Suze's Time In PA

Suze hadn't been back to PA in about 11 years so the four days that she was here with us were "her days". On Tuesday we drove to Harrisburg, which I've already covered in my previous post.

Wednesday was shopping day for the care package that she wanted to ship back to Alabama. It included mostly Tastykake products and of course some Penn State items - she is quite the fan even though she is in Alabama!

Wednesday night we met her friend from high school, Donna along with her three children and her mother for dinner at Mountain Gate in Thurmont, MD. I'm always up for a trip there - great food, just to much.

Thursday was Chambersburg day. We met our Aunt Dottie for breakfast then went back to her home to sort through a lot of old family pictures - some back at least three generations or more. Mid-afternoon it was time for a snack so off to the Igloo for some really great black raspberry ice cream. Yummy!

Thursday evening we had a family dinner at Mountain Gate in Waynesboro, PA. Yep, same name and same good food! It was really great seeing everyone that came. Bud and Sherry (cousin), Sonny (cousin), Diane & Tex (cousin), Carol and Wayne (cousin), Eileen and her two boys (2nd cousin) and my Auntie Dottie. Of course Dean, Suze and me. A really wonderful family time.

Friday was Lancaster day. Suze had several things she wanted to pick up from there so off we went early morning since it is about a 90 minute drive from Gettysburg. Our first stop was Bird-In-Hand Farmers Market. Surprisingly, Suze found everything she wanted there. We spent about 2 1/2 hours wandering through the market. It's a great place and I highly recommend it if your ever in the area. We then decided to take a short drive through the Amish back country. We happened upon a wood crafter (they are plentiful) that works on motorhomes. We want to have some work done so we stopped and will be heading there this coming Thursday. I'll post pictures of before and after next week. Anyway we then took off in search of Country Haven Campground to make reservations. Found it and we are set with a front row spot overlooking a beautiful valley. Picture will also come next week.

Our final stop was to visit with my cousin Barry and his sweet wife Connie. We spent about two hours with them, just chatting and catching up on our families. Barry and Suze are both BIG Penn State fans so they decided to go to the game in 2011 when Alabama come to State College to play Penn State. Suze was invited to stay with them. She is so excited about this opportunity. She has never been to State College so will be experiencing something new when she comes back.

Arriving back home, Suze had to get packed for her flight home in the morning and we all got to bed somewhat early (for us).

Saturday morning we drove Suze to Middletown, PA to the Harrisburg Intl. Airport for her flight to Atlanta. From Atlanta she drove home to Montgomery. She made it safe and sound but hopefully she didn't catch the flu on the flight. She has not been feeling well since arriving home. I pray she gets to feeling better real soon. Can't take a vacation and then call in sick the first day back to work - right? Her boss won't let her take a vacation again! This happened earlier this year when she took a Carnival cruise with some friends - she came home with the neurovirus. Was out of work almost a week.

Dean and I are exhausted. We are not used to going so hard every day. No regrets though. It's now our time to catch our breath and relax for a few days. I will go back to Chambersburg to visit my aunt again on Wednesday. Thursday we move to New Holland for at least a week while we have some changes made inside the motorhome. Then we will move back to Artillery Ridge for almost two weeks. During that time we will be going to S. Mountain Apple Festival - that promises to be fun.

We will begin our trek southward around the 16th of October. Hope to make a few day stop someplace around the Smokies. We don't need to be in Montgomery until November 1st.

So that about catches me up. Until next week sometime, take care and God Bless....