Our Last Day in Intercourse

 We had a very relaxing day on our last day here. We sat outside with Riley, watching the horse & buggies go by. Since it was Saturday, the Amish were out in full force, running to town, back and forth, getting all their task finished before Sunday. On Sunday, most everything is closed, and the Amish members go to another member's house for church service and a get together afterwards. They drive their best buggy in their best clothes to meeting on the Sabbath.

If I can't fit all these videos on my blog, I'll post them on my you tube channel.

Well, I can't get any of them to work, so here is the link to my short videos.

Channel content - YouTube Studio

We went to eat lunch at The New Holland Family Restaurant and on the way home I stopped by another quilt shop I had never been to before, Cedar Lane Dry Goods and Quilts. I was looking for a 1/2" bias binding tool and they didn't have it. I don't think they even knew what I was talking about. I did find 2 Amish quilt patterns that were really nice. They were $5, and a bargain.

After that we went to Lapps for fresh ice cream. It was delicious as always. When we pulled into the campground, there were 2 Amish girls pulling a wagon full of their baked good for sale. They have been doing this for years at this campground. They used to come through with a horse and wagon, carrying the baked goods in the wagon, but the campground has gotten so crowded, it's hard to maneuver the horse and wagon, so now they just use a small wagon that they can pull. I saw some apple dumplings that I just had to have.

We'll save them for breakfast. YUMMMM.

No dinner for us after all that.

It was sad to be leaving Intercourse. It is one of very favorite places to be. The people are so nice and the food and shops are wonderful.

Our stop the next day is at Candy Hill Campground in Winchester, VA, First, we have to get gas and hook up the car to the motorhome. Even there, there were great views.

                                   Molly and Riley say, they are ready to hit the road.

More Time in Intercourse.

 There are so many quilt shops in this area, and we have many favorite places to visit. Our first visit was to Shady Maple. They have a huge, all you can eat buffet with lots of delicious foods and a huge gift shop in the basement. We went there many years ago, but they have just too much food for us. So, we skipped the buffets.

On the same property they have the Shady Maple grocery, which is an Amish grocery the size of Walmart. We love the variety of Whoopie Pies and their deli chicken pot pies, their vegetables and their section of meats. They have regular packaged meats, and about a 60' long butcher counter of fresh meat. We noticed about 12-15 varieties of potatoes in the produce section. We are amazed every time we go there.

When we walked in the door the first thing we saw was that they were having a Whoopie Pie celebration with about 200-300 Whoopie Pies of all favors and varieties.

We always buy plenty to freeze and take home with us. Thank goodness we have a French door full size refrigerator. 

Their vegetables are incredible. I have never seen such vibrant and plumb food. They almost look fake, they are so perfect.

                                 Cauliflower!!! The cauliflower in my store does not look like that.

                                                               Cabbage. 

                                                                   Varieties of peppers.

                            In the hot dog section, we found foot long hot dogs and buns. Oh my.

In the bakery section, an employee was cutting up a 10" Whoopie Pie for free samples. This store is overwhelming.

We also went next door to Goods Store, which is a Walmart type store, but without food. They have a huge fabric area, selling quilt fabric and dress fabric for the Amish and Mennonites.  I asked the girl working there if they had any canvas fabric as I need to replace the leaders on my 2 longarm machines. Not only did they have it, but it was $3.50 a yard. I bought the whole bolt of 13+ yards. Unbelievable.

I was also able to visit several quilt shops in the area. Family Farm Quilts was next door to the campground. It is a small shop and like all the shops in this area they sell premade quilts and handmade items on consignment from the Amish and Mennonites. I saw this one upstairs and it and the one on the wall were quite striking.

I also visited Log Cabin Quilts, I haven't visited there in many years and I was so impressed with what I found. Tons of fabric, quilt kits, patterns and quilting items. I would definitely come back here,

Next was Bird In Hand Quilts, right down the road. I used to go their because they had a nice selection at good prices, but the Amish or Mennonite man that worked there was so rude, He didn't speak to you and acted like you were an imposition in being there. After a couple of times visiting there, I stopped going. Well, they have completely updated the store. Nice ladies work there now. They have painted, new flooring and rearranged everything. The have lots of dress fabrics and quilting fabric and I found bolts of microfiber fabric in many colors. That was a great find.

The main quilt store now in Intercourse is The Old Country Store. They have a huge selection of fabric and sewing notions. Too bad I don't have a project in mind to look for fabric. There are so many great places to shop.

After quilt shop shopping, I walked across the street to one of my favorite places, The Immergut Hand Rolled Pretzel Shop. Warm delicious pretzels right out of the oven. I bought 2 cinnamon and sugar ones and headed back to the motorhome. We really enjoyed them.

On Thursday, we had to go back to shade Maple for a couple of things and more whoopie pies. Glynda had put in a special request for chocolate with peanut butter. We were surprised to see that that had a lot of new flavors that weren't there the day before. More WHOOPIES.

We also went to Zincks fabric outlet. They used to have every type of fabric you could think of. They had quilting fabric, dress fabric, Minky, fleece, lace, sequin fabric, upholstery fabric. I saw the perfect mocha colored upholstery fabric to recover our dinning seats in the motorhome, so I bought the bolt. They have closed off about half of the store, so they don't have as much as before.

David found a good place for local IPA beer to try. It's been a good couple of days all around.

No visit to Intercourse would be the same without a visit to Stoltzfus Meats. Their selection is   incredible. The first time we ever visited this area, Ryan was about 8 or 10 years old. One of the things we did was take a ride on the Steam engine train and go to an Amish farm for a meal. The food was so good, and we sat at long tables with everyone else and we were served family style. We couldn't get over how fresh and delicious the food was. I believe it was the Stoltzfus Farm where we ate.

 Here is their story.

Stoltzfus Meats - Our Story - YouTube

We leave on Sunday, to make our way back home.

Intercourse, PA. In One of Our Favorite Campgrounds

 I have really been deficient in posting about our trip. We moved on Monday to Beacon Hill Campground in Intercourse Campground. This one and the KOA Campground in New Holland, PA are our favorites. The KOA is a much nicer one, and even though I made reservation back in March, I couldn't get into that one. They have really expanded it since it has become a KOA, but our dates of arrival just didn't work with their availability. They are out in the country in a much quieter setting, with more spacious RV sites. 

So, we made reservations at Beacon Hill and moved over to on Monday. We went the back roads to avoid the small-town traffic and see the beautiful countryside. Lots of corn along the way and lovely Amish farms.

                                               

Beacon Hill is within a mile of the touristy area in Intercourse, but closer to several quilt shops and other shops. It's on a little corner, right across from Sam's Farm, an Amish farmer, with quite a large farm. We like to stay here and watch the goings on at the farm. He has quite a few children that all work the farm and depending on the time of year you can watch him tending to the corn fields, his tobacco barn, bringing in the cows, feeding the chickens and horses, etc. Most of the time our site is right across from his farm where it is nice and quiet and you can watch the Amish buggies going up and down the hill next to us. This time our site was right on the corner of the campground on Beacon Hill Rd and Newport Rd. Newport RD is a major road for everything, including large noisy trucks and cars, as well as the clippity clop of the Amish horses and buggies. So, it's very noisy and the kitties can't go out with all of this activity.

We arrived on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday our friends, Madonna and Jim were driving up from Rockville, MD (a 2.5 hr drive) to visit. They do this every time we come up. They have so much going on right now. They are moving to Denton, TX next month into a new house they are having built. Moving is not fun with all of the packing, getting your house on the market and trying to time everything just right. It's very stressful. We're so grateful they could come up.

When they arrived, we had a long chat in the motorhome and then went for lunch at Lapps Valley Farm and Creamery. We used to go to their farm for fresh ice cream, but since we were here last, they have built a big new building just down the road where they also have a cafe. Well, it wasn't what we expected at all. They had a small menu, where you ordered at the counter. At least they had a seating area where we could have our lunch and talk. We had a great time catching up. Since they are moving soon, we have no idea if we will ever see them again.

Madonna also brought us some delicious peanut butter cookies and a special candy rose that she made. There's no end to her talents.

There is a one room Amish school right across the way. In mid-morning the kids all have recess and go outside and play ball. I took this picture when school was out, and the boys were walking home.

We love this area. Right in front of us is Kings Homestead Furniture. They have so many beautiful things, not just furniture. We bought a really unique lamp there several years ago.

More on our visit here, later. Got to go feed the kitties

A Little Time to Relax

 Now that the quilt show is over, we have no schedule or plans other than enjoying our time here. The campground is very nice. During the week, it is not busy, but on the weekend, it is full. There was a group of 3 RVs that were together, behind us and they cooked together and partied together. One of the was cooking in an aluminum pan over their campfire. Never seen that before.

Saturday morning, we had a nice breakfast in the MH. We just got an air fryer, before the trip and were anxious to see what we could cook in it. We're still learning.

The kitties love looking out the door and windows at the leaves blowing, people walking by, kids swinging in the playground, and staring up at the leaves on the trees. They aren't that close to trees at home, so these really amaze them.

Today and Sunday, I actually had time to take the sewing machine out and work on a project I bought with me. We had a folding table that worked perfectly for my sewing, ironing and cutting. I put it in the bedroom and sat on the bed, so it worked out fine.

We sat outside with the kitties and Mollie, and I went for a little walk. Riley is happier outside than Mollie, but she does OK with it. 

Next stop, Intercourse, PA.

The AQS QUILT SHOW

 On Thursday, we went out for breakfast at The Kountry Kitchen Diner. Again, we had homemade corned beef hash and eggs. The food and service were great.

David dropped me off at the quilt show and went back to the campground to spend time with the kitties. 

The show was very nice and there were some incredible quilts. Many, I have seen before. Many were from Japanese quilters. They had a display of Pat Holly's quilts which had so much intricate design and small appliqued pieces. True works of art.

I'll share as many pictures as I can.

There weren't as many vendors participating this year. I did see a few new items but didn't really buy much. 

After David picked me up, we went to Burkholder's Fabrics. They are way out in the country on this side of town and always have a great selection of fabrics. I even came home with a dozen farm fresh eggs from their farms.

Riley and Molly were enjoying the window and dashboard.

Next Stop is Pinch Pond Campground in Manheim, PA

 It was a couple of hours drive to our next stop, but it was not a pleasant one. The traffic was horrible, and we had to take part of the loop around Baltimore (695) and them go north on 83 into PA. Once we were near Lancaster the drive was all small roads with lots of traffic. Our reason for staying here was the AQS quilt show at the sports stadium.

This was our first time staying in Manheim and on this side of town. The campground was actually north of Lancaster. The staff here were very welcoming. The gentleman at the gate was very nice and an ex-Marine like David & he was very friendly & chatty. I went in to get the information and the map . They gave us a gate card without having to pay anything. Another man showed us to our site. It was plenty big; some shade and in a good spot.

After we settled in, we took out the kitty strollers and sat outside with them. I even took Molly for a ride around the campground. 

I went over to check out the laundry room, which is open 24/7. The washers were $1.50 to wash and $150 to dry. Pretty cheap by other campground standards. We will need to do laundry here with those prices. It looks like it's going to be a nice stay here.

The next morning, we went out for breakfast at a diner close by. The food was plentiful and reasonably priced. We both had the corned beef hash and eggs. The rest of the day we sort of did some clean up and relaxed, sitting outside with Molly and Abigail and leaving Riley inside.

Tomorrow is the quilt show.

Rambling Pines Campground in Woodbine, MD

 The drive through Virginia and Maryland was really beautiful with the lush greenery and wide, hilly meadows. It was a pleasant drive,

Our next stop was Rambling Pines Campground. It was our in a rural area and it had lots of amenities listed on their website as I was checking before making reservations. They also had lots of rules, rules, rules. There was a gate and gate house, but no one there. I had to get out of the MH to go and press the button to tell them we were there to register. We got through the gate, and I went into the office. I gave the girl my name and she wanted my driver's license to copy it. That's a first for me. In 18 years of RVing no one has ever copied my driver's license, and no one has ever had a check in time after 3pm. OK. Then they wanted our car tag number, OK, and a complete registration form filled out even though I did that online already. I had to sign saying I agreed to their rules, but they didn't tell me or give me a list of their rules. I asked about a gate card to get back in and the girl asked if I would be coming back about 8pm when the office was closed. I said I had no idea, so I needed a gate card. She said it was $40 CASH and I would get it back if I returned it. She gave me a map with no info about the campground, i.e, garbage pickup, laundry or their amenities. They did not show us to our site, but we finally found it, which was shaded, under trees. When we went to hook up the water, the hook up was in a well like hole in the ground and hard to get to. That's another first for us.

They had cable TV, but the cable was a male end and so was our cable, so we had to find an adapter to hook it up. The setting was very nice, but the rules, staff and lack of information was not. 

We were staying for 2 nights. We had friends nearby that were coming to visit the next day. The kitties had a great time sitting out in their strollers, looking for squirrels. Acorns were everywhere, so there must be squirrels.

We had to make a run to Walmart for a few things, but we did enjoy the campground, minus all the rules and unwelcoming staff. We bought a small carpet cleaner at Walmart to clean our carpets. They haven't been cleaned in a good while and the large cleaner we have at home is just too big to get into some of the tight areas in the MH.

Our friends, Ellen and Mike came over about 6:30 and we had a great time chatting with them. They have a gorgeous Maine Coon named Sid and another beautiful rescue cat named Larry. Ellen and I have been FB friends for a long time, and this is the first time we have met. It was a great visit & I'm so glad they could come over to see us.

The next day, I had to do some laundry, and they did have a nice laundry here, even though it was $4.50

 to do a large load and $3.00 to dry. Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!

Next to the laundry was a game room with was very nice. We noticed lots of things for kids to do here, ever though they didn't share that with us.

Molly says, she's resting up for her next adventure.