Thimbles & Threads: Hershey Day 2

Today is even better than yesterday. Karen is up bright and early to hit the fitness room. Bette Jo goes for a swim. Diane gets ready for the day. Cathie sleeps in.

By 9:15ish we are ready to hit the road. A quick stop by the Cocoa Beanery for Cathie's morning jump start and we're off....well, we're out of the building anyway. It takes us a little while to get through the parking lot. The grounds are so lovely that we have stop for a number of Kodak moments.

Diane, Karen & Bette Jo outside the Hotel Hershey

Our first stop is, of course, A Quilters Cottage. What a fun little shop! We meet the owners, Beth & Joan and buy chocolate kiss fabric, patterns and lots of other fun goodies.

Diane & Karen at a Quilter's Cottage

It is a lot of work and we are famished. Just a few minutes down the street is the Hershey Cafe and we head there.

There is a twenty minute wait. I make two more yoyos (I have almost a dozen now - just another couple of hundred and I'll be ready for YoYoville) and enjoy watching the people. This must be the chef....

We take a table on the patio when it becomes available. It is a bit brisk today so I order hot tea. It comes in this adorable tea pot. I need one of these too!

This trip is all about food. We are eating our way across Lancaster county! Diane has the cinnamon bread french toast. She is kind enough to share a taste with everyone and it is delicious. Karen has baked oatmeal. It looks much fluffier and lighter than regular oatmeal and comes with blueberries. Bette Jo has vowed to do "one brave thing" every day of our trip. Today she bravely orders the turkey sandwich. It doesn't sound very brave but Bette Jo is not an adventurous eater. This turkey sandwich is served on cinnamon bread with cranberry sauce and Swiss cheese. It looks quite tasty. Bette Jo gives it a go but says the cinnamon bread masks most of the other flavors. I have the crab and eggs Florentine. A yummy combination of lump crab, spinach, poached eggs, and holandaise sauce over an English muffin.

Back to the car for a drive through the countryside. It is beautiful. The homes are old, really old, and have so much character and personality. While taking a scenic trip around the block to catch a road we missed we stumble upon this gorgeous display of color.

Bette Jo suggests we stop at Ephrata Cloister. We arrive just in time for the 2:00 p.m. tour which is very interesting. We learn all about Conrad Beissel and the religious group he started. http://www.ephratacloister.org/

Our tour guide is wonderful and entertains us for the next hour. The buildings have been lovingly restored by the state of Pennsylvania who purchased the Ephrata Cloister in the 1940s. Wish we had more time to explore but it is after 3:00 and we're only half way to Intercourse.

Back in the car Diane programs the GPS to take us to Intercourse on the back roads. This trip just keeps getting better an better! We are driving through the heart of Amish country and see the Amish men, women, and children working in gardens and fields. We don't take any pictures so as not to intrude on their privacy but I must confess I am staring and gawking. It is like traveling back in time. A mule pulled plow works one field. In another we see a team of mules pulling a contraption that is flinging manure onto the field. An older woman is picking vegetables in the garden. A mother with a small daughter wearing identical dresses and white head coverings walk towards the barn. There are huge clothes lines that run from homes to tall poles and operate on a pulley. It is very quaint but I cannot help but think how grateful I am for my electric clothes dryer.

We stop at a roadside stand. It is self-service with a slot for the money and huge heads of cauliflower for $1.50 each.

We are so impressed by the enormous cauliflower heads that we buy one and leave $2.00 in the slot. This really is the largest head of cauliflower I have ever seen and it is perfect and white.

Back on the road with the enormous cauliflower in tow, we finally come upon the site we have been looking forward to all day. A horse drawn buggy is in front of us. They put on the blinker for a left turn. A buggy with brake lights and blinkers! What a fabulous blend of antiquity and technology.

We arrive in intercourse and spend an hour shopping at Zook's. Lots of fun fabrics to see and feel. Bette Jo buys a lace panel to use as the skirt of a blessing gown. Cathie buys lace curtains printed with chickens for the shop. Diane gets a some for her kitchen too. The shop girls are all Amish and we listen to their lilting voices as they speak quietly together in German/Dutch. Karen asks an Amish woman what fabrics she would use for a quilt and ends up with a beautiful selection of primary solids and black.

Bette Jo heads up the street to do some genealogy work. We continue shopping until the store closes at 5:00. We head into the touristy part of town for more shopping.

Time to head across town to Plain & Fancy for family style Amish dinner. At our end of the table are Bob and his wife Cheryl. They are visiting from New York and we enjoy chatting with them.