eth weekend

hubby and i spent the past weekend in jim thorpe - we saw our favorite band enter the haggis at the mauch chunk opera house.  we saw them there 2 years ago and the show rocked so we got tickets to see them again.

after dropping the kids off at my folks' house we had lunch at a&w on the turnpike (where i had a phallic looking piece of long john silvers chicken) then checked into our hotel and rested a while until driving into town.

a boat launch entrance was near our parking spot, so we walked down to the river.  never saw it up close and personal, and the lehigh river is beautiful.  upriver is the gorge and people white water raft and kayak downstream.  i would love to try this sometime except with my luck i would drown.  

haggis heads!


blatant knitting shot!


we walked around town and visited our favorite shops.  i got a pink salt candle holder (for salt ion therapy) and more black salt at the wicca shop, some vintage valentines at a toy store and more saint medallions at the irish shop (just when i think i have all the saints, i find a saint for protecting me from yet another thing wrong with me).  walked into a yarn shop and...walked right out.  she sold mostly aran yarn (not a bad thing) but there were a bunch of ladies in the shop and it was hard to look around, so i left without buying a thing.  (my yarn binge from a few weeks ago was also weighing heavy on me).  the town library was having a book sale - they were selling old knitting magazines.


the book sale was in an old home that was so neat - pocket doors, high kitchen cabinets, old wooden floors.  another vintage shop had a beautiful staircase.  there are many beautiful old homes and buildings in town and we love walking around and picking ones we'd love to live in.  home prices are $$$ in old town and we're not wealthy so it's safe to say we won't be moving there anytime soon.  we also walked into this church - we heard organ music - and found they were having a service (wedding, funeral, church - no idea which).  the church also has a neat old fashioned elevator (the sanctuary is a long ways up) and i would have loved to have a ride in it.  at 4:30 the church's chimes rang and they were LOUD!

we ate at molly maguires pub (hubby had fish and chips, i had a salad becos i wasn't very hungry) then took a nap in the car (the day was pretty warm and i think i was dehydrated becos i didn't feel well).

we then made our way to the opera house and waited around with other concert goers.  it's always fun to see other fans - they dress in homemade ETH shirts and costumes.  some have traveled with the band on overseas tours.  we found our seats inside and discovered that we were actually a few rows further back than where we sat last time - the management removed the first couple rows of seats to make a mosh pit.  we bought some snacks and drinks and i knitted on a cowl while we waited for the show to start.

eth from where we were sitting...


up close in the pit...


the guys played two 45 minute sets plus an encore, with music from their new album plus old favorites.  brian (the fiddle/keyboard player) didn't have throat illness this time so he sang lots of songs.  i could watch them perform every day if given the chance, they are so awesome.

the next morning we drove up flagstaff mountain for a view overlooking jim thorpe:



we wiggled our way back to my folks' to get the kids, but not before stopping at sonic.  we had a great weekend and can't wait to go back!

play ball!

i won a trip through our local newspaper several months ago.  3 days, 2 nights at a hotel of our choosing (per the approved hotels list in the trip packet), plus a $50 debit card.  we wanted to go to philly but the only hotel on the list was out of town with no bus, taxi or subway accessibility.  so we chose to go to cleveland and bought tickets for a baseball game.

we stayed at the lovely wyndham at playhouse square, located in the theatre district and a walkable distance to the ballfield.  it had an indoor pool, hot tub and sauna (hallmarks of a fancy hotel - for me anyway) and we had a nice view of lake erie from our room.  plus, the hotel had awesome toiletries - i rarely use them and bring my own - but i liked the shampoo and soap (the soap was a nubby massage bar) and the smell made me feel pampered.  supposedly they come from bath and bodyworks, and i smuggled some samples home to take to my local shop, so i could grovel for something similar.


driving past progressive field, home of the cleveland indians!

hubby got us awesome seats behind third base.  here's the view of the scoreboard...


and here's our view of the infield.  so cool.

what's that in the corner of the stadium?  that's a wind turbine.  in conjunction with cleveland state university the stadium installed the turbine this year as part of a living green initiative.  the university is looking for ways to create wind turbines for urban and and confined spaces.  being so near the lake, the stadium gets awesome breezes.  at night, LED lights twinked from red to blue.  it was fascinating to watch.  incidentally, the indians are the first major league baseball team to install a wind turbine.


under the lights at night...


we had enough time to take in a second game - hubby was in baseball heaven.  for us, it's a real treat to take in a baseball game, let alone two!


the tribe did well the first night, but sucked the second - we left at the end of the eighth inning.

i surprised myself by getting excited and involved with the games.  i brought a sock to knit on, but there were so many foul balls being hit our way that i put my needles away, afraid that i'd get hit by a ball and impaled by a needle.  i worked on my sock at the second game, but only during innings.

we're thinking about taking in a game for future vacations.  we liked our hotel and the games are a blast - makes a nice little trip for mumsy and popsy!  the boy was a little disappointed that we went to a game without him, but hubby thought maybe we could go to baltimore or philly for game (much closer for us).  also, cleveland is close to twinsburg, where there is a twins festival every year.  the kiddos are still too little for it, but we're hoping that next year we can go and take in a game.  

dutch wonderland

on our next to last day of vacation we took the kids to dutch wonderland.  i came here as a kid and we took the boy when he was little.  it's a small amusement park, geared more towards little kids than big kids - outside of a small wooden roller coaster and bumper cars, you won't find large thrill rides here.

our hotel was across from the park but we drove over so we could leave bottles of water and spare clothes in the car.  we got to the park at opening time and worked over to the coaster that the boy wanted to ride.  on our way there we got waylaid at the large slide (rode it twice with the kiddos), the log flume and the twister (think roulette wheel).  the boy wasn't big enough to ride the coaster by himself so mom and i tag teamed. i haven't lapped coasters probably since hubby and i dated.

we rode some quiet rides like the monorail... 

and the boat ride.  freddie got to helm the boat...

so did the boy.  petunia wouldn't do it - she was either too bashful, or perhaps she wasn't feeling well (she was especially clingy that day and was lethargic and feverish the next).


the kiddos did enjoy the kiddy rides - they rode this a couple times, along with a panda ride and a frog ride.  they had to do something while i waited in line for half an hour for the boy to ride the bumper cars...


food prices at the park were outrageous.  i spent $7 on 2 lemonades and mom spent $13 on 5 soft pretzels.  mom wanted pizza, which was going for $7 a slice.  it would have cost us $50 for us to each have a slice!  we watched the water show, then rode the turnpike.  the kiddos were getting more antsy so we decided to go back to the hotel and take naps.

for supper we went to cici's pizza and enjoyed the buffet.  for $32 all seven of us ate pizza, salad and pasta.  not exactly gourmet fare but it was a crowd pleaser, especially for the boy.

afterwards everyone went back to the hotel and i took the boy back to the park (we got handstamps earlier to do this).  we lapped the coaster some more, rode the tilt a whirl (i rode it twice before i started to feel sick - then when i went to sit down i got a whiff of the "smoking gazebo".  why do they put those things next to vomit inducing rides?!)  then he wanted to ride the gliders and we took the sky ride to get there.  after the gliders we rode the log boat ride, and the space shuttle gondola (this one knocked me out;  good thing the park was closing).

there was much more of the park that we didn't explore due to time and tiredness.  there were rides i wanted to ride but didn't, and photo ops i wanted but didn't take.  i felt badly about that.  i did get this one with the boy:


i think we're spoiled by how inexpensive our local amusement park (knoebels) is.  dutch wonderland is a nice little amusement park, leaning more on little kid rides than big kid rides.  the boy got bored easily when the kids were on their rides.  i guess that's why dw pairs up with hershey park for combined tickets.  the food prices are ghastly - i really liked that we picked and shared what food we got there then got a big meal later.  knoebels food prices are fair and it's good, plus they allow you to bring beverages (no alcohol) in the park.  you can bring food to the park as well (my friend's family takes food and makes a picnic out of it).  knoebels is a free admission park - you can walk right in.  hubby and my folks rode a couple of rides a piece which made for an expensive entrance fee.    knoebels has free parking (dw did as well, but they had $10 parking in front of the entrance).  well, yeah, so we're spoiled.

it was a pleasant day, warm with a breeze.  a nice day at the park.

choo choo barn

one of our favorite places to visit in lancaster is the choo-choo barn, which is down the road from the strasburg railroad.  this cute train is out front and makes the perfect photo op.  trying to get 3 kids to sit still long enough for a shot, not so much!

after paying admission, we entered the display.  it was tweaked since our last visit and it was fun to find the differences.


hubby tried to take shots of the display but it was tough to catch the moving trains - they made the pictures blurry.


twilight in the imaginary world of the choo-choo barn...


we also purchased a new dvd of the display (freddie watches it, on average, 3 or 4 times a day).  we discovered that the new dvd was blue ray...which we don't have!  guess what we acquired the day we got back from vacation?

the beauty of this train display is the details the designer creates.  there were sections of the display not featured in our old video and i'd forgotten them (the underground mine with its glowing aquifer), and visiting gave me a good idea of where pieces of the display were located (i couldn't tell very well from the video).  our favorite "house on fire" was there and we got to see it twice, and i had a blast finding the little animations in the circus.

i think the little kids were more perplexed by the display than excited.  i think they're used to seeing the scenes on the tv screen, and in reality some are very tiny (i couldn't get over how small the sword swallower at the circus is - he's no bigger than the tip of my thumb).  i felt a little rushed (i had tummy trouble and left early) and would have loved to spend more time absorbing the wonderful scenes.

the choo-choo barn is a wonderful excursion for a day trip.  it's open seven days a week, from early spring until christmastime (the display is closed for a few months for repairs/cleaning/additions, plus major holidays in between).  it's located in a small strip of shops including an adjoining gift shop, two train hobby shops, a thomas shop and isaac's restaurant (the same one we ate at the day we saw thomas).  another shop was being worked on - during our last visit it housed a candy shop and i bet that's what this shop was going to be as well.

we had lunch at olive garden then spent the rest of the day at the hotel resting and swimming.  i think this was my favorite day of our trip.

day out with thomas

we planned this year's vacation around day out with thomas.  we took george there when he was wee and with freddie nuts over the little blue engine, it was a natural choice for a vacation.  i thought thomas was only on weekends, so i picked a friday visit.  here he was at the station all week.  if we do this again, i'll plan on a train ride midweek - i'm sure it would be less busy.

the day was hotter than blazes, and we had to park a mile away from the train station (school buses shuttled visitors back and forth).  parking was in a farmer's field, with waist high grass, always fun to walk through spesh with waist high kiddies.  we left the strollers behind becos i didn't want to tote them on the bus.  the station was crowded, there was little shade and barely any seating.  i spent $10 on bottled water becos i didn't think to bring water from the car.  

the train ride was fun but short;  we sat in the open car which had a great breeze.  we thought freddie would be ecstatic about riding thomas, but he seemed more perplexed than anything.  we then waited half an hour to get the kids' picture taken with thomas.  at least we were standing under a tarp during the wait.

there were activity tents with games, tattoos and merchandise but it was so hot and crowded that we bagged them and left after maybe an hour.  freddie has all of the boy's thomas toys, he has half a dozen thomas shirts, and there's not a lot of girly thomas things for petunia (she plays somewhat but not to the extent of freddie).  she did find some princess figures in the air conditioned thomas shop; i found a couple of cars that freddie didn't have.  i think it was the cheapest thomas bill i ever spent.

by now it was early afternoon and we were tired, hot and hungry.  there was an isaac's restaurant down the road from the train station.  we had to sit at two booths becos our group was so big (7!)  i was so sick from the heat and my sugars that all i ate was a double portion of fruit salad.  the kids were wound up and tired and we couldn't wait to get out of there.  nice restaurant.  awesome sandwiches.  too bad i didn't have much of an appetite to partake.  

we drove to our hotel and checked in and settled in for a comfy stay.  supper that night was sonic.  the closest sonic is an hour from us, so eating here is a treat.  we took our food back to the hotel and ate in the dining room.  then we rounded out the evening with swimming in the pool.



the strasburg railroad is one of the best railroad operations in the country.  they run regular rail excursions on a daily basis (we chose not to do that this time becos of time but it's a wonder 45 minute trip).  the railroad is across the street from railroad museum of pennsylvania, an enormous affair with dozens of engines and cars and other historical train exhibits.  we missed out on this as well due to time but hope to take a day trip with the kids in the future.

a neat tidbit about the thomas train - a man who goes to my old church knows the fellow who designed the "thomas" outfit which fits over an engine.  when thomas is not working, supposedly he is housed at a town not far from where we live.  small world, eh?

shopping on vacation

i swore i wasn't going to buy yarn on vacation.  oops!

driving back from shady maple, i asked if we could swing past labadie looms.  i visited there years ago and was curious to see what kind of spinning wheels they had.  they only had one in stock (ashford traveler), but i did find some yarn.

btw, i blame my mom.  these were things she liked.

Triumph - a boucle silk/mohair/wool blend.  i should have my head examined for buying boucle yarn.  $85 boucle yarn to be precise.  mom liked the shawl.  i need ideas for christmas.  should be a quick easy knit.

i tried to wind this hank on my swift.  it got all tangled up.  hence the yarn balls.  hrump.

Porche - mohair rayon with glitz.  dear bob, mohair.  i must have been insane.  mom liked this one too.  shawl will be easy too.


lancaster county rain - merino hand dyed with glitz.  this one is mine (and proof that i was of sane mind).  coral, green and sparkle - what's not to love?


blue heron yarns rayon metallic - loved the sparkle.


and i bought a braid of fiber - frabjous Blue Faced Leicester Roving in atlantis


not from labadie looms, but i spent my a4a cert at cephalopod yarns.  bought a skein of traveler in my shawl's colorway becos i thought i'd run short (i didn't) and the bottom skein is traveler in bird in hand.


the yarns i got are bulky weight, so they'll make quick knits.  right now i could use some quick knitting.

the lost weekend(s) (and weeks)

all apologies for the radio silence here - we vacationed in lancaster two fridays ago, attended my class reunion last friday and on saturday i got hit with the worst summer plague in the history of the world.  i spent last weekend pretty much unconscious and only yesterday started to feel some semblance of being human.

quite a bit happened in that span of two weeks, so here are the highlights:

- took the kids to day out with thomas at the strasburg railroad.

- visited the choo-choo barn

- spent my sephora gift cert and bought an apple tv, but not before making our first visit to urgent care with the boy (respiratory infection and groveled for an inhaler).

- ate at shady maple and shopped at goods store

- bought $85 yarn (yes, you read that right) at labadie looms

- took the kids to dutch wonderland, lapped roller coasters with the boy, and ate at cici's pizza

- left vacation early and skipped shopping for produce/bulk goods/amish meats and cheeses so i could take the boy and petunia to the doctor for their plague colds

- did obnoxious amounts of wash

- attended my class reunion dinner and saw classmates i hadn't seen since graduation

- attended the boy's first soapbox derby (he came in last)

- caught the plague (both respiratory and intestinal).    and i had to skip the class family picnic becos of it. :(

- finished my mystery shawl


i'm still digging my way out of the past two weeks.  so many neat things happened that i'll blog in bits instead of one huge post.  

prepping for vacation

this is out of order, but this is how i get ready for vacation.

my parents watched the kids while we were away, which meant getting meals and snacks around for them.  gummy fruits, apple sauce, crackers and other snack treats.  mom said they would probably have takeout for supper (pizza, chinese, subway) but i still had mac and cheese, tortellini and plenty of bread on hand for sandwiches.  i roasted a chicken for them to pick at, had salad fixings and plenty of fresh fruit and veggies on hand.

we were going to canada, so we had to dig these out.  i'm not world traveller;  it felt exciting to have a passport on hand.  we got them last year - now we're free to travel wherever we want (well, within financial reason).


in addition to my knitting bag, i took books along.  i wish i knew why i took three books when i knew quite well i wouldn't have time to read.


hubby and i shared a suitcase, since we were going to be away for a couple of days.   i took comfy jeans and tshirts that felt good and made me feel good.  make sure to take at least two pairs of comfy shoes.  i wore my birks but took my clogs along since they were calling for cool rainy weather later in our visit.   i took a sweater for the chillier days and wore a shawl during the chilly walk on clifton hill.  i packed a swim suit and coverup becos our hotel had a pool and i like to swim to work out my achy muscles and joints.  our room had a jacuzzi (it was a honeymoon suite) so it got more of a workout than the hotel one.

i carried my favorite patchwork purse only to have the strap break on the last day of the trip.  good thing i had my shawl and a scarf tied around the handle - i used them as makeshift straps.  next time i'll carry my vera bradley hipster!  i'm thinking about investing in a hands-free bag for when we travel with the kids - i'll have a lot more to carry with them!

we took snacks along and our own drinks (water and mountain dew).  the water was easy to carry around (i know i should use a reusable bottle; that ship sailed) and was cheaper than buying at a store.  we still bought treats up there.

that, in a nutshell, is how we travel.

what we ate on vacation

we love to find great restaurants on vacation.  we especially like to find ethnic restaurants that we don't have in our area.

our first evening in canada, we ate at savoury and sweet, a cute european restaurant we found south of niagara falls.  hubby found the restaurant via urbanspoon, and it satiated our appetite for german/hungarian food nicely.  for the appetizer hubby ordered a cabbage roll - they were so good he wished he ordered them as the main dish.

i ordered hungarian goulash soup.  it was really good.


for our main dish i ordered pork schnitzel with herbed spaetzel and red cabbage.  the schnitzel was outstanding; the spaetzel was the best i ever had.


hubby got veal schnitzel - he said after eating the cabbage roll, his dish was really filling.


the restaurant also had crepes and i ordered a rum and chocolate chip crepe to go.  i ate it in the jacuzzi in our room.  it was fabulous!

this is the front of the restaurant...

...and this is the view across the street.  doesn't that look peaceful?


savoury and sweet was an excellent alternative to our old favorite german restaurant in niagara falls, the happy wanderer.  that restaurant closed years ago.  we're glad we found a new restaurant to replace it!  if we could, we would have eaten at this restaurant every day - they had so many good sounding dishes it was hard to decide what to order!  i wish we had a restaurant like this at home.


we made a late night harvey's run - we love their burgers and poutine.  

they make it your way - i love their pickles.


the next day, after hours of hoofing it around the falls, hubby and i ate lunch at casablanca, a mediterranean restaurant a few blocks from our hotel.  i ordered a beef kabob sandwich with a can of five alive! (i haven't had this drink since i was a kid); hubby had a beef schwarma sandwich, a raspberry malt drink and a fruit drink (both middle eastern).  

they were filling and we couldn't finish them.


yes, we smoked a shisha.  it was a blend of herbs, molasses and fruit - NO TOBACCO!  we picked fruit punch which tasted (?!) good.  for the rest of the day i could smell fruit punch - i didn't know if it was on my clothes or in my lungs/sinuses.  i was afraid to smoke - i'd never tried it - but it wasn't hard.  it was like drinking from a straw.  would i try a shisha again?  sure.



for supper we ate at Koutouki, a greek restaurant.  for appetizers, hubby got tzatziki.  it was tangy - i think i'll try to make it at home when we have extra cucumbers.

i ordered dolmadakia, or filled grape leaves, a dish i never had before.  loved them!  we also got a delicious greek salad, topped with feta cheese.

for the main course i got chicken souvlaki.  it was delicious and also filling - i took most of mine home (and ate it in the jacuzzi)


hubby ordered moussaka, a layered dish of eggplant, potato, zucchini, and ground meat topped with béchamel sauce.  he couldn't finish his either.  our meals had great portions.


for dessert we split baklava - a sweet way to end our meal.  i wish we had a good greek restaurant around here.


we had a late lunch on our second day at niagara falls.  we ate at guru, an indian restaurant a few doors down from our hotel.  i ordered vegetable samosas for an appetizer.


butter chicken was my main dish.  i would have ordered dessert but was stuffed (i took most of my meal home and ate it for lunch the next day).


hubby ordered this for his appetizer (fritter with a cold sauce of chickpeas and veggies).


his main dish was jhinga do peyaja (shrimp and vegetables with gravy, the chef's specialty).


for supper that evening we ate at harvey's again.  this time i got onion rings instead of poutine.  i could eat there every day too.


the inside of my burger, and those glorious pickle slices (i could eat a pile of them!)


our hotel offered free breakfast, but after eating dry fake scrambled eggs and lumpy oatmeal for breakfast, we ate at tim horton's the next day (bagel with schmear for me, egg, sausage and cheese sammy for hubby and maple donuts for both) and ihop for our last day.

we must have had a dozen restaurants on our eats list - a sushi and asian buffet, brazilian, korean, vietnamese and thai restaurants.  there were a couple other indian restaurants.  we wanted to eat at kelsey's for nostalgic reasons as it was the first place we ate as a newly marrieds, but we couldn't fit it in (and frankly, it's a glorified appleby's, and we wanted to eat more exotic foods, not to mention upsetting my stupid rebellious digestive system.)

we make sure to budget plenty for eating out on vacation.  we often try to find meals that are local to the area (like harvey's or tim hortons).  we find that eating ethnic is usually inexpensive.  we try to choose mom and pop type of restaurants over chains, and freshly prepared foods over microwaved meals. i find that my digestive system is better when we eat whole foods - after eating at ihop and mcdonalds on our way home, my tummy knew i ate grease and microwaved crap.

some people vacation to relax and sightsee.  we vacation to find good eats!