Road Trip! Part I

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Jim [Boyfriend] actually had the day off, so we decided to go on a road trip!

(This road trip blog will be given in a series because our day was so full of fun activity, it will never fit in one blog post!)

So, where to go.....for some reason we had a difficult time figuring that out this time.

Finally we decided to just get into the car and drive. I was thinking we could just go for a drive through the Amish farmlands, something that I have never specifically set out to do (although impossible not to do when you live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.)

We set out on Rt. 501 North from Lancaster. We wanted to see how far it went and where it led. (By the way, not really that far....)

For those of you who may not have ever been on a road trip where you just hop in your car and let the road take you where it may, I highly encourage you to give it a try. I know gas is expensive right now and shows no signs of getting less expensive, but we filled up our tank and drove all day and our only other expense was lunch and waters, and we had one of the best days ever.

We are driving up Rt. 501 and were having a delightful time. We came to this sweet town, Schaeffersville (maybe spelled wrong, and perhaps it's Schaeffertown? I really need to start a travel journal to keep track of these things)

What is perhaps my favorite thing about off-the-beaten-track road trips (by that I mean off of the express ways) is all of the quaint little towns you go through that you would have never noticed or realized that they were even there had you traveled on the highway.

Somewhere around Schaeffersville, or perhaps in the town itself, we saw a sign for the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. So we decided to check it out!

It was the so beautiful. There was a visitors center with lots of information. They had binoculars so you could look out into the wildlife area, which was a lot of fun. Also, they had a box of things to touch and feel like animal furs and antlers.

There was a beautiful collection of bird eggs, which was kind of amazing. Some of them look like little beads!

So there was a trail. We didn't make it very far. By "we" I mean me. I was wearing flip flops and a skirt, afterall! I wasn't expecting a hike on our road trip.

We did make it far enough to catch the great view, though.

Here are some beautiful flowers we came across there.


After coming back down the hill, we watched a bird and then we noticed a "swamp area." Actually, I think it was just a pond, but we are really not very outdoorsy and have no idea what anything is.At this pond, I saw the cutest thing ever! Baby duckies. I have tons more photos on my flickr of these duckies....I was obseesed.




After visiting the duck pond, we turned around and saw a horse and buggy! As many of you know, I live in Lancaster, PA, so this wasn't such a big shock necessarily, but we actually got a photo of it because it was parked and no one was in it. The Amish religion does not allow their followers to be photographed and I have respect for that. So here it is, a real life Amish horse and buggy:


So then we hit the road again.....



(my handsome driver)
More to come on our road trip! It was 9 hours, so there is a lot to see! There are about 150 photos of it on my flickr photostream, so if you can't wait to see the rest, check 'em out!

In the next installment: Centralia! (We went back!)

P.S. You can click on any of these photos to look at a larger one.