Vacation Twins

Yesterday morning was a lazy one. Riker let us sleep until 8 am (!!), which was glorious. Must be the black out curtains in the hotel room. Maybe I should get some for his room at home?

Rather than showering and heading out for breakfast, we decided to hang around the room for a while and then throw on clothes and head down to breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

I opted for the buffet since it included lots of fresh items and a made-to-order omelet bar. I ordered an egg white omelet with tomatoes, broccoli, peppers and cheese, with a side of homemade sourdough toast, and coffee of course. I also nabbed a mini fruit and yogurt cup. I actually gave my yogurt to Riker, so went back for a big bowl of fruit with a sprinkling of granola.

Funny side story: ever since we arrived at the hotel on Friday, we kept seeing this one couple and their young son everywhere we went. They checked in when we did, stayed in the room next to ours, went to the pool when we did, had breakfast at the table next to us, checked out when we did, and went to the same sightseeing spots at the same time as us. They even parked their car right next to ours in the parking lot! Weird right? Vacation twins!

Once we were fueled up, we showered, packed up the room and headed out for the day. There were tons of cute little shops in town featuring handmade furniture, toys and home decor, so a little shopping had to be done.

I love crafty shops, and left with a few pretty winter wreaths and some new mittens. Riker also left with a few treats of his own.

Matt was dying to visit a toy store and buy some wooden toys for Riker. We found a toy shop on an Amish family farm and bought a few different things, but that walker up there is Riker's favorite. He played with it non-stop today. I love how old fashioned it looks, and that it's made by hand.

Midway through the day we stopped at Miller's, which was touted as having the "best Amish food" in Lancaster. When we walked in, we were greeted with yet another huge buffet. Kids eat free from the buffet, so Riker gorged on broccoli, chicken and buttered noodles (an Amish tradition).

There were literally no vegetarian options on the menu, and very few on the buffet, so I went with just the salad & soup bar. My body was craving veggies after the carb & cheese fest the day before.

I had a big salad and a homemade roll, as well as a cup of veggie chili. The chili was so good! Miller's was serving beers from a local brewery, so you know what that means...

I wouldn't normally order a beer with a salad lunch, but I'm a total sucker for local brews. I ordered the Amish Four Grain by Lancaster Brewing Company, which was light but toasty.

Shoo-fly pie was another specialty we'd been seeing all over town, so we couldn't leave without trying some. It's basically a pecan pie, but instead of pecans it's topped with cinnamon crumble. I actually don't like the bottom of a pecan pie (I like to pick off the candied nuts and leave the sugary filling alone), so I only had a few bites.

After lunch we took a drive through the countryside looking at the rolling hills and watching the Amish men plowing their fields. And then we spotted a winery. :)

We stopped in to taste a few and bring back some bottles for Matt's parents, who were taking care of Butters for us while we were away. Before hitting the road, we had one last stop to make...

The Strasburg train village! We didn't end up having time to take an actual train ride, but we did take a tour of the largest model train village in the world. I wasn't expecting to be dazzled, but it was actually pretty cool. It took years to build, and all the animations are custom made, not store bought.

It's actually modeled after Lancaster, so it was fun to see all the little recreations of the real town.

And with that, the sun was setting and it was time to head home. My sister actually invited us to come for dinner since we were passing Philly on our way home, so we took a short detour to stop at her place to visit and enjoy some homemade corn chowder. Perfect little pit stop.

And when we arrived back home last night, our power was on! We're now nice and cozy, caught up on housework and refreshed for the work week ahead. Time to get back into the swing of things tomorrow.

Hope you had a great weekend!