Day in PA…

I’ve been working on a post about a few things we’ve (ok – mostly Bill) been dealing with – specifically MICE and replacing our living room A/C.  Since I’m trying to have that be a complete post – start to finish not broken into multiple posts, I’ll post this in the meantime.  

We’ve been settling into our work schedule.  We work Sundays and Monday’s 8:30am – 5pm, Tuesday and Wednesday – off, Thursday 5-8, Friday and Saturday 5 – 10.  I like it ok – the only small thing I’m not a huge fan of is we have a “clopen” situation.  For those unfamiliar – that is when you close one day and then open the next – clopen- and yes it’s a thing.  

For us it means on Saturdays we finish up at 10pm and then have to report at 8:30am Sunday.   It is really not a big deal, since it is only one time per week.  We are handling it just fine.  

One other small “issue” with our schedule is we would have preferred a full weekend day off for visiting with family and friends, who mostly still work the weekdays and are off weekends, but we do have Saturday days, and we will make that work.  Lynn also said they will be flexible for special occasions, which is awesome!

What we like is that we really only have 2 days that are not possible beach days.  We are plenty close enough to the beach that even on days we start at 5 there is plenty of time to go spend a few hours, get home and shower, and be ready on time.  HUGE bonus!

So, about that day in PA…

We woke early and were on our way by 9am!  Yes – out the door and pulling out the driveway by 9am!  We had places to be!

We headed west toward the NJ/PA border – Lancaster County was our destination!  The Chouters (aka Steven & Linda) were spending time at our home lodge in Ephrata and we were spending the day with them!

Hugs all around were exchanged. Linda had parked Scoopy (their Travel Supreme home on wheels) differently than we parked when we stayed there.  I always forget they have a different deal than we do with parking.  She called the area the primordial forest, as there are lots of trees and they are all bursting with leaves right now.  It actually looked much nicer than it did for our two deep winter stays.  

So – first order of business was COFFEE!  Dunkin Donut coffee that is!  Steven & Linda are total Starbucks fans (even did stints as Starbucks barista’s!) and I wanted to have them try the east coast coffee king!  Bonus – Billy works at one!  The one he works at wasn’t necessarily the closest (ok – we actually probably passed 3 or 4 to get to his location) but part of the reason for going was to say hello and reconfirm our plan for dinner later that day.  

I had enjoyed my fill of coffee and opted for a Chai Tea instead, while Bill, Linda and Steven all decided to wait for a fresh brewed dark roast.  We all picked a donut and we chatted about where we would go next.  After a very tiring week in NYC, Steven & Linda wanted something more low-key, can’t say I blame them!

I entered Bird-In-Hand Farmers Market into the GPS and away we went!  I had been  there years ago and of the farmers markets open that day, it would be the nicest.  See – there are TONS of farmers markets in the area, but they are all open different days.  Our fav (where we totally would have headed if it were open) is Fairgrounds Market in Reading, which I blogged about in Back Home in Ephrata.  Another option was Lancaster Central Market but it was also closed.  

Bird-In-Hand (yes, that’s the name of the town) Farmers Market is smaller than the others I mentioned but has that small town feel to it.  We walked around, seeing all the choices.  We picked up some tea for Billy and a pair of slipper socks for Michelle.  

There was an assortment of t-shirts using the name of the local towns to their advantage for tourists

We originally talked about seeing the town of Lititz next, but on our way we found ourselves passing Kitchen Kettle Village and decided to stop there instead.  It’s a bit more “touristy” than Lititz, but very cute.  The views all around were really beautiful – blue skies mixed with white puffy clouds – the makings of some great pics of the surrounding farm land.  

Weathervane
Gorgeous day!
Great stores!
Bill making a couple new friends
LOVE the Wisteria!
We were all getting hungry so we headed back to the Elks.  It was time for HAPPY HOUR!  We texted Billy for him to come meet us.  We enjoyed some wine and when Billy arrived, he preferred the Jamison that Steven offered.  

The five of us piled into the CRV and about 15 minutes later Bill was parking at Shady Maple.  I’ve blogged about Shady Maple before – it’s so huge they call it a Smorgasbord not a buffet!  All freshly made delicious foods – soup to nuts as they say!  Since we were there on a Wednesday, it was prime rib night!  We were seated quickly and dinner officially began!  I think Steven & Linda were initially a bit overwhelmed, but soon we were all seated with full plates!  

Many cleaned plates later, we finally cried “Uncle” and decided a walk was needed!  We took a small tour and landed downstairs in the gift shop area.  

Next stop was their market, which is right next door.  Fresh produce, baked goods and butcher shop with good prices!  You may remember, when Bill and I were moving into our rig and getting ready to close on our house, I shopped at Shady Maple Market for my groceries, as it was close to our then CG home.  


The clock ticked and tocked and soon it was time to start ending our wonderful day.  The 5 of us hung out a little while, not wanting the evening to end.  

Thankfully it won’t be that long til we can spend time with them again.  We are hoping Billy can get a few days off together and come spend time going to the beach and boardwalk with us; we will see Steven & Linda in October when the 4 of us will be working at Amazon!  

10 thoughts on “Day in PA…

    1. Bill has caught the culprit – and we are doing some things to hopefully prevent any further infiltrations!

  1. Oh, our favorite places! Shady Maple is wonderful. Feel your pain on “clopen”. We open every other day of our 4 – 10 hour days, closing the other two. Makes for tired people.

    1. I have to stay I am very glad Shady Maple is not right around the corner! BAD for the waistline!
      If we had to do the “clopen” more often, I might ask for a switch, but only once a week isn’t so bad! Glad to hear you guys are doing well, even if a bit tired!

    1. It/they seem to be gone now – but will be taking preventative measures to discourage others from coming in!

  2. Love Bird in Hand farmers market. Love the cinnamon bread and lots of other things. We have been to Shady Maple once, and yes it is very overwhelming. Way to much to choice from. We had to roll out of there. LOL. Glad you had a great time and the sun was shining. Have a great week.

    1. I love all the Lancaster area farmers markets! Best place for local items! Our fav time to go to Shady Maple is for a Birthday as the birthday person eats FREE!

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