Our Pennsylvania Trip

Our travel buddies the Arrington's invited us to join them on a day trip to Lancaster county. (Don't we have great friends?!) Katrina also had a baby so Steve is on paternity leave too. It was Ja's first day of paternity leave so we had to join them. Visiting Amish country is something I've been wanting to do ever since we moved here. It didn't disappoint!

We first visited the Julius Sturgis Pretzel factory in Litiz, PA. We got to make our own little pretzels (of of play dough) and learned why the pretzels are twisted: to remind the kids to say their prayers. Macy did very well twisting her pretzel and was very proud of it. That's her "I'm so proud of myself" smile.



Next we had a very pleasant lunch at Tomato Pie cafe. We ate outside on the patio and the food was all very delicious. Even all four kids did amazing. We all decided we would eat there again.

Next it was off to the Strasburg Railroad in Strausburg, PA. There's an old fashioned train to ride past some Amish farms. It was very pretty and the kids loved it of course. Macy's only complaint was that it didn't go fast enough.

 Of course there was a Thomas ride on ride that Macy liked to play in.

I love Macy's smile.

 This was a motel the train rode past. We really want to go back (sans kids) and stay here because each room is an actual caboose you can sleep in!

 Steve tricked Macy into looking at the camera here because she was very adamant that she would not look. He had to do that on our Delaware trip too...

This would have been a cute picture if it weren't for Macy scratching her bum.

At the end of the train parking lot there were wagons full of pumpkins, squash, corn, and gourds. They were selling the pumpkins for only $2 each! We couldn't believe it and had to buy some. We considered buying a lot of selling them at home for the 59 cents/pound they charge here :)

 Macy and Grant had a great time stacking all the pumpkins and squash at the end of the wagon. They were calling themselves "pumpkin workers." Grant was really sure we were buying all these pumpkins. The kids could have played on this wagon for hours.

How iconic is this?

After we were able to talk the pumpkin workers into leaving we drove around to see covered bridges. The first one was under construction so we couldn't get close. The second one Steve navigated to was Herr's Mill Bridge. Its the only wooden bridge to have double trusses. Apparently it was known as the Kissing Bridge (sign below). They don't have tunnels of love so they have bridges of love instead.

After the bridges we drove a short distance to an Amish restaurant. It's run my Amish (or Mennonite, I'm not sure) and they serve real Amish food. It was very good and tastes just like food you would make at home. They had the best idea and put a playground with a big grass field outside the restaurant so the kids could play while we waited for food. Once again all four kids were very well behaved. Anna slept the whole time, hardly noticed she was there.

This silly girl is our old lady Macy. She put the blanket over her legs and her beloved blankie behind her head. She enjoyed a snack of apples on our way to dinner. 

Day trips like this are so much fun. It's great living close to places that have plenty of attractions and beautiful scenery. There was a lot more to see in Lancaster County that we didn't have time for so I'd really like to go back. It's only 2 1/2 hours away and we didn't leave the house until 9 a.m. so the trip is very doable. This trip also enlightened me on the Amish and Mennonite people so I checked out a few books about them from the library so I could learn more.