We departed from Lancaster, PA which is Jon’s hometown. Like Arlington, we have been able to spend a lot of time in Lancaster and have many favorite places. Prior to departing we stayed a few nights with Jon’s family and attended a friend’s beautiful outdoor wedding.

On this particular trip to Lancaster we took time to join Jon’s parents for the 10-mile Rail Trail. A beautiful new bike and running path a long the Susquehanna River and railroad tracks. The trail is very nicely maintained and ends with a view of a dam across the river. Its also very flat, something that can be hard to find in Pennsylvania.

Besides for enjoying the home cooked food Jon’s parents always graciously have prepared for us, we also had take-out crabs from the Chesapeake Crab Connection.

The first Friday evening of every month is downtown Lancaster’s First Friday. One evening a month when the art galleries that line Prince Street in Lancaster city open their doors for patrons to browser while enjoying a glass of wine. We were lucky that our timing coincided with First Friday. We went to Sunshine Art+Design, which is owned by our very talented friend Annie, and an great space which features artists, has a black room for local photographers, and sells funny cards.

We left Lancaster after attending an amazing outdoor wedding. Congratulations to Lauren and Andrew! The wedding featured an ice cream truck from Scoops and flavors such as Butter Brickle and Salted Caramel.

All of our camping gear and clothes for 4 months fit perfectly into our Subaru Forester without needing to put the back seats down!

Some of our other Favorites

• Chickie’s Rock – Some easy hiking to an overlook of the Susquehanna River.
• John J Jeffries – A fancy dinning experience that is delicious

Road Trip Begins

Our first official day on the road was to drive across southern Pennsylvania. We stopped early at the Haines Shoe House in York, PA. The Haines Shoe house is a real pick of roadside Americana. You can tour the house, or for $2.50 you can get a scoop of ice cream like we did.

Unfortunately the Pennsylvania Turnpike is the fastest route across the state and doesn’t offer much in the way of sites. Several spots of interest are located just off the turnpike if you are willing to pay the tolls. Because we were on our way to visit family we didn’t take the time to stop, but I will always highly recommend a detour to State College to those who have the time.

Also Try

• Somerset Exit- Unfortunately the city of Somerset in emptier each time I visit, however if you drive towards the mountains you’ll find several ski resorts with year round activities. Seven Springs has the Alpine Slide in the summer.
• Gravity Hill road side attraction.
• TIP:  Using an EZ-pass saved us $6 on tolls.

Chickie’s Rock Circa 2011

Turkey Hill Experience circa 2011