Family, School, Pretzel and Amish

Sunday we drove to Camp Hill to meet up with my cousin Barry, his wife Connie and his mom, my aunt Carolyn for dinner. We went to Baker's Diner in Dillsburg which used to be really good. Well, at lot has changed since the last time I was there. Very disappointing both food and service wise. Dean had to move around the corner of the table because the wait staff kept bumping into his back every time they went by.

We went back to Carolyn's house and visited for a couple of hours, catching up with what was going on in the family - theirs and mine.

I have a Great Uncle that lives just outside Harrisburg who is 95 years young. I decided that we would pay him a short visit since we were in the area. It turned out to be a nice visit and it was the first time that Morgan met him that she could remember. She had met him years ago, but she was just a little one at the time. Uncle Ben had fun telling her about his growing up on a farm and the horses they had and she was enthralled as she loves horses. He gave her a picture of himself on a farm horse from back when he was in his early 20's.

We bid him farewell and took the back roads to Hershey and then to the campground. Morgan got to swim about a half hour before they closed the pool so she was a happy camper.

It was a very nice Sunday and seeing family made it special!

After a lazy beginning this morning (Monday) we drove toward Lancaster, going the back roads instead of the major highways. This took us to Litiz, home of the pretzel, Sturgis pretzel to be exact. We toured what used to be the pretzel factory where everything was done by hand. We even got to try to make a pretzel using what I would call play dough. The three of us did pretty good. It was interesting to see how they used to make pretzels and of course now everything is automated. I think it would be a little more fun to be able to tour a working factory to see them being made now, but, oh well....

Since it was close to lunch time we drove from Litiz to Blue Ball to have lunch at Shady Maple Smorgusboard. If you have ever been there, then you know what I mean when I say WOW! If not, it is a definite put on your list to visit once! Not only do they have the restaurant, but there is a gift shop under the restaurant and just down the road a farmers market and general store. It is a very interesting place to eat and visit. The food is just absolutely fabulous!

We left there heading for Aaron and Jessica's Buggy Rides. What fun that was. We did the long ride which lasted about 90 minutes with two stops. The first was at a small Amish store and the second was at a farm that also had a quilting store. The ride was along the back roads, right past a lot of Amish farms. Morgan got the best seat, right up by the buggy driver E. J. She really enjoyed the ride and seeing all the horses and other animals.

By the time we returned to the Jeep it was time to head home but I remembered that we told Connie that we would stop by Lenox, where she works, while we were in Lancaster, so off we went. It is always a pleasure seeing her and her bubbly personality. Lenox had owned Studio 56, makers of Snowbabies, but the company has been sold so all the Snowbabies left in the store were on sale. Morgan found one that she really liked, a Snowbaby with a horse (of course!). The original price was $50.00 but I got it for just a tad over $13.00 with Connie's employee discount. Not a bad price huh?

We got back home around 6 pm and Morgan wanted to go swimming for a little while and I said I'd take her. When we got to the pool, she remembered that they close the pool at 6 pm. Really a dumb thing since it's June and the temperatures are in the 80's and it doesn't get dark until almost 9 pm. Oh well. So we came back and got on the computers and here we sit at 11 pm still working/playing! I think it's time for bed, so goodnight for now.

Oh yes, I'm having a hard time getting pictures to upload, so keep checking the Picasa web site for new ones. I'm putting the Philadelphia pictures in two different albums. The first one will have comments under the pictures and the other will be Scenes from Philadelphia without description. OK, I'm tired and it's time for bed - later....