A Weekend Of Shopping, Eating And History

The folks were gone for a good part of this weekend.  The weather was nice and our time here is coming to an end, so they are trying to get things done that they have wanted to see or do.

Now, we thought about how to tell you where they went on Saturday. It was nothing bad, but Dad thought the name might cause us to get a lot of unwanted attention.  Mom told him that she turned off the comment and contact section several weeks ago due to some issues, so we should be fine.  They went to this place called Kitchen Kettle Village in INTERCOURSE, PA.  BOL!   They promote it as being in Lancaster County, not the city it is in. I wonder why?  Mom said they had a great time.  The village is made up of little shops.  They have a meat and cheese store, jams and jellies store and olive oil store among many other shops.  There are numerous samples at the stores and it sounds like the folks ate their way around all the stores.  Mom said all the food was great, but they did not buy anything.  They couldn't decide what they wanted.  Mom loved the salsas and pickles and the spreads were good too.  The meat and cheeses were pricey and since they had another stop to make, they didn't want those getting hot in the car, so they didn't buy a thing. 

The jam and jelly store.

Mom's chicken sandwich with coleslaw that she had for lunch. This was at Kling House.

The village.

Entertainment

Pennsylvania is written on this shirt. It is just really small.  I don't get it. 

They then went to the outlet mall and Mom bought clothes at her favorite store, CJ Banks. 

They came home and walked me and spent some quality time with me and left again.  They had dinner at this small cafe in a town near us.  They claim their broasted chicken is the best in town.  It is probably the only place in town that makes it since it is a small town.  Broasted chicken is popular in this area.  Mom tried it.  It was good, but she has had better.  I tried it and didn't complain.

Broasted Chicken

 They then went to a yogurt shop.  It is the kind where you add all the toppings your want for $.49 an ounce.

Mom said it was good, but I didn't get any of it.

Today, they went to Tudor Hall.  Tudor Hall is the boyhood home of John Wilkes Booth.  He is the guy who killed President Lincoln. 

The house is not decorated.  It is being turned into a museum, so it is mainly just pictures.

The tour does not focus on John Wilkes Booth, but more of his family and namely his father.  His father was an actor in England.  He had a wife and two children, but his daughter died.  He also had a mistress.  He told his wife that he was coming to America to act.  She did not know about the mistress who was pregnant.  They married, but it wasn't legal since he had another wife. They came to the US and he had ten more children with here.  Four of the children died.  He was a successful actor and sent money home to his other family.  His wife did not find about his second family for 28 years.  Apparently, he did visit his wife in England.  His first wife sent their son to America to find him and his father kept the second family a secret for three years but then the son found out the truth and told his Mom.  The first wife came over and told everyone she could about her husband and the other woman. She was not kind when it came to the second wife.  It is thought that the second wife didn't know about the first family until this time.  He finally divorced the first wife and then he married the second wife for real. 

Notice the balcony?  The children did perform on the balcony as acting was big in the family.

The grounds

John Wilkes Booth

Family photos

John and his youngest brother.

The father, Junius Brutus Booth, never actually lived in this house because it was under construction when he died.  He did live in a log cabin on the property with his second wife, 10 children, his sister (who blackmailed him concerning keeping quiet about his two wives),  her husband and their eight kids and a few slaves that he leased.  He did not believe in owning slaves and he granted their freedom when they worked for him for five years.  He also did not believe in killing animals, but sent them elsewhere to be slaughtered.  He only burned trees if they were dead.  In the winter time, the family lived in Baltimore city because it was warmer and then came back to Bel Air in the summer.

 The folks said the tour was interesting.  There was a guide who told the history of the family.  The tour lasted 45 minutes and it was $5 a person.  As usual, Mom left with many questions and will probably do more research.

The folks ate lunch at a place called the Lodge Restaurant and Bar. 

Look at the size of the teas!

 

Some of the chairs are like sky lift chairs.  Mom was rocking in hers.

A picture of the sky lift chairs. Hard to see in the photo.

Mozzarella kabobs

 Mom had a burger. She hasn't had red meat in a week and she needed it.  It was a burger with a fried mushroom on top. She liked it, but didn't take any photos.  I hd a bite of it minus the mushroom.  It was good!

The restaurant is nice but you have to walk through the outside bar area which gets really rowdy so that probably discourages inside diners.  The outside area had a dress code and the things listed on it makes Mom think they have had some problems. 

I guess that pretty much wraps up our weekend.  Hope yours was good!  I hope there are not too many typos.  I need to take a walk.  My legs are crossed.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Has Been Enjoying Some Nice Weather

Harley Davidson Tour

 

 
The folks have been wanting to tour the Harley Davidson factory for a long time.  Unfortunately, the tours are during the week.  A few Saturdays out of the year, they let people in for tours.  This past Saturday was one of those days.  Most of the factory was shutdown, but there were some workers making fenders and testing bikes.

When you arrive at the factory, you are asked to fill out an information sheet and are given a tour time.  You are then free to look at and sit on bikes that are on display.

The tour begins with a video about the history of Harley Davidson.  Guests are then given protective glasses to wear and an audio pack so that they can hear the tour guide.  Two employees are on the tour.  One is the guide and the other is making sure all the guests follow the rules.  No cameras are allowed and you must stay in the yellow lines while walking on the tour.  Mom said she has never seen a place that is so strict on following the rules.  Even though there was not much going on, the employee made sure that everyone stayed within the yellow lines.  They were told that if they were caught taking photos, they would be removed immediately.  Mom says she is sure they would follow through on that.

The tour was pretty interesting.  A bike can be made in three hours.  That does not include the time it takes to paint it though.  The painting is done ahead of time and the assembly takes three hours.

They ate lunch at Aroogas. 

Lots of TVs at Arroogas.

Mom had a hot dog wrapped in a pretzel and onion rings.

Dad had a mac and cheeseburger and fries.

After the folks got home, we sat outside.  There was a truck and tractor show across from our site.

Hayride

Old tractor.  It made lots of noise.

The mechanical bull was busy bucking people off of him.

I am a cute as ever.  BOL!

On Father's Day, Dad's Dad was in town.  The folks were gone all day!  I don't know what they did, but I got some chicken from their day out.  It was good.  Mom knows better than to come home empty handed after being gone all day.

Mom has been busy making a little pocket change taking surveys and doing other small jobs on the Internet.  She said it is fun to do.  She had another job posting on forums, but the most she could make was $1.40 a day and she had a boss and commitments.  She said that wasn't worth it for the low pay.  She likes what she is doing better now.  She just does it when she wants to which seems to be a lot.  She is not bothering me, so I am happy.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Likes Broasted Chicken

A Day Trip To Annapolis, MD

This past weekend was pretty busy.  Mom got her haircut and she finally bought new lawn chairs.  She has been looking for over a year.  You see, she has had a folding chaise lounge chair for eight years or so.  She loved it, but it is a pain to put away in the RV basement.  It is not the kind that can just set out in the rain, so she had to put it away all the time.  She bought a cover for it but that was a pain and every time she uncovered it, she would find bugs.  She came up with the idea that they could get chairs that are hard plastic and they could leave those out.  The problem was storage.  She decided the chairs could go in the back of the Jeep on travel days.  They looked at adirondack chairs but they felt flimsy.  They ended up buying these:

They even have cup holders.  I think that is what sold Dad.

Mom also bought a new printer.  She needed ink for her old printer, but it was $38.  The new printer was on clearance for $20.  She has been wanting a new printer since the day we set out on our "huge adventure" and the printer fell about 20 minutes into travels and part of it broke.  We could still use it, but it had issues. The new printer is wireless, but Mom doesn't know how much she will really use that feature. 

On Sunday, the folks took a day trip to Annapolis, MD.  They toured the Naval Academy.   It is huge!  Students attend for four years and then, Mom thinks, they commit to six years of service.  Mom said it looks really hard and it really is a big achievement when they graduate.  They are officers when they graduate.

Mom was surprised by how crowded Annapolis is.  It wasn't full of people as much as the streets are narrow with parking on both sides.  They took a trolley tour and the driver had problems in some areas.

The trolley

The Naval Academy is across the water.

 Not sure if you can see it in the above picture, but all flag poles with the Maryland flag are supposed to have a cross at the top.  The tour guide pointed out one across from the one in the photo that doesn't have it and he said it is illegal.

This is the WWII memorial.

This was across from where they parked.  The capitol is in the background.

Ego Alley - it is supposed to be full of expensive yachts, but not on Sunday.

Another view of the city.

 The trolley tour was okay.  It was mainly driving by old houses.  Mom didn't take any photos.  The trolley was really hot even though it had AC.  They stopped at one point to take photos at the WWII memorial and people complained to the driver about how hot it was and it turned the AC down and then it was better.

After the tour, the folks ate at Middleton Tavern.  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were regular patrons It was established in 1750.

Inside Middleton Tavern

Sliced Rib Sandwich

It sounds like Dad wants to make another trip to Annapolis to tour a view houses.  Annapolis is about an hour and 15 minutes from us.

Mom hasn't been feeling well this week.  She woke up with a stiff shoulder on Monday but then she started having spasms in her back.  She has a history of back problems. When she was 12, she was in a car accident where she hit and broke the windshield.  She figures that is why she has issues.  Monday, we took it easy.  Yesterday, she started using her walking stick on our walks because her legs were really hurting when she walked.  She has never had that happen before.  The walking stick helped quite a bit.  She was really tired yesterday and took a few naps.  Today, she is feeling much better which is good, except now she feels good enough to vacuum.

It is a rainy day today, but we sat out under the awning after our chores were done.  They are cutting the grass in the rain because this weekend is the Truck and Tractor Show and they have to be ready for it.  It will be across from us, but the folks will be gone doing other things this weekend.  I will have to keep an eye on things, I guess.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Having A Quiet Week

Car Show, Hurt Foot and Power Outage

Car Show

We were pretty excited about the car and motorcycle show that was in our campground last Saturday.  Our site is right across from where it was held, so we had a good view.  The folks decided to stay home so that they could attend. Unfortunately, not many cars or motorcycles came.  It was an overcast morning, so maybe people didn't want to bring their cars out. Mom thought about showing off Buddy, but she didn't.  She might have won the contest since not many bikes were entered.  The campground only allows motorcycles to be ridden in the park the weekend of the car and motorcycle show.  Mom didn't see anyone riding around, so she didn't ride Buddy.

The poster said there would be lots of vendors.  One vendor showed up. She sold jewelry, we think.  We didn't even look.

A view of the car show from our site.

Setting up the Redneck Games

They said it was going to be a mechanical bull, but it was this.  People had to try and stay standing while that arm tried to hit them.

Not many cars.

Did people obey the sign? Nope, we saw a few dogs beyond this sign. I followed the rules.

They are really big about not allowing dogs at any of the public gatherings.  Last year, I was laying in the field listening to Elvis.  We were told I had to leave.  :-P   This year, I can sit in my own site and watch him as he will be performing right across the street from us.  I have even "attended" church here because they hold the service across from our site on Sundays.

We were disappointed in the car show. They were supposed to have several redneck games such as throwing toilet seats and toilet paper, but that didn't happen.

Saturday night, the folk ate dinner at El Rodeo.  The food was really good according to Mom.

Hurt Foot

On Sunday, I hurt my foot while coming down the RV steps.  I came down too fast and stubbed my foot.  It was my bad foot, so it wasn't that terrible. I am good not using that one. Later in the morning, Mom tried to put my boot on me and I did the GSOD "greyhound scream of death" which scared her, of course.  I was allowed to be bootless for the next two days, but I am back to wearing my boot when we go for long walks.

The folks ate lunch at Glen Rock Mill Inn.  It used to be a mill. It was built in 1837.

That is not a fireplace, it is a fountain.  The water comes from the spring that runs underneath the restaurant.

 Mom likes eating at places like this because of the history. She said that it smelled though.  It smelled because it is old. 

Appetizer: Southwest Rolls - The folks really liked these.

Cheese burger with onion tangles and fried.  Mom said it was good.  She did not bring me any home.

Dad had a crab omelet.  He said he couldn't taste the crab.  The waitress was friendly, but it took a very long time to get the food. The folks were the only ones there when they placed their order and it took a very long time. 

Storm

After they got home, we had a quick moving storm.  The wind blew really hard. Our electric went out. Mom decided to go out and pick up dinner.  When she left, the security gate was up.  She scanned her gate card, but it didn't beep.  When she came back with the food, the gates were down and her gate card wouldn't work.  The office closed two hours early, so she had to park the car and walk home.  The gate cards are really touchy.  If you don't do everything just right, you are locked in or out.  The next morning, Dad had to walk to the car and then leave work early to get the card fixed. It is working again.

Several trees came down during the storm.

 Other Stuff

See the chipmunk at the top of the sign?

Mom has been watching the DC eagles online.  Freedom fledged on Sunday.  Liberty hasn't yet, but he is flying from limb to limb.  He dropped past the camera once and Mom screamed.  He is okay though.  I think watching them is boring.

I am more interesting to watch than an eagle.

 
Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Cuter Than An Eagle

And Then There Was One

There was a "tragedy" at our campground this weekend.  Dale, the Chipmunk, has been a resident of the park for nearly 45 years.  Thousands of children have played with him.  Something went terribly wrong on Saturday and Dale is no longer with us.

The cone marks the spot where Dale lived. Unfortunately, Mom was too late to get the actual picture of Dale's remains.

Dale's friend Chip will carry on.

Chip

Dad says it may be possible for Dale to return if a new spring can be found for him. Since the cone is covering the reminder of his spring, we are hopeful that he will return. It was really sad seeing him laying on his side in the sand.  He was removed on Monday.  We will keep you updated.  BOL!

The folks like mozzarella sticks.  They really like the mozzarella triangles because those are usually handmade.  They tried mozzarella sticks rolled in a spring roll this weekend.  Mom said they were good, but not as good as the triangles.

Mozzarella cheese in a spring roll.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Resting Up For The Weekend