Day 2: The Beauty of Amish Country

  Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Today we got up early and were all ready quickly. Mike was a pain to wake up so we all hung out in the room while he tried to sleep as late as possible.  I don't know how he did it with Alison jumping on the bed and everyone laughing and being loud!  I hung out on the patio with Alison for a while and took some pictures.  Mom joined us for a few minutes, too.

02 - Alison on the Steps

When everyone was finally finished getting ready we decided to go for breakfast.  There was a restaurant in the hotel, Vista's, that had a buffet breakfast that we thought we would try.  Michael, Aunt Stacy, Alan, Alison, and I went down to the restaurant to get a table while mom and dad walked Oreo and met us a few minutes later.  We went up to get our food and there was a pretty good selection.  The restaurant was packed with families, more than we saw around the resort on the rest of our vacation, but there was plenty of room and plenty of food.  I had waffles, french toast, bacon, hash browns, and scrambled eggs.  I thought the food was really good, but only Michael and I really liked it.  Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day so I enjoyed it.  We were seated in front of one of the large windows around the restaurant and had a gorgeous view of the resort golf course.  It was beautiful and really added to the experience.

When we were finished with breakfast we went back to the room to get Oreo and then we walked her around the resort and enjoyed the grounds.  The golf course was huge and really pretty so we took a few pictures there.

We then hopped in our cars and drove over to the main entrance of the resort.  We were planning on going to Kitchen Kettle Village today.  We had gone there on two of our past three trips and thought it would be fun to go again.  We weren't really sure how to get there from the resort, though, since on our past trips we had stayed in a different area of Lancaster.  Dad ran in to the lobby to ask the Concierge how to get there and he wound up getting information on a few other Amish sites to see.

11 - Alison at the Playground

The Concierge had told dad that there was a nice bakery in the nearby town of Bird-In-Hand so we drove over there.  It was a fifteen minute ride through the back roads of Amish country and it was absolutely gorgeous!  Although we had been to Lancaster many times before, I was always too young to really acknowledge and appreciate the Amish culture.  The past few months I had been watching "Amish in the City" on UPN, a reality show in which a group of Amish kids were on Rumspringa, their right of passage to experience the world before deciding whether or not to live the rest of their lives Amish.  They lived with a group of city kids in Los Angeles and both groups had to learn each other's ways and adapt to all the changes, and I absolutely loved it.!  I'm a reality TV junkie!  Now getting to see everything first hand amazed me.  It was really nice driving through the back roads of the Amish country and seeing Amish men and women riding in their buggies, while Amish children zipped through the streets on their scooters and roller skates.  I was in awe of the beauty of the countryside and the peace surrounding the children playing in front of their modest homes, while cows grazed a few feet away and horses galloped in the distance.  It's one of my favorite places in the world - so peaceful, magical and truly amazing... it's like stepping into another world!

15 - An Amish Man

The Bird-In-Hand Bake Shop was located directly across the lane from an Amish farm, and when we arrived many Amish men were working the fields both by hand and on tractors.  The bakery was pretty crowded since there was a big bus in the parking lot who had dropped off a tour group.  We parked and walked over to a small playground on the grounds where Alison pet some ducks and went on the swings, before she started to play with a little girl on the slide and small jungle gym.  Mom, Aunt Stacy, Alison and I then all sat on a large, four-person swing which had a table in the middle.  We took a few pictures before Michael watched Alison and dad waited outside with Oreo while mom, Aunt Stacy, Alan and I went into the bakery.  There were homemade Dutch pies, cakes, cookies and more, as well as Lancaster souvenirs.  The shop was run by teenaged Amish girls, all around my age, who were interesting to listen to.  They were telling everyone about their lives and lifestyle, and it was pretty amazing.

After ten minutes the tour group finally left and we were the only ones left in the bakery.  Dad carried Oreo in and Alison and Mike came in, too.  We looked around and had a good time looking at the hand-made wooden puppets which I got to annoy Mike over since he's afraid of all dolls!  Mike was PSYCHED that they had Snickerdoodles - cinnamon cookies that my Aunt Lynda usually makes for him.  They're his favorite!  We bought a box of those and some pumpkin bread which is mine and mom's favorite!  I also got a key chain of an Amish family holding hands and walking in the road along with a Lancaster pen.

We then decided to go to a working mill, another site in which the Concierge told dad about.  We followed the directions, again through the back roads, and found the mill.  It was very small, though, and it didn't look like there was anyone there so we decided to skip it and just go to Kitchen Kettle Village.  The scenery on the way there was gorgeous at first - farmlands full of cows, horses and beautiful homes.  Then we drove through miles and miles of cornfields!  A few weeks before we left Mike, my cousin Cari, Aunt Stacy, Alan and I had watched "Children of the Corn" so we were joking around about the characters coming out of the fields to attack us.  Good times.  I really couldn't believe how many corn fields there were but the scenery was nothing but beautiful.

21 - The Kitchen Kettle Village Parking Lot

We then drove over to Kitchen Kettle Village.  I remembered it being pretty big so I was surprised to see how small it was.  I guess I remember it being bigger since the last time I was there I was only seven.  Unfortunately my camera battery was dying so I only got one picture of everyone in the parking lot when we first arrived.

We headed into the village and today we decided to try out Oreo's new carriage.  Yes, the dog has a stroller.  We pushed her around in it and you would have thought she was the president of the United States - she got so many looks, laughs, and comments!  A few people even took her picture.  It was hysterical!  Anyway, Kitchen Kettle Village is a small village with thirty different stores including homemade candy and fudge shops, Lancaster souvenirs, clothes stores, Amish goods, etc.  We spent some time in the food store (they had Amish foods, bakery goods, homemade candy, etc) and then mom and I went into a souvenir shop.  We didn't buy anything, though, so after about an hour we were done at Kitchen Kettle Village and we headed back towards the resort.

We were back at the Lancaster Host Resort by 12:30.  We had breakfast at 8:00 that morning and hadn't eaten since, so we were all pretty hungry.  We ordered some pies from Pizza Hut and hung out in our rooms while we waited for the pizza to be delivered.  We watched TV, Alison ran around, and dad relaxed in bed.  The food arrived a half-hour later and we all sat in Aunt Stacy's room to eat.

31 - Alison on the Merry-Go-Round

When we were done eating we were sick of sitting around so we decided to take a walk to the playground.  Aunt Stacy and Alan hung out in their room while mom, dad, Mike, Alison, Oreo and I all walked over to the small playground.  It was a LONG walk... about a mile uphill!  At one point we thought we were going the wrong way since there was no playground in sight after having walked for fifteen minutes.  I had no idea that the grounds of the resort were so sprawling.

When we finally got to the park we were disappointed to see how small and run-down it was.  However, Alison had a great time running around and playing on the few things there.  We went on the two little merry-go-round type rides, climbed in the jungle gym, and went on the four-person seesaw.  Oreo had fun running around, too.  After about an hour Aunt Stacy called to tell us that she and Alan had left to meet us at the park but they couldn't find it and had just gone back to their room.  It really was a LONG walk!  After another ten minutes we decided to head back to the room, which was a good twenty-minute walk.

40 - Lounging Around by the Pool

When we got back to the room we all relaxed and hung out.  We did a lot of that this vacation!  Dad, however, who loves to shop, had a different idea... we decided to go shopping!  Alan and Alison went in the pool and Mike decided to stay in the room  where he wound up falling asleep.  Mom, dad, Aunt Stacy and I headed down Lincoln Highway East to a shopping center.  Mom, Aunt Stacy and I went to a Dollar Store (like the 99 cent stores here in Brooklyn) and Odd Job, while dad looked around in K-Mart.  We picked up a few things, like post cards and picture frames, before driving over to a liquor store to get some beer.  While mom, dad and Aunt Stacy went in the store, I waited in the car and called my friend Jen.  She was going on her first trip to Lancaster in two weeks so I filled her in on our trip and gave her some ideas of things to do.  We then drove back to the hotel but we had some trouble getting into the room.  We had somehow forgotten our keys and Mike was sleeping while Aunt Stacy's door was also locked since Alan and Alison were still in the pool.  Eventually I knocked loud enough to wake Michael up.

We thought it would be fun to hang out outside for a while since it was gorgeous out, so mom, Aunt Stacy, and I hung out on the patio while dad and Mike joined Alan and Alison in the pool.  Alison always loved going in our pool at home but for some reason she was still afraid to go in the main pool here even though she had on a life jacket  and swimmies.  I took some pictures around the area and we really just relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere.

By 5:30 we had been hanging out by the pool all afternoon so we decided to call it a day.  I watched TV while dad, Mike, Alan, and Alison took turns taking showers and getting changed.  Mike and I then watched Alison in our room while mom and dad went to the front desk to get a cot for Michael and went to the gift shop.  The cot came within a few minutes, before mom and dad were even back, and we all hung out in our rooms until 7:00.

44 - Friendly's Part 2

We were all hungry again so we decided to go for dinner at Friendly's at 7:15.  We always end up at Friendly's on at least one night of every trip!  There was one right down the road on Lincoln Highway East so it was a short drive.  The place was kind of small, though, and pretty crowded, so we had to wait a few minutes to be seated.  We looked at the novelty cakes in the freezer by the entrance to pass the time.  We wound up sitting in two booths across from each other right in the front of the restaurant .  We all got burgers and sandwiches (I got the Rueben), and then sundaes.  The food was delicious!  I don't think we have ever been disappointed at Friendly's.  It's perfect summer vacation food... I wish we had one around here!

We were done eating by 8:30 and we decided to go to Walmart.  Walmart is another place we always end up going to on vacation, usually pretty late at night.  We don't have a Walmart by us, only a Target.  This was a Super Walmart and it was seriously huge!  Walmart has a partnership with Disney so I was happy to see all of the Disney items they had.  I wound up getting a Tinker Bell pocket book, Tinker Bell pajamas, and a plain grey hoodie.  Alan wasn't feeling well and had decided to go back to the room at 9:00, so at around 9:30 Aunt Stacy and Alison squished into the car with us and we headed back to the resort.  It wasn't a big deal since the hotel was right down the road.

52 - Posing in the Room

When we got back to the Lincoln Host Resort, Alison took a bath and changed into her pajamas.  Then Mike, Alison, dad and I watched "The Ring" in our room.  I kept telling Mike to shut it off since Alison shouldn't watch it, but then Alison would scream, "No, I LOVE this movie!" even though she had no idea what it was!  It didn't bother her, the scary parts went by too fast for her to even notice anything.  We then watched the World Poker Tournament on the Travel Channel while mom, dad, Aunt Stacy and Alan walked to the lounge in the lobby to get coffee.

When they all got back from getting coffee we decided to sit out on the patio again.  The resort was still pretty empty, and really quiet, so it was nice sitting out and relaxing.  Alison and Oreo had a great time running around in the grass!  A family with three young kids had just checked in a few rooms down and Alison ran around with the children.  They would run into the patio entrance of their room, out the front door, through the next door (they also had adjoining rooms), and back out THAT room's patio door.  It was too funny!

We wound up going to sleep pretty early again, at around 11:00, since dad fell asleep.  And being in one room, we didn't really have much of a choice but to go to sleep as well.