After the bathroom fiasco, we were able to start our road trip to Lancaster, PA. The drive was pretty uneventful except at one point we had to take a detour due to a pretty bad accident that closed down rt 222. Other than that, it was smooth sailing.
B & B
We arrived at our destination, The Walnut Lawn Bed and Breakfast in a couple of hours. We met the caretakers/owners, Tom and Sarah, who showed us our rooms and gave us a tour of the building. The hubs, Saya and I had a pretty nice room. It was cutesy, country decorated as you can imagine it would be in Lancaster County with handmade Amish furniture and quilts. There was a queen size bed, a sofa bed, 1/2 bath and even a balcony. The main bath for us was outside the room but it was only our bathroom which was nice. My MIL had her own room down the hall. Her room was a queen size bed with a full bath, also nice. I think it really was what I had expected a B & B to be.
Some Exterior pics
Front
Caretaker's quarters
Front - With Saya included :)
Rear - closed in gazebo
Here are a few pictures of the inside of our room:
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Always bring toys for the munchkins!
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One of the things that made our stay at this B & B very much enjoyable was Tom and Sarah. They are one of the most nicest people we have ever met and funny too! They really made you feel at home and not at a hotel. They are just great people! On top of that is Sarah's AMAZING breakfast! O.M.Goodness! It was a wonderful feast.
On Sunday before check-out, we were all (including other guests) invited for breakfast at 8:30am. We sat at a family size table in the dining room. Here we got converse with the guests and owners while enjoying a wonderful meal. It really felt like we have known everyone for years.
OK, back to the meal! Here is what was on the menu that day was:
- Cantaloupe topped with Vanilla Yogurt
- Scrambled Eggs
- Bacon (perfectly made I may add)
- Potato & Sweet Potato hash
- Baked French Toast (OMG)
- Peach Muffins
- Peach and Mango Salsa
- Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Pudding filling for dessert
Can you see why we loved the meal so much? It really was made with love! I will be providing a small review of this B & B in a later post, so check back later.
Shopping
The whole reason we came to Lancaster in the first place was for their outlet shopping and oh my did we shop till we drop. The hubs was in charge of keeping Saya busy as my MIL and I went shopping for little miss. It was great that the Rockvale Outlets had kids in mind as they had two outdoor playgrounds for them to play in. So that is where little miss and hubs disappeared to while we got our shop on.
Our intentions were to go Fall/Winter shopping since this little girl has everything imaginable for the Summer but we didn't have such luck. This was kind of surprising since usually during the season, they usual have the next couple of season's out. So we did our best and really ended up with more Summer clothing but she got some toys as well. We even got a cute little number from the Gymboree outlet for our family's Memorial Day picnic (pictures to come). Think Navy Tutu with red and white stars and a cute red tank for it.
One of the things Saya really needed was PJs and of course Carter's was our savior. They had tons of PJ's. The only problem we had was getting the right size for the onesie with feet PJ's. For some reason they run huge! I'm totally serious about this. The 2T PJs looked tall enough to fit my 5 year old nephew, no kidding! So we settled for the 24 month PJs which will be big but it should work for Fall. Anyone else have this same issue with Carter's?
Long's Park
When we finished with shopping, my MIL really wanted to do something else. Dutch Wonderland (1 mile from the outlets) was closing in a half-hour so that was out of the question. So we decided to go to Long's Park. Long's Park may be Lancaster's largest public park. We've went there for an Arts and Crafts fair for our 1 year anniversary trip. A beautiful park! What's also special about this park is that it was the park my hubby as a child would go to so they could play. My MIL would take them every weekend during the Summer so that they can enjoy the day. A special place for both him and his brother where they have tons of memories. I have to say, it is really cool for me to be able to see where the hubby spent some of his childhood. It makes it special for me too. We just can't wait until Saya can understand this and enjoy it too!
After shopping and visiting Long's Park, we picked up dinner for my MIL and Saya and dropped them off at the B & B for the night. It was time for Date Night #2 for Mommy and Daddy!
Date Night #2
While I was freshening up, the hubs was going through the Lancaster magazine trying to come up with a place for us to have dinner. There were so many places to choose from it was overwhelming, so the hubs made the decision that we were going to John J. Jeffries (JJJ) in the Lancaster Arts Hotel in downtown Lancaster.
We've seen JJJ before when we stayed in the Arts Hotel for our 1 year wedding anniversary. It was a unique but lovely hotel! Unfortunately, since Saya was all of maybe 3 months when we stayed at the hotel, we didn't get to experience JJJ. I am not joking about the JJJ experience! It was SUPERB!
We enter the restaurant and sit at the bar waiting for a table to open. We are totally under dressed (me in a t-shirt, jean skirt and croc flats and the hubs in shorts, t-shirt and socks with Jordan sandals) but no one seems to notice other than other patrons (screw them and their tighty undies!). Anyway, we get our table for two and was assigned Miss Ellen as outrwaitress. Miss Ellen was wonderful! So cheery and smiley but the perfect balance!
Let me preface the talk about their dishes and say that JJJ is an Organic, local and fresh restaurant. We've never eaten at such an eatery but man oh man was it great. You could totally tell the difference!
Getting back on track... Miss Ellen brought us a unique "bread" plate. It was homemade fresh Foccia strips, mini banana muffins and something new they were trying, a raspberry smoothie of some sort in a Chinese soup spoon. Every single piece including the smoothie was delish!
Next up was what they call the "Small Plate". This is their appetizers. EVERYTHING sounded amazing but in the end we chose their "Pork Belly Love". Here's another O.M.G! It was truly an amazing experience!
It was:
A small piece of Pork Belly lying on top of stone ground grits that were lying on top of a Johnny Cake (corn cake for the folks that don't know) with real maple syrup! That was some serious stuff! The hubs and I were amazed at how yummy it was. I'm actually drooling right now. Oy!
Again, their selection of "Large Plate" dishes was outstanding as well. They had sides like garlic potato puree/mashed potato + fried livengood potatoes + duck fat potatoes + chimichurri sauces + risottos to compliment chicken, steak, salmon and so much more! Enough to have a hard time choosing!
In the end, hubs chose a Baked Chicken dish drizzled with a chimichurri sauce that was on top of fried livengood potatoes mixed with greens and onions and I chose the Thistle Grass Fed Dry Aged Steak that also came with the livengood potatoes mix. Both dishes had a very nice amount of food for the prices and again they were so delicious! My steak was so thick that even when I cut skinny pieces I had huge amounts of steak in my mouth! One thing to note is that the hubby does not eat Chicken at restaurants because of getting food poisoning twice but he was in love with this chicken! Yes, in love! I just couldn't believe he chose it over the Salmon since he is a Salmon eating man when we go to a steak house. Anyway, these dishes were so good, I can't even explain how they really were. Totally memorable! We will be back!
As you can imagine, we were pleasantly stuffed. BUT since we were there we had to at least take dessert back home. We chose the yummy sounding Girl Scout Tagalong Cheesecake! You know what? We never got to eat it!! We totally left it in the cooler and forgot about it until days later. I know, BOO to us! Well I guess it gives us another reason to come back. If you are looking for something different, then you should go too! :)
And that my friends was the end of The Weekend: Part II...on to the next!
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