Pennsylvania Travels

If you are looking for a long weekend trip, I recommend a visit to the Philadelphia and Lancaster County area.

Mid-July, my husband and I traveled to Pennsylvania to visit some wonderful friends who had moved to Birdsboro and do some sightseeing while we caught up.  We luckily had an uneventful flight from St. Louis, connecting in Atlanta, despite all the recent horror stories of delays and cancellations.  I usually prefer direct flights, but they weren’t an option so we kept our fingers crossed!

We arrived in Philadelphia on a Thursday evening and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at The Goat’s Beard restaurant, which had a great variety of New American fare, with fresh takes on old favorites.  We were tired after our day of travel so we called it a day so we would be ready to explore the next morning.

The following day we spent time driving through Lancaster County, which neighbored our friend’s county of residence.  To me, one of the most surprising things about the Amish homesteads was the number of tan or beige houses.  The small Amish communities in Illinois that I have visited have always had bright white houses.  There were lots of Amish-run businesses to visit, as well as countless Pennsylvania Dutch restaurants.  The rolling hills were beautiful, and we passed many Amish working in their yards, children playing, and those traveling in horse and buggies.  I loved all the clotheslines full of freshly laundered clothing blowing in the breeze.  While we wandered on our own, there were Amish tour buses, horse and buggy rides, and an Amish Village you could visit for interactive fun.

From there we visited several small towns with boutique and antique shopping, historic homes, art galleries, and unique small dining experiences.  One such town was Lititz, where we spent quite a bit of time, and I may or may not have picked up a few antiques.  Because I flew Southwest, I was able to take along an empty suitcase for anything I might find!

Saturday was a great adventure.  We boarded a train for a 2 ½ hour ride to Jim Thorpe, PA.  I had never heard of Jim Thorpe before so in case you haven’t, I’m going to give you a short history lesson.  He was a medal-winning athlete in the 1912 Olympics and excelled in many sports after, playing both professional baseball and football.  Born in Oklahoma and of Native American descent, his wife lobbied officials in Oklahoma to erect a memorial in his honor after his death, which they refused.  Angry, she heard of a town in Pennsylvania looking to attract businesses and tourists so she offered to sell them his remains with the condition of renaming the town and building a monument, which they did.

 In addition to an interesting history, Jim Thorpe is an awesome little town full of shops and restaurants, and the area is known as Little Switzerland, seeming to exist in a time-warp. We ate lunch at the Notch 8 Craft house, and I can’t say enough good things about it.  With seating for probably 20 people maximum, the food was delicious, and they offered craft cocktails made with fresh herbs and flowers. 

Our final day was spent in Philadelphia prior to our flight home.  We did a tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary, which was the world’s first true penitentiary and housed Al Capone.  It’s vaulted sky-lit cells held around 80,000 men and women in almost 24-hour-a-day isolation.  It was a great tour, and I highly recommend it. 

Of course no trip to Philadelphia is complete without a sighting of the famous steps Rocky climbed, a visit to Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. 

We finished our time in Philadelphia at an old fire house turned restaurant, which was exceptional.

Although we were only gone a short time and couldn’t see near all there was to see, we had a great time and came home refreshed.  Never underestimate the power of a small trip! 

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