We Drove 8 Hours For This...

This last week found us venturing north to one of our favorite places on Earth-- our Amish Paradise in Lancaster, PA. We have often times worried that if we recommended this vacation to anyone else, they'd get there and wonder what the heck we like so much about it. There are some Amish farms. It's pretty countryside. And there's some tasty comfort food. But other than that it's a pretty tame vacay. Indeed, throughout our 1 1/2 day stay we constantly found ourselves looking at each other a little bewildered and stating, "We drove 8 hours for this." And honestly, sometimes it was said a little more questioningly like, "We drove 8 hours for this?!?" but most times we found the theme of our trip to be said with total affection, yes, "We drove 8 hours for THIS.":

A stop for a pork salad at the Cafe Rio in Olney, MD which is the perfect halfway point from Richmond (where we stayed the night) and Lancaster. Mmmmmmmm. Pregnancy craving satiated... kind of. For like 6 hours.

A fresh-baked gingerbread cookie to decorate while mom and dad check out the jams and salsas at Kitchen Kettle Village. One of the traditions Lucy LOVES.

Catching the Pennsylvania leaves just as they are turning colors-- bright orange, gold, and firey red! SO gorgeous, and the 20 degree drop in temperature between PA and NC isn't bad either...

Feeding the naughty goats at the free petting zoo. Zachary has been a goat whisperer ever since he was a baby, but we still have to count 10 fingers and 10 toes before we leave, just in case.

Llama Face! My kids thought this guy's wicked underbite was HI-LA-RI-OUS. So instead of saying "cheese" I started requesting "llama face" instead. Try it. Promise.

Eating a huge breakfast out once a year (other than the hotel's not-so-great continental breakfast of course) complete with buttermilk pancakes and hot chocolate. Yum!

A quick trip to Hershey, driving through scenic dairy farms, stopping to buy pumpkins along the way, and dreaming about a whole factory devoted entirely to chocolate!

"It's the milk chocolate! Moooo-wooo!" We rode the free factory ride 4 times before we could talk Zach off with promises of free samples. My kids think this is better than Disneyland.

Should actually be Zach....it would be more accurate.

Picking a treat to share from the Hershey bake shop! Chocolate lover's heaven!

Relaxing 8 hours away from work. THAT alone was worth driving for right there.

Homemade Amish root beer. You pull off the highway, into the backyard of this real Amish farm, pay THE cutest little Amish boy $2 a bottle, and slowly sip away your troubles. I have no idea what they heck they brew in this concoction, but it's herbacious and earthy and delish.

Homemade cheese. Same thing. Pull into the farm, buy a bag of random cheese, and devour.

An outdoor picnic with unbeatable scenery, complete with Amish pretzels, cheese, and out-of-this-world apple cider (Jon would have driven 8 hours for this sweet elixir alone). The tastes of fall!

And finally, we basically drove 8 hours to smell hundreds of homemade candles in the Ol' Candle Barn to find just the right one for Christmas, shop the early sales at the outlet malls, gorge ourselves on Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, and relive the simple traditions of our very humble past when Amish country was about all we had to do on the weekends living in Philly. Can't really explain its draw other than that. Guess that means will be back next fall.:)