Travel Rewind: Groundhog Day!

 We went to Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania. The Weather Capital of the

World. If you are so inclined to take a visit, make it a stop. We did

and we did everything worth doing there in an hour. That's not to say

it's not a nice place, but if it's not Groundhog Day, the small town

doesn't have much to offer, entertainment wise. Unfortunately, the

film also made it look a lot cuter than it is. It sounds like I'm

dissing Punx, and I'm not. I'm justs saying...it's small. And you can

do it in an afternoon.

 GRIFF: Groundhog Day is one of my favourite films, so we had to visit Punxsutawny (I'll trust Ashleys spelling) and it was fun, but it seems like the touristness of the town is exclusively set up for just a weekend or 2 each year and would be a lot more fun during that time.

Philadelphia Magic Gardens

It did feel Magical. I think the Gardens could only be best enjoyed on a bright sunny day to see all the amazing light reflecting through the glass pieces. We didn't do anything else in Philly that day (we're trying to limit big city days- they're just too difficult and exhausting with Oz), but this was an easy enough stop. If you can, go there.

The National Christmas Center

In Amish country they have a National Christmas Center. It was a rainy afternoon and it seemed like a good idea to spend the day somewhere Oz could run around. When we arrived it was all but empty and we raised our eyebrows at the cost (it was something like $10 per person) but thought "what the hell? what else are we going to do today?"So we paid our admission and began.

The Center begins with the story of Yes, Virginia (which yeah, I got a little teary eyed!) and then sets off to tell you about all the different Christmas traditions and interpretations of Santa around the world. Then you proceed and see some wonderful Santas and ornaments.

There is a Santa's workshop full of toys and elves and at the end of the room is Santa's chair. I can only imagine the line up at Christmas when Santa is actually sat there.

Then there is a very "interesting" bit where it's a Christmastime story told thru a village of animatronic animals being very festive. Oz loved this whole section and spent a lot of time waving at all the animals. However, he did not like any animals actually being on eye level with himself and would dash away. It was cuteness overload.

The center ends with a nativity walk through where you would have retraced the steps of Mary and Joseph. Past that there is a whole room full of miniature nativities from around the world. My favorites were the African and Asian ones.

So it was a great visit. The gift shop was tiny, but we did buy a pickle for our Christmas tree.

It's odd visiting something like this. Either people will love it or hate it. Griff and I are unabashed Christmas fans. We love the decorations, traditions, shopping, music...all of it and we go all out every year. (If you asked Griff what his favorite type of music is, he will answer "Christmas music". He's very Scrooge in that he is the type of guy that keeps Christmas all year). So if you are a cynical anti-Christmas "it's soooooo commercial" type of person I wouldn't recommend it. I doubt it would thaw your tiny frozen heart.

We had an awesome time there and I was happy it was pretty much empty. It meant we could take our time and enjoy. We will definitely return.

Amish Country

We thoroughly enjoyed Intercourse, Pennsylvania and the surrounding area. The immediate tourist area wasn't great, but if you enjoy riding around in the car, it was totally worth taking the back roads and seeing the farms.

I completely splurged and bought a quilt. We called it an early birthday present. The quilts were all works of art and I could have spent hours looking at all of them (and wanting to wrap up in them). I bought this one out of a family's home and the woman was so kind and was just showing me as many as I wanted to see. She said it takes about 12-16 weeks for them to complete one quilt and each woman in the circle will work on a particular bit. She said her 86 year old mother does the edging. It amazes me they are able to part with them!

We spotted at another house where they were selling cheese and Root beer. Odd combo, but why not? So we bought cheese and root beer. I had never had home made root beer before and O it was O so good. I thoroughly enjoyed every last drop. Of course, the cheese was tasty too and went into a few of our pasta dishes over the next few weeks.

I loved seeing the horse and buggies all over town. I did try and be respectful and not take too many obvious tourist photos, and never of any of the Amish peoples faces. I had been told that they generally just ignore tourists, but when we were on the roads further out and we would pass someone on horse and buggy or out in their yards/farms, we received a lot of smiles and waves which was nice.

So Amish country so was a definite win and we will be going back again. Hopefully to buy another quilt and eat some more Shoo Fly Pie

Busy Days

Wow. It's really hard to blog on the road. We'll have days of being with internet access and then have none. But even then, internet is for a kick check of facebook and gmail and then it's on to doing something else. I will recap the best I can.

From Virginia we made our way to Baltimore, but it was a bit further out from DC then we liked. So we stayed a night in a Comfort Inn (which was nice because it was a Sunday so I was able to watch the new episode of True Blood and wash some diapers) then in the morning we did a bit of backtracking to the KOA outside of DC. There was call for rain so we spent the extra money and stayed in a Cabin. It was cute and had a little porch swing on the front porch. We were able to still cook all our meals, so it was kinda camping, kinda not. But our days went like this:

Wake up

Cook breakfast

Eat Breakfast

Make Lunch

Clean up

Get dressed

Head to the station

Metro into DC

Tourist Tourist Tourist

Head back to camp

Cook

Clean

Go to bed.

Rinse, repeat. It's go go go and it's hard to find a minute of quiet, but it's becoming clear that while it's important to go, it's important to rest. Especially for Ozzy.

After DC we made our way into PA and stayed at a really lovely park that I do no remember the name of. But we freakin' loved it. Much more scenic than KOA but still had bathroom facilities. Unfortunately while playing ball with Ozzy my back went out and I was stuck jack knifed over the car trying to convey to Griff that I was freaking the fuck out and couldn't stand up straight without scaring Oz. It sucked so badly and I was out the rest of the day in tent.

I'll take a minute to tell you how awesome my husband is. He did everything he possibly could to make me as comfortable as I could be. He went above and beyond to entertain and keep Oz happy, while also cooking and cleaning up camp. He is not afraid to step up and take care of his son and knows what he is doing. I have no idea what I would do without him. ANYWAYS....

While we had to cabin at KOA expecting rain, there was no rain. While camping in the park DID WE HAVE RAIN. I've heard the term "rolling thunder" but never really experienced it until you are sitting and listening to thunder nonstop going for a good 2o minutes. It was absolutely amazing. Oz was such a trooper tho. He wasn't afraid of the thunder at all, even when the storm was right on top of us. I wish I could say I slept better for it, but I didn't.

Backtracking a second, let me tell you about DC. It was a hard 3 days in the city and we STILL didn't see everything we wanted to. We are definitely going to go back (if anything, I need to see the staircase from The Exorcist!). We learned that the stroller is actually better than the moby in long day in the city trips and packing a lunch and taking it into the city is the way to go! O and buying bottle water OUTSIDE the city. We made that mistake only the once and never again.

Today we were in PA visiting some of my "imaginary" friends and bebehs and it was another nice relaxing day. My back is still fucked, but I can stand up straight so that's better, right? We are going to tough it out and camp out for 2 more days. I'm a crazy person and I want a hotel on sunday so I can watch True Blood. Priorities, eh?