beautiful capitol with stunning interiors and art on all the walls and dome.
Press conferences were going on at the staircase with lights and cameras so we took the elevator to the second floor joining a tour with about 40 other nurses visiting that day.
Since it was a weekday the chambers were in session and we had a chance to sit in the gallery and observe for a bit. Always interesting.
We had a fantastic lunch across the river at Rockbass Grill. Then back to the city side for a walk across the Susquehana River on the pedestrian only bridge, Walnut Street Bridge. It's one of 9 bridges crossing the river and takes you to City Island, home of the Harrisburg Senators Baseball team. What a history that bridge has! From its original construction in 1889 to today's walking bridge it has been damaged hurricanes, floods, blizzards, more floods and still gets rebuilt again and again. It is one of the longest and most popular bridges in the country and fun to see politicians in suits walking across on that beautiful afternoon.
A family weekend was awaiting us in Baltimore, MD so we were moving south the next morning.
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