Chocolate and PA Dutch Cooking

My last blog should have been titled "Cape Cod to PA". I guess I lost track of where I was.

Our schedule changes sometimes on a daily basis. That's the beauty of being retired and flexible. Sunday we attended the church service at Hershey TT and then took the short trip to Palmyra on Rt 322 to eat at Funck's Family Restaurant. The food was excellent and atmosphere relaxing. We felt we needed to be full before going on to the city of Hershey to visit the Chocolate Works. We took the free tour that shows the process of chocolate making from cocoa bean to candy bar. It ends at the store where one can be tempted with all kinds of chocolate and souvenirs. We succumbed a little, then made our escape with wallet fairly intact. They offer 2 hour free parking and then charge after that. It was a good incentive for us not to dilly dally.

Monday was a rest day before we headed out again. After studying the map, we decided we'd find a campground near Lancaster rather than travel back and forth. We drove to Lancaster County on Tuesday and visited the Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, PA. There are many shops that have joined the original house where the jams and jellies were made in the garage in 1954 by Bob and Pat Burnley. In the "kitchen" you can observe the jams, jellies and relishes being made in large open kettles by local Amish/Mennonite women. Samples of these delicious items are available for tasting. It's a very effective form of salesmanship as everything we tasted we liked! We have a nice of variety of jams and relishes to last us quite a while. For more information on this intriguing place, you can check them out at www.kitchenkettle.com

Our appetite had been whetted by all this sampling, so we went to the Village Family Restaurant and enjoyed some local PA Dutch cooking. The chicken, broccoli and rice casserole with cole slaw was delicious. We strolled around to some of the local shops such as The Pretzel Factory and Valley Country Store. When we felt we had walked off enough of our lunch, we drove to Roamer's Resort Campground in Kinzers - just a few miles away. They are members of Passport America and Good Sam Parks. Our site is overlooking farmland - very peaceful.

This morning we drove into Lancaster to the Mennonite Information Center. The films I saw were very educational and I came away with a deeper respect for the Amish/Mennonite dedication to God and family. We have seen several farmers harvesting their corn crops with horse and wagon. They are truly a hard working people.

We asked for a recommendation of a good restaurant at the Center and were directed to Dienner's Country Restaurant in Ronks, PA. There are not enough words to adequately describe the bountiful buffet there. The foods were fresh and full of flavor. Gene started with dessert (he didn't want to be too full later to enjoy them) and I went for the salads. The creamed corn, chicken and egg custard were my favorite items, although everything was wonderful.

Feeling the need to move around to help digest, we walked through several of the stores looking at the variety of items available. I enjoyed looking at the Amish made furniture, but I didn't think Gene would let me tie a rocking chair onto the top of the rig.

We finally waddled back to the rig and came back to the campground. It has cooled off considerably (about 50 at 4:00), so the need to head South is becoming more urgent. We will go to Gettysburg tomorrow, unless we change plans again.

Until next time, God's blessings to all of you.