Tag: Pennsylvania

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

The End of the Road

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

Our adventure these past 27 days are behind us. We are back in Texas preparing to leave next Wednesday for our next adventure of living in Mesa, AZ with the rest of the oldies. The memories from this trip have truly blessed us as we continue to look at pictures of the different states, new friends that were made along the way and some truly great recipes which I will post from time to time. Randy and I learned that we can survive just fine, riding in a car, next to each other without having to buy a shotgun or call an attorney. We did, however know that maybe we were in need of having some alone time when we left Franklin, TN. Being such a “wanna be” Southern Belle, I had found a most precious top that I just had to have. The story of obtaining this certain top is a post in itself. Randy told me to go ahead and go to the shop where I had seen the top in question the day before, while he sat at Starbucks to get some coffee. That was perfect. I walked down to the shop, walked in the door and the owner of the shop was visiting with a customer. The customer turned to me and told me she loved my hair. An hour later, I walked out the shop with a new top and a new fried. Randy walked down to see if someone had kidnapped me, but when he discovered me standing there sharing stories of what he had done on past April Fools day, Of course, we all then began to share places which we had been and they told us places we still needed to go. We got to the car and he ask me if I had indeed bought the top I had gone in there to get or did I just visit. When I pulled my new purchase out of the bag he looked at it and examined the label, which was LTX. He ask me if it stood for Large Texas, to which I gave him the “look” and considered going back in and spending more of his money for that remark. It was then that I began to sense that maybe it was time for us to head back to Texas and hopefully get to spend some time alone. We made the 12 hour trip back to Dallas 2 days ago and since then, we have regrouped, refreshed, and repacked our car and suitcases. Because we have family that we will spend each night dining with before we head out, our “alone” time will have to wait until we get to Arizona. Right now, thinking about all the hours we will spend driving across the desert next week, I guess that we need to stay friends so I will have someone to hand me chocolate while I drive. Chocolate…makes the miles go faster, the time go quickly and our relationship…sweeter!
We had time to go over the entire adventure while driving between destination and this is our opinions of some of the best of the best.
Hotel. The Westwynd Farm Inn, Hershey, PA 1 of the top 10 in the USA
Restaurant.Frankie Bones, Hilton Head, NC (thank you Michelle Secco for the recommendation)
2nd Best Restaurant. The Red Pony, Franklin, TN
Best Time The Corvette Plant Tour in Bowling Green, KY
2nd Best Tour….Jack Daniels Distillery, Lynchburg, TN. (This one is free and is just so interesting
Most Beautiful State. Pennsylvania and Tennessee
Friendliest People…Tennessee
Best Bakery. Riley Bakery, Bowling Green KY Since 1922

Will post several recipes tomorrow which I got from different places while traveling, but thought you might be tired of reading by this point.

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Shoefly Pie, Hershey & B & B’s

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We are about 17 days into our road adventure, making stops in Destin, Orlando,Hilton Head, Richmond, and now, Hershey, PA.
Each of these destinations have blessed us with many new precious memories, new foods and new friends.
This week we are in a bed & breakfast, which I was shocked that Randy agreed to. He is not a B&B person, since he might have to talk to a stranger sitting across the table at breakfast. I’m not saying that he is unfriendly, nor is he shy, he is just one of those men who fake being asleep on a plane to avoid talking to the person sitting next to him. But, because we could not find any hotel which we felt good about, after reading rviews, we ended up here and we are so thankful we did. when I read about Westwynd Farm Inn, it looked amazing. So here we are,just a couple of miles out of town and have loved it so much, even Randy suggested we stay for another night. We woke up this morning to Lemon streusel muffins, spinach & feta cheese frittata, sausage and poached pears. Absolutely delicious. Carolyn and Frank, the owners built this to be a horse farm where they have lived since 1980. The Inn is beyond beautiful. She bakes everyday and we came in the door to the smell of raspberry bars, lemon squares, peanut butter cookies, brownies and hot tea/coffee.
Today we ventured out to the Amish country and was just mesmerized by the beautiful farm land, the horse drawn buggies and all of the great baked goods. We bought and ate our first Shoefly pie. We ended up going back and buying one to bring home with us. Tomorrow, we head to Hershey for me to surround myself in chocolate everything. Actually, today we went to Wilber’s chocolate Factory in Lititz, a little community which is known for their chocolate. Wilber’s was around before Hershey and their “chocolate buds” (just like Hershey kisses were made long before Hershey kisses) are really good. Driving into Hershey today, I was like a little kid, when we saw all the street lights shaped like Hershey Kisses. My kind of town! Randy and I are having a glorious time just adventuring to places we have heard about, but never been. I had not been to Amish country in 43 years and it has changed so much. The beauty is just a great reminder of how amazing our Creator is and all the beauty He gives us for our enjoyment.
Tomorrow, we are headed to see a life size replica of the Jewish Tabernacle, which is in Lancaster. It is a 45 minute tour of which we are thrilled to be able to see. When we leave this exhibit, we will head over to see the Hershey Hotel and Chocolate town, where I plan to pick up, well, let’s just say that if you come to visit me, you might see signs of Hershey all over my kitchen, mixed in with the mementoes we stuffed into our trunk at Paula Deens. Tomorrow night, I will wipe all the chocolate off my face after we leave Hershey Town and come home and post our findings. Until then, have a piece of chocolate and think of all the blessings which God has given you. of course, one of those being…chocolate!