Spring Break

We had an extra-long spring break this year (a full week, plus the next Monday), so it seemed too long to just stay home. Since a big tropical vacation wasn't in the budget, I planned a close overnight trip to Lancaster County, PA.

We left Monday morning and drove north until Gettysburg. Then we took 30 East across PA until we reached the tiny village of Ronks. Our first stop was the Amish Village. We took a 45 minute tour and learned about the Amish lifestyle--how they cook, what they wear, how long and how often they go to church. Mikelle pointed out that their religious beliefs are similar to ours in some ways--Be in the world, but not of the world--we just don't live it to such an extreme degree. The kids loved climbing in the Amish buggies at the farm and taking photos. We also loved the Amish schoolhouse--a one-room school house for all ages. The desks started very small in front and then got bigger and bigger as you moved back. It was a beautiful sunny day and fun to walk around and see the animals.

Next, we drove to neighboring Intercourse, PA--I know, I know--Dan had a great time making wise cracks. It is a small Amish town with quaint little shops, so we just walked around and window shopped. Our noses lead us to some amazing kettle corn--hot, fresh and so yummy. I made sure I bought enough to last the whole trip!

The kids were anxious to get to the hotel and swim. We checked into the Doubletree hotel around 4:00 PM. The swimming pool was a whole water playground and the both the big kids and the little kids loved splashing around.

We started the next day with a nutritious breakfast at McDonalds! Ethan and Sydney were so excited to find out that McDonalds serves pancakes. Of course, Syd managed to spill syrup all over her pants and jacket--oh well!

We drove a short distance to Strasburg and visited the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. Open since 1974, the museum is a huge warehouse of actual trains, engines, and locomotives that traveled the rails in the past century. Many of the cars were restored to see what it would be like to travel in the dining car or in the sleeper car. A real engineer was there to show us how to drive the train and what all of the levers and gears were for--don't quiz me on this! We did try our driving skills on the impressive assortment of model trains housed in the education center. Each one had multi-step instructions for hooking up certain cars and switching the rails to arrive at different points. The education center also housed any train "toy" ever made--Thomas, Geo-trax, Lego--they were all there to play with. We practically had the museum to ourselves so the kids were so lucky to get their hands on everything. I say "kids" but I think Dan was the hardest one to convince that it was time to move on!

We walked across the street and purchased our tickets to ride the Strasburg Railroad: a real steam engine locomotive. The ride lasted about 45 minutes through the countryside of Lancaster, County. The train was a bit jerky and bouncy, but that just added to the enjoyment. Train travel seems like such an old-fashioned way to travel, but it's only been in the last 50 years that trains have been mostly replaced with airplanes and cars!

We found a sandwich shop close by that actually served excellent sandwiches and wraps--they even offered gluten-free flat bread for me. Yea! We stuffed ourselves with sandwiches, pickles, carrot sticks, chips, ice cream sundaes and peanut-butter pie before beginning the 3-hour journey home!