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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Shopping in Lancaster County

We always enjoy visiting new towns and we especially like to see the historical downtown areas. So naturally, we wanted to see historic downtown Lancaster and had read that they had a self-guided walking tour. Just our thing. So off we went on Friday afternoon in our big Ford F-250 diesel long bed. We were equipped with a free map that was stapled inside one of those free brochures we got at the Welcome Center on the interstate. It looked like we could just zip right into the downtown area on the main road from Strasburg and be right were we wanted to be. The Visitor Center would have plenty of parking where we could leave the truck while we did the walking tour. Our plan began to unravel when the main road we were so confident about suddenly became a one-way in the wrong direction. We went with the flow of traffic turning first right and then left. Well, okay, we’ll just parallel the main road until we get to Prince Street then hang a left. The closer into downtown we got the narrower the road became. And the traffic was unreal. Lancaster has a population of only 56,000. There must have been twice that many cars on the road. The free map we had failed to list all the streets resulting in a real struggle to keep up with where we were. Finally, we saw a sign for Visitor Center Parking. We, of course, were on the wrong side of the road and had to beat our way over only to see that the Visitor Center Parking was a garage with a 6’5” clearance. We wouldn’t fit! We were still hopeful that the Visitor Center would have a parking lot, so around the block we go. After two circuits we saw the Visitor Center. Not only was there no parking lot, there was road construction forcing us to turn yet again where we didn’t want to go. This time we took it as a sign from above that we were not meant to be there.

We decided to head east to the tiny village of Bird-In-Hand. The drawing feature for us was the Farmer’s Market. It was easy enough to find and there was a huge parking lot. Yea! Gene hadn’t even gotten a cart before he spotted the Bird-In-Hand Bakery counter. The lady who sold him the Shoofly Pie pointed us to the snack counter where we could get a cup of coffee. She gave us napkins and plastic forks and we were on our way. In the market we also found some dried spices and a harvest soup mix we are anxious to try.

I purchased a star as a remembrance of our visit here. There are several “legends” of the star, but generally they are used either as a sign of love and respect for God and family, a symbol of our American heritage, or as a sign of good luck.

Gene spotted hats at one end of the market. He found one he liked in his size, but the brim was bent. The cashier sent us to their main store in the Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse—just 4 miles east. We found the place easily enough but so did all the rest of the people in the county. It is obviously the place to shop. There were so many cars, they had a gentleman directing traffic in the parking lot. He sent us to park in the grass under a tree. Sometimes we miss having a small car.

Gene found a hat he liked and I got a souvenir for myself and a start on my Christmas shopping. I think we’re done with shopping for now. Well, we’re still looking for that perfect piece of pie.

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