I got a lot of sight-seeing suggestions from this website: http://www.padutchcountry.com/index.asp . A word to the wise - the information on the website is not up to date. We followed their "Covered Bridge tour: Lititz" and realized after multiple failed attempts to locate the Keller's Mill Covered Bridge that either we were nuts or it had vanished into thin air. Upon some Internet research later that evening, we discovered that the bridge had been dismantled and removed due to instability. Thanks for the wild goose chase, assholes!
Our Itinerary (October 5 - October 8, 2012)
This wasn't a very go-go-go kind of trip so in the interest of getting down to the nitty gritty I'm going to do a high/low version of events.
Highlights:
Our B&B: Silverstone Inn & Suites
This is probably one of the nicest B&Bs we've had the pleasure of visiting. The hosts are extremely good at reading people and left us to our own devices instead of talking our ears off. The house was luxurious, clean, and homey. There were plenty of common spaces that were available to guests, including a coffee bar. Our room was rustic but also clean and modern. The breakfasts were delicious! We had three breakfasts with them and I suppose the most unique of the options was the host's Dutch pancakes - he's originally from Holland. One area of needed improvement: afternoon snacks. This is the first time we've been to a B&B where afternoon nibbles weren't available. Another downside, the B&B is not within walking distance to downtown Lancaster. You have to have a car to get around.
Dinner:
We had two fabulous/out of this world meals while we were in Lancaster. Our first dinner was at Checkers Bistro. Checkers seemed a little out of place to me. When we walked in and saw the bartender mixing fancy drinks and people sitting at candlelit tables, I thought we were in Manhattan. To be frank, the ambiance was a little stuffy. Once we put that aside, we really enjoyed our food. Evan had crab cakes with potato gratin and spinach. I had the special, which was Chilean sea bass with a miso glaze and sweet black rice with spinach. The fish was melt-in-your-mouth good. And I've never had sweet black rice before. It was definitely interesting.
Our anniversary meal was at Fenz (permanently closed as of January 2018). Evan and I agreed that this was probably some of the best food we've ever had or at least, in recent memory. We skipped lunch so we could go all out. We started with deviled eggs and quickly figured out that we'd need to double our order. Evan got roasted chicken with cheese polenta and green beans while I got "Julie's Meatloaf" with baked macaroni cheese and green beans. The meatloaf was incredibly flavorful and the baked mac & cheese was a dream come true. It was totally worth blowing all my WW points on this meal. To conclude our revelation of a meal, Evan got three flavors of sorbet while I got the creamy and decadent cheesecake. Seriously, I would go back to Lancaster just to eat at Fenz again.
Tourist Attractions:
We began our trip with a covered bridges tour. I wouldn't necessarily call this a "highlight" of our trip but I think it's something that some people might enjoy. It's not exactly riveting stuff but it does give you the opportunity to drive through the Amish countryside.
We also spent some time in Lititz, which we affectionately dubbed Le Tits. It just so happened they were having a Chocolate Walk so the town was pretty packed.
Case in point:
We also fed some ducks:
Our favorite tourist attraction was the Stoudtburg Village. It's a residential/commercial property that is modeled after a Bavarian village. It's SO cute and quaint and it really felt like being in Bavaria.
Last but not least, we did a Ghost Tour in downtown Lancaster. It was cold and drizzly and completely dark when we met at 8:00pm . Our guide, Fran, was great. I actually felt really badly for her because our group was a collective dud. I could tell she kept trying to get us into it but what can I say? She got stuck with six introverts. I did actually enjoy myself. I'm not really into the whole ghost thing but all of the ghost stories had an historical basis and I'm a history fan. If this is your kind of thing, I'd recommend doing it early on in your trip because it's a good way to get oriented with downtown Lancaster.
In retrospect, I wish we had done some kind of Amish-related tour. Maybe next time. It wasn't the most exciting weekend but at least we got a chance to relax and catch up with one another.
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