While I would not consider myself a travel blogger, I figured I give this a shot for my most recent trip.

This trip was a family trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for 5 days with a small side-trip to Philadelphia for a day, followed by a small trip to the mall King of Prussia for the last day.

I will be showcasing some images in this post, but they are un-edited RAW renders or from my phone, so they may not look great. The full edited picture may or may not be eventually posted to my photography page, as soon as I get around to editing them.

While this post may sound like a shill at times, these are my own opinions and what I truly though of the things.

Day 1, Hotel and Ice Cream

The first day was mostly a driving day from CT to Lancaster. Nothing intreating on the drive there.

The hotel we chose was “Home2 Suites by Hilton Lancaster”. We chose this because: A- We have booked with the brand beforehand, and know them as a reliable clean place, and spacious. B- The price was pretty good. C- The most important one, it has the option to book a room with two beds and a sofa bed. As a family of 3 with a preference to have our own beds, it is crucial for us to find a 3 bed hotel room as much as possible, which unfortunately isn’t common. Home2’s hotels generally have a 2-bed+sofa bed room, and I haven’t found a known alternative.

This particular hotel was also in the middle of where we wanted to generally go to on our trip. Without knowing ahead of time, it does have all kinds of stores close by, like within a 5 min drive or even a 15min walk, which was a nice to have.

After we arrived at the hotel and dropped our stuff off, we went out for ice cream at “Good Life Ice Cream & Treats”. The ice cream was sort of expensive, 8$ each, but was pretty darn good. Would do again.

Day 2, White Cliffs

On the first full day on arrival, technically the second travel day, we decided to go to view some odd-ball cliffs west of Lancaster.

Beforehand, we had breakfast at the hotel. Given it’s hotel food that is included, the food was pretty good. As I have a light stomach in the morning, I settled for some oatmeal and hashbrowns. The chain also has a waffle maker.

We parked over at “Riverfront Park” and walked along the trail to “White Cliffs of Conoy”, a 1.5 hour walk. The scenery along the trail was nice, mostly wheat farms. The wheat did not mature yet for harvest, so it was mostly green.

There was a bridge above us along the path crossing the Susquehanna River.

The water had a nice oscillation to it.

There was an eagle spotting area. We did see the nest, and minute eagle movements in the nest, but nothing beyond that. Arriving on the cliffs, it was an odd white rock area. I’m guessing there’s some historical reason behind it, but didn’t look it up. Still looks cool, can almost fit in for a lunar scene if it wasn’t for the background of trees and the river.

We did notice a lot more bikes than people. This was Memorial day, so I’m guessing families around the area bring their bikes for a joy ride.

After that we drove to civilization to a Walmart in Harrisburg to use the rest room. We were going to purchase snacks there, but decided not to as we have a Walmart next to our hotel.

We went out to eat at an “asian buffet”, Lin Buffet in Mechanicsburg. We stopped by the thrift store right next to it beforehand, found nothing of interest. The buffet was pretty alright, clean food is all I could ask for.

Day 3, Train and Smorgasbord

On this day we were planning to go some farms to visit, but turns out for some reason a lot of them were closed on Tuesday. So we headed for the Strasburg Railroad. Supposedly this railroad was an actual operation rail at it’s heyday, before being turned into a tourist attraction to keep it running. It was a cool experience. We booked first class (go big go home am I right?), with comfortable soft chairs. On the train we ordered a cracker and cheese sample, which was surprisingly good. Having sesame crackers was definitely the right choice for the place.

After that adventure, we headed to a goat petting “zoo” in Intercouse, PA, which was right next to a shopping area. The “zoo” was more of a playground for the goats, and you can buy food to feed them.

One of goats tried to grab unto one of my family member’s bright colored clothing, and it accidentally bit them a bit. Nothing too severe, but something to remember the place by. The shops nearby were nice. We didn’t get any food from them as we already knew where we wanted to eat, but I did buy this cute bird from one of the shop. Still made in China…of course <TODO: IMAGE>

Speaking of food, we planned it ahead of them, and thus headed down to the Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Supposedly the biggest buffet in the country. It was sort of expensive, at 30$ per head, but the food was excellent. There was less food variety than we expected given its size, but I would rather have less variety for higher quality food, which this was. They did have a lot of desert cakes, so definitely leave room for treats if you arrive there. I did like that they built in a 12% service fee on entry (oh yeah you pay on entry), and no further tips are requested as written in the table slip you get. I like this, more places should adopt this.

The Smorgasbord also had a pretty large shop right below the buffet. Interesting that they sold these 3d printed trinkets for 8$ each if I recall correctly. Talk about overpriced!

On the drive home I noticed and stopped by a RadioShack. I did not know physical store were still in existence. This one had two full-size traffic light on the outside as well as a vertical antenna laying around. Unfortunately it was closed, so I could not visit.

Day 4, Cave and Hershey

What did the 4th day bring us? Rain! It wasn’t a lot, but enough where we didn’t want to do any outdoor activities.

We drove north around Hershey. Before stopping by the city through, we went to the nearby Indian Echo Caverns. This was ~24$ per head for a 45 min tour guide, but I would say it is justified. The guide personal nicely explained the history about the cave and how caves in general form their structure. Something to do with water droplets allowing rocks to form downwards as well as upwards, at a rate of like 1in per century. This cave is also where the “Pennsylvania Hermit” resided in their later years of life. This cave was supposedly bough by a person in the 1900’s and work was done to add steps and gravel to allow tours similar to the one we went to. Unfortunately the Great Depression hit, so tourism died in the cave. The person who owned it sold it to a family in the 1940’s, who slightly remodeled it (added power for lights I think), opened it for tours, and kept it since then. The tour guide told us they worked for the granddaughter for the second owner who bough the cave.

After that nice cave tour, we headed to Hershey city. Yes it is true, the light fixtures are shaped like Kisses in the city. We knew we did not want to go the Park (we aren’t big amusement park fans), so after some driving we stumbled around the free Hershey World, which did have an entrance to the park. Something to keep in mind is parking is free…for 3 hours, in which after that 60$ is charged. I don’t think anyone not going to the park or stadium would spend more than 3 hours here, but something to keep in mind. Hershey World was just a store-front for their chocolates, but it did have a “ride” where they go through and explain how chocolate is made. I’m sure it’s all happy and jolly while details like potential slave labor is pushed under the rug.

Something about this park as a whole, and noticeable in the “ride”, is their 3d mascots are absolutely cursed. I mean look at this!

These mascots are also posted around the city in light post. Somebody should just re-do them.

Hershey World sold chocolate, and not just regular ones. There were a lot of odd-ball chocolates I have not seen beforehand, like PB&J Reeses, cotton candy Hershey, lemon KitKats, and more odd-balls. They also sold supposedly the world’s largest hershey bar, which we did not buy as we’ll have to transport it home, and did not want it to melt on the way. Plus I don’t think I can stomach that much chocolate.

They did have a restaurant thing nearby, we walked in and that’s about it.

For dinner, as we were full of buffet from the past two days, we decided on something light. We eventually decided on Mod Pizza, which was next to the hotel (another hotel bonus). This pizza chain was sort of a Subway for pizza, where you can pick toping and they would make it in front of you. The pizza was pretty good for a chain, the dough seems to be hand-made and pressed on the spot, and you can see the pizza pushed in and out of the oven for cooking. The pizza also tasted pretty good, not New Haven tier, but pretty good for cheap pizza.

Day 5, Farms

On the 5th day, we wanted to visit farms. We first stopped by Old Windmill Farm, but this was closed on that day. Our luck! We also tried the nearby Cherry Crest farm, but this was closed off due to a private event. We didn’t really care that much about this farm, as it seemed like borderline tourist trappy with their 50$ price tag to pet a fluffy cow on top of admission. I don’t know how the locals feel about it.

We stopped by the Toy Train museum. This was a showcase of historic model trains as well as some built sets. I’m not that much of a train enthusiast (yet!), but was cool nevertheless. I never realized how large an O gauge was until I saw it in person. For now I’ll stick to my N gauge at home….

After that, we were sort of lost as to what to do, so we drive around a bit to admire the landscape. For someone in the north-east, seeing relatively flat farmland was pretty neat.

After that small driving adventure, we drove to Stoudtburg Village. This was a nice village area, but the shops seemed closed on that day. Our luck again! It was still a nice walkthrough. We went inside a thrift store, where I bough some chap-stick; the store had a artisan section. Seems made from a local business, so if it works well for me I might just get some more. I would love to live here, with the small housing and the community and nearby shops, and there was a house for sale!

After that we drove to September farm. But before that, we stumbled across and made a stop for some park I cannot remember it’s name. This one was a nice walkthrough, we saw some people fishing on the river.

Continuing to September Farm, this was a shop more than a farm-farm. We got some small stuff, including their jam (tasted pretty good when I used it after the trip), a whoopie pie, and a sugar cookie. The pie was surprisingly light on the stomach, especially how it looked. Same goes for the cookie. Perhaps I am too used to crap cookies that bloat someone per bite.

We then went to a quick ride in downtown Lancaster. It wasn’t anything special, looked like New Haven to me. I did stop by that Radioshack I mentioned beforehand again before Lancaster, and they were closed for some electrical rework :P.

We went after to Rosa Rosa pizza, which I heard were known for their spaghetti pizza. It’s just pizza stuffed with spaghetti on the inside. We got the smallest size, a regular 14in pie. We got it for two people, my third family member got a separate pizza. The pizza was delicious, but was cold on some spots. They should heat it up more, the hotter the better for this pizza. It also was VERY FILLING, we underestimated how big it would be. After two slices gone, mostly because we already were full and the cold spots, we decided to bring it back to the hotel. I could only muster to eat one more slice at the hotel at night before almost exploding, and the rest wasn’t eaten. I was so full I had to walk to shake it off, so I walked in the nearby Barns&Nobles. If you are going to get this pizza, which I do recommend, get at least 4 people to bite in on it. Trust me, one 14in pie is enough.

Day 6, Philadelphia

This day started out with driving to our next hotel around the Philadelphia area. Due to reasons, we booked at another Home2 in King of Prussia. This one was a 1 king room, as we could not find two queen bed rooms, but the two family members who slept in it together were ok with that for one night. I took the sofa bed as per usual. We arrived at ~13:00, and while that was before check-in time, I asked if it was possible to check in early. They had a room available and gave it to us. This was nice as it allowed us to drop off our stuff and not wait until we got back.

Back from? Well the city Philadelphia of course! We walked to the nearby bus stop to take the 124 train to market st. and 8th avenue. We sprinted as I noticed on my Transit app the bus was arriving soon, and we arrived only 4 minutes early. It is nice when somewhat usable public transport exists, imagine if we had to drive into the city. Yikes!

After landing, we walked to Liberty Bell center. The place was administered by the National Park Service, hand had a security checkpoint. I did have my Leatherman in my backpack, but they me through as long as I don’t bring it out. Fair enough! I would have also accepted if they are able to hold it at the entrance, which they may have. The center was nice with historical reading to the history nerds, and of course was the Bell. There was a park ranger around answering questions. He seemed enthusiastic abd knowledgeable about the Bell and it’s history.

After that we walked to Independence Hall, which we took a guided tour inside the building. The ranger was explaining the history of our independence inside the halls, so that was cool. Turns out the reason Boston cared so much about tea (remember the Tea Party?) is because back then they did not filter their water, and people would get sick or even die from it. They did not know back then, but because they boiled the water in making tea, they did not get sick when drinking tea. So they though at the time tea has some magic property that allowed one to not get sick drinking it, so they made it their defacto standard drink. Supposedly the chair in the back of the legislative room we toured was the original one Washington sat on, so that was cool. There was also a small museum at one of the exits, which had some historical items and their description.

After that we walked a bit east, before deciding to head to eat. One family member suggested Angelo’s Pizza for the classic Philadelphia cheesesteak. The place didn’t have a long wait line, but after placing our order we had to wait 45 min for our food. The place seemed very busy, some 10-15 people working in the relatively small shop with 2-3 people taking orders, either in person or on the phone. We decided to talk to a Target while we waited and got some snacks. On the walk back I was texted that the food was ready, so that was nice timing. After grabbing our food and paying, we walked to a nearby park we saw on the way back, Hawthorne Park.

The food was beyond excellent, the best cheesesteak I’ve had. For 16$ each, you are paying for one of the best cheesesteaks, at least what from what I had. The steak, cheese, and sesame bread blended perfectly. The portion size was also huge, so we took half back to the hotel. If you are in Philadelphia, I highly recommend you check out this place.

While we waited for the bus back afterwards, we walked around City Hall. We saw one of these “mirror portal” video stream things there cycling between different countries, so that was cool to see. A guy with a cool dog on a bike also stopped by.

We then walked to JKF Plaza, a nice area, before our bus arrived and riding back to the hotel.

Day 7, Mall and Return

This was the last day of our trip, but before driving back to CT after checking out of the hotel, we stopped by the King of Prussia mall. This was the 4th biggest mall in the country, and I agree. Mostly name-brand luxury shops with some small shops here and there. So a typical American mall. Of note-worthiness was a large 5-Below at the mall (not sure how they make enough profit to be sustainable), a Porche center where I saw two Porches on display, and a not-opened-yet Netfix House. I did not know they delved into the irl showcase business.

After that was the driving back home, and the conclusion of this family trip.