Lancaster County

Amish country.  I originally selected our campground because I thought it would be central to several places of interest.  In the end we saw a couple of places of interest and really enjoyed the beautiful Amish farms surrounding us.  The webpage of the campground said “If you’ve ever dreamed of camping right next to a real-life working Amish Farm, there is no better place to do it than at Mill Bridge Village & Camp Resort!”  The reality was that the real Amish farm had a farm fragrance that drifted into the campground!  Still, the campground was pretty in spots and worked fine for what we needed.  From our dining room we could see the Amish laundry and the Amish kids playing after dinner.  The campsites were very close together but we didn’t spend much time outside since it was very rainy while we were there.  Pennsylvania is beautiful! This picture is of the 18th century grist mill at the entry of our campgroud.

It was a pretty quick trip from DC to Lancaster and we had a fun evening just relaxing.  We decided to shop at the local market that had lots of Amish made items.  We got some chicken croquettes, asparagus, strawberries, and whoopie pies for dinner.  Will found a ribeye steak with a 25% off sticker.  He cooked and had that for dinner. *I am having to edit the blog because I forgot the most noteworthy story. David was relaxing outside the trailer and I was working on things inside the trailer when I heard David talking to someone. A car had pulled up in the empty campsite next to us and the man who got out was speaking to David. He had a very heavy accent. Soon David called me out of the trailer to respond to a question from the man. He wanted to know about living in a 37 foot home. I told him I thought it worked well and that we had plenty of space to do everything we needed. Then he asked for all the kids to come out. He gave me an airpod to put in my ear and asked me to repeat what I said while he took a video. Then he gave the airpod to Myra and asked her what she thought of living in the trailer. He said he was doing something for Bangla TV. Zina is VERY excited to be a television star. The rest of us would be very surprised if you were channel surfing and caught our family on TV.

Wednesday was very rainy but we headed to Gettysburg.  We saw the visitor’s center film that finished with an opportunity to see the Cyclorama.  The cyclorama is a 360 degree painting of Pickett’s Charge.  It is truly amazing.  It was painted by a French painter in the 1880’s and it was taken around the country to exhibitions in a time when no one had movies or virtual reality!  Then we took a two hour bus tour of the battleground.  We had a great tour guide.  Distances around Lancaster take a long time to navigate so we didn’t get home until late, deciding to just have grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner.

Thursday also dawned rainy so we went with plan B.  We went shopping in the local Amish shops and then took the kids to Urban Air, a trampoline park on Steroids.  They had trampolines but also Go Carts, Zip lines, climbing walls, and high ropes activities.  While I supervised the kids, David went to get a new water pump for the trailer.  Our water pump (only needed if we dry camp) had been on the fritz for a while, caused by the shower leak we had fixed previously.) I will take a bit right now to share a pet peeve.  When reading posts by RV owners, fairly often they complain about this problem or another problem and blast the RV manufacturer for shoddy workmanship.  I think the RVs work pretty darn well for being pulled down the road all the time.  Even when we are in our bricks and mortar something or another gives us a problem from time to time!  Just because we have a problem in our RV, I am not mad at our manufacturer.  For the most part, I am very happy with the quality of our trailer.

Friday we took the train to Philadelphia.  We had been in a rush to catch the train so we were all hungry when we got there.  We ate breakfast sandwiches at Starbucks and then caught a walking tour of the notable sites of the birth of our country–the first President’s mansion, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Carpenter Hall, the site of Benjamin Franklin’s house & print shop, the Quaker meeting house–the birthplace of our freedom of religion, and Benjamin Franklin’s grave.  We did not see Betsy Ross’s house but it is there also.  After the tour we decided we should just look for donuts and Philly Cheesesteak.  Our tour guide recommended Beiler’s Donuts in the Reading Market.  Our GPS had trouble finding it but when we did it was SO cool.  I wish I had thought to get a picture!  I am really bad at getting pictures taken.  It was a permanent indoor farmer’s market with every imaginable booth.  We found Beiler’s and got some great donuts.  We had thought we would get the Philly Cheesesteak elsewhere but found there was a recommended  cheesesteak at the market.  Myra and I saw a sign for soup dumplings so we had that for lunch. It turns out they were Georgian soup dumplings, not chinese.  Sorry, Kahlin, I like the Chinese soup dumplings better!  David was disappointed with the Philly Cheesesteak.  He says that the Philly he got at the Mariner’s spring training game spoiled him for all future cheesesteaks!  He had bought a big sandwich and gave the other half.  I thought it was pretty good!  Will had ramen.  We could have found ANYTHING for lunch.  It would be fun to go back there someday.  We decided we had had enough of Philadelphia and took the subway back to the Amtrak station and caught an earlier train back to Lancaster.  It was so nice to be back early so I could get some laundry done.  By this time all the families who came to Mill Bridge Campground for Memorial Day weekend showed up.  Myra and Will played basketball with a few of them.  

We had planned to stay for a couple more days but we decided we would really like to get down the road so we can go to church with the Stuart Campbells tomorrow.  Because of the holiday weekend we couldn’t get into our campground early so we will be dry camping in the Propria parking lot tonight!

Will on the Lancaster Stay: The beginning of our time in Lancaster started with Myra and I walking across a bridge that had a metal grate as its surface. It was quite fun, but scary. I then played some basketball, and then we went to a market where the Amish people sell some of their goods. I was told to find something that I could cook for myself and eat for dinner. I immediately went to the meat section and found a ribeye with good marbling that was 25% off. Here are the results: 

Uncle Nigel, if you are reading, please comment your thoughts. After the power went out twice, we all finally got our dinner and went to bed. The following day, I woke up and did school as usual. After the girls woke up, we headed out to Gettysburg National Battlefield. After walking around and reading each state’s contribution to the war, we went inside a theatre for a 15-minute film on the Battle of Gettysburg. The film was very informative; it explained how General Lee thought that 1 victory in enemy territory could turn the tide of the war. General Meade, the Union General, was pushed back and out of Gettysburg, but he did not surrender the crucial high ground. The Union then arranged themselves in a fish hook pattern along the ridge to assume the best possible position. Through the next two days, the Union held off the Confederates and slaughtered many of them with their artillery. On the final day, the Confederates retreated and the Union survived what could’ve been a deadly blow in the war. Following the film, we went on a great bus tour, seeing a lot of monuments and learning about historical places and buildings. We learned that the highest rank of monuments were equestrian monuments. They were quite big, and usually had the horse rearing back or with some hooves off of the ground. After the bus tour, we went home and relaxed for the rest of the day. On Thursday, the morning went as usual, doing school and playing basketball. Once Myra and Zina woke up, we went to the Amish Market to look at the goods there. We purchased some homemade lemonade and went home. We then went to a local restaurant/creamery for lunch, ate, and then went to a trampoline park because it was raining cats and dogs. It was quite fun, and I taught myself a new skill while being there. After we finished up at the park, we went home and I made some new friends playing basketball. After eating dinner, we all went to bed early, because we were going to Philadelphia the next day. On Friday, I woke up early to do school before we had to get on the train for Philadelphia. When we arrived, we found breakfast at a nearby Starbucks and then embarked on our walking tour of some of the historical sites and buildings of Philadelphia. We saw Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the site of Benjamin Franklin’s house, and the first Federal Bank. Some pictures will be located below. After we finished our tour and thanked our guide, we went to the Reading Market for lunch. I ate some ramen, Myra and Mom had soup dumplings, and Dad had a Philly Cheesesteak. After lunch we decided that it was time to go home. That was all that we did on Friday. On Saturday, I woke up, and played basketball with the neighbors, and then we hitched up the RV and left. SEE YOU IN CONNECTICUT!!!! (especially Stuart Campbells) Next: The Propria Parking Lot. Overall Rating: 8.3/10