Visits, Drives, Festivals, Bridges

Well, another week has come and gone and of course I haven't updated the blog! Bad, bad me.

What have we been doing? Well, actually not a lot except for visiting family. We drove to Chambersburg one day last week and met my aunt Dottie and her daughter Carol for lunch at the greasyspoon (Greenvillage Diner). I had my favorite - turkey & gravy over waffle - ohh yummy! Anyway, after eating and just sitting and chatting, Dean, Dottie and I decided to take a drive in the country. The first place we went was to Tinyworld. It really doesn't look like much at this time of year but at Christmas it is transformed into a magical wonderland that kids of all ages enjoy. The whole place was built by one man, on his property. My aunt said that every year he adds another building. Sadly I couldn't get pictures of the inside of the buildings but trust me when I tell you that they are as cute inside as out - fully furnished with items that fit the building. For example the school has tiny desks with books on them, a teachers desk, chalk board etc. You get the picture. I took some pictures and they are posted at Picasa.

From there we decided, or should I say I decided, that I wanted to go over the mountain and I was driving so off we went. The particular road we took ended up with a 10% grade going up and coming down - what a ride! It was beautiful but the problem with driving is you don't get to really enjoy the view as much as those who are riding. I stopped on top and got a few pictures through a fence. I've already posted them on Facebook for those who have access, otherwise, take a look at them at Picasa. We ended up driving about a 60 mile circle and going through places that I'd heard about from my parents when they used to come up in the summers. It was like retracing their footsteps. This day ended with us taking my aunt back to her car, a stop at the Butcher Shoppe for some ham salad and over South Mountain back to Gettysburg and home.

I had made arrangements to go to my cousin's house on Friday to visit. I totally forgot that it was Dean's birthday - bad me again! Emily is actually my 2nd cousin, Carol is her mother and my Aunt Dottie is her grandmother. Got that! Anyway Dottie, Carol, Dean and I converged at her house Friday late morning. Emily has two adorable children, Abby and Ian. Unfortunately, Abby was not feeling well and was running a fever. We did have a nice visit in spite of her being ill and while Emily stayed home with Abby, the rest of us went to lunch. We we got back we had a birthday cake that Carol had brought and it was good - Apple cake with caramel icing.

Dean and I left mid-afternoon and stopped at Rakestraws Ice Cream where I remember going when I was just a youngster. Had a dip (child size) of Black Raspberry and one of Butter Brickle. Both were good and left that creamy coating on the roof of my mouth - a sign of really good ice cream!

Yesterday we went to the National Apple Harvest Festival at Arendtville, PA. It's on this side of the mountain - he he! We met Dottie, her daughter Diane and her husband Tex on top of the mountain and then followed them down a beautiful mountain road to the festival. It has been years (probably about 20) since I've been to this festival and boy has it grown. This year was the 45th year for this particular festival and I'm told that every year it gets bigger. True to it's name you can get just about anything "apple". Even apple pizza! No, I didn't try it. I did have a apple fritter and some apple wedges with hot caramel and oh boy was it good. We witnessed something we have never seen before - a tractor square dance - yep - square dance. Eight tractors made the square and did most of the moves that I remember from my square dance days. Amazing and fun to watch. Of course, like most festivals there were tons of crafters, lots of entertainment and even more people. Dean and I really enjoyed the day and I returned home with hurting legs and feet - time for a soak. Thanks Dottie, Diane and Tex for a fun day.

Today was my birthday and since we didn't do anything special for Dean's we decided that the two of us would go to our favorite restaurant - Mountain Gate - in Thurmont, MD for dinner. To that I will just say "Good As Always". After dinner we took off in search of three covered bridges that are in the area. Thinking we had got lost, I glanced down a road as we passed and wala - there was the first one, Utica Mills Covered Bridge. Back we went. I parked along the road and there were about 12 motorcycles there also. We talked and I told them I was in search of the other two. Well, they were also. They left with shouts of "see ya at the next bridge". After taking pictures, off we went to bridge number 2, Lays Station Covered Bridge. Guess who was there - the bikers! We talked about the the third bridge, Roddy Road Covered Bridge, and how to get there and their leader told me a way to go taking back roads. Thanks. Off we went again and this time we beat the bikers there. This bridge was the most photogenic in my opinion and also the shortest covered bridge. There is a lot of information about these and other covered bridges in Maryland at www.mdcoveredbridges.com We chatted with the bikers a little, took a group picture for them and they took ours and bid them farewell as they were off to two more bridges in PA. Us, we headed to Cunningham Falls State Park.

The drive through the state park was beautiful. We pulled in to the parking lot for the trail to the falls but alas it was full and there was no parking. Oh well, it saved my legs from more hurt tonight - ha ha. We decided to drive over the mountain and head back into PA a different way. Glad we did as we found a Wal-Mart supercenter (there isn't one in Gettysburg) and made a quick stop.

Coming back into Gettysburg I decided to drive through the battlefield and was glad I did. It was very busy but beautiful. We ended up on top of Big Round Top - sight of one of the battles. From there you can see for miles and miles and miles. Yep, you got it - pictures are at Picasa.

That ended our day and so ends this segment of the blog. This coming week we will be getting ready to head south, doing some "have to take it with me" shopping, catching up on laundry, visiting another aunt that lives in Camp Hill and anything else that pops up. We leave PA on Friday morning heading to Ft. Chiswell, VA for two nights then on to Townsend, TN and Cades Cove for six nights. I'm sure I'll have some reporting to do from there.

Be sure and check out the last couple of albums that I've posted at Picasa and come back here to see what's new. Till the next time - God Bless