Girls Day to Lancaster

Regina, one of my friends from church, is currently hosting a girl named Teresa, who is visiting from Spain. Teresa is a chaperon for a group of teenage Spanish students who are living in the Wilmington, DE area for the month of July. Usually she will supervise the students for 3-4 group outings during the week, and spend her "days off" with Regina (while the students spend their days with their host families). Today was one of Teresa's off days, and Regina planned to take her to Lancaster County, PA. Long story short... another friend from church, Jaimy, and I took vacation from our jobs so we could join in the fun!

Regina set up an Amish tour for mid-morning. I wasn't at all sure what to expect, but this was a very unique excursion! We stayed in our vehicle and got a walkie-talkie from Kathy, the tour guide, to use between our vehicles. Then she spent the next 2 1/2 hours driving us around the Amish country, taking us to an Amish woodworking shop and an Amish home. We met two Amish families on our tour and saw lots of their beautiful craftmanship (in both woodworking and quilts).

After the tour and lunch we spent around 3 hours walking around Kitchen Kettle Village in the town of Intercourse. I don't particularly enjoy shopping, so I never would have imagined that I could spend that amount of time happily walking around shops! But there was a lot to see.

We went to The Canning Kitchen, where we were able to sample every sauce, dip, salsa, cheese spread, etc. that they sold. Yum! Regina and I spent quite a while in Dutchland Galleries and discovered we appreciate similar types of paintings. (Check out their website to view some of the paintings we saw! One of my favorite artists was J. Wayne Bystrom.) Then, at my suggestion, we effectively ruined our dinners by finishing the day with homemade ice cream from Lapp Valley Farms!

I'm thanking the Lord for the blessing of friendship. What an enjoyable girls day out!