I Love Lancaster

 On Tuesday, we left Devil's Backbone headed for the Lancaster area. The GSP tried to send us back the crazy route we came, but we knew the way to head out and eventually the GPS picked us up and showed us the correct route. There was no way we were going to go up and down those hills again. It was a nice drive to get back to I 81. The forest and mountains were so beautiful, 

It took us about 5 hours to get to the Lancaster/New Holland KOA campground. We stayed here many years before when it was privately owned by a woman that yelled at everyone for stepping on her grass. It had terrible reviews and it was much smaller then. They had only sites overlooking the Amish countryside. We usually stay at Beacon Hill Campground in Intercourse, but they were fully booked, so this KOA was it for this trip. KOA has made some great improvements and added a lot of new sites. We are so glad they have new ownership.

The check in was easy and the lady at the desk gave us some cookies from the bakery across the street as a welcome gift. They were yummy. We had a back-in spot near the woods with a nice view. After we hooked everything up Bentley and I sat outside watching and listening to the birds. Finnegan came out in his Cat in a Bag and sat in my lap for a while.

For dinner we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, etc. David had smoked it on the smoker at home and it was delicious. It was an early night for us.

Wednesday morning, we went to Shady Maple, our very favorite grocery. It's like a HUGE Amish Whole Foods. I can't even describe how much of everything they have there. Their vegetables are big and fresh, and they have a tremendous variety. 

Numerous varieties of lemons, limes, oranges. Their sweet potatoes are huge.

                       Their limes were large and perfect. The limes at our grocery look nothing like these.

                                                            Cabbages, asparagus and carrots.

                                                       Watermelons.

This is about half of their variety of a potatoes.

Packages of Sugar Plums, raw coconut, dates, figs. Items that aren't in my regular store.

The two things we really came for are their homemade Chicken Pot Pies and their Whoopie Pies. BUT THEY HAD NO Chicken Pot Pies. Maybe they bake them on certain days. They have a huge bakery and all kinds of cakes, breads, cookies and WHOOPIE PIES.

  This is only one display with their Whoopies. We bought a few packages as we can freeze them for later. Here are some we bought. The top are the jumbo Whoopies and the bottom regular size. You'll notice there are 2 missing of the regulars. Wonder where they went???? I remember several years ago we came to Shady Maple before eating lunch and we were so hungry we opened up a package and ate 2 each before leaving the parking lot.

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                                   We bought 2 tomatoes. These things are 5" wide. 

     This is a fraction of their deli cheese selection. I can't even tell you how big the meat selection was. They have a fresh deli with home cooked foods. Oh my. This is the ultimate store and the prices for the most part are very good.

For lunch we had a salad with one of our home grown cucumbers and a Whoopie pie. Later Finnegan and I sat outside and then Bentley and I went for a walk around the campground. It's so beautiful here.

Finnegan was a little concerned because of the clippity clop from the Amish horses and buggies and the manure smell from the farms across the way. You have to love this area.