Ohio 2014- Part 2

Black Friday

We got up, had breakfast and took our time getting ready.  We had a few things we wanted to do but we weren't in a rush.

The first place we stopped at was what used to be a leather shop that we always visited while in town.  It was an Amish business and Nate has several belts and I have several wallets from this place.  It's now an Amish fabric store.  We walked around and I sneaked a few pictures.

Amish bonnets

How adorable are all of these fabrics?  So many colors.  

I asked a young Amish woman who worked there about the leather shop and she apologized about RW.  She gave me a brochure for Coblentz, which is a leather shop in Berlin.  We headed to Coblentz and once there we walked around the shop.  We didn't buy anything but the nice Amish man gave us both a keychain for stopping in.  Very kind.

Outside there was a little table and tent set up with Amish kettle corn popcorn for a donation.  I put a few bucks in the jar and grabbed a bag.

Buggy parked outside of shop.

The business had some goats.  The sign says "Don't let the goats out no mater what they tell you".  ahahahaha  Cute!!

The goats watched me but were too lazy to come over.

We drove on down the road.  We passed this beautiful Amish home.  

We stopped in at Wendell August.  We were greeted with a chocolate chip cookie and we walked around looking at all the amazing handmade pieces.  

I also got my picture taken at the World's largest buggy.

After that, we drove to Charm and stopped in at Guggisberg Cheese.  BEST BABY SWISS CHEESE EVER!!  :)  They were having a black Friday sale so we picked up a big wheel of cheese and 2 small wheels.

We also picked up 3 rings of Troyer's Genuine Trail Bologna since it was on sale too.  This stuff is awesome.  :)

We normally go to Walnut Creek Cheese but figured this time we'd skip since we'd gotten the cheese and bologna already.

We were hungry for lunch after shopping.  Every time we go to Ohio we always make a point to stop in at Chalet in the Valley.  We went here while we were on our honeymoon in 2000 and they gave us a free dessert congratulating us.  (They saw the "Just Married" sign on the car).  They are always so nice and the food is soooo good.  It's one of my top places to go in Amish Country.

Sign

Menu

I got the Guggisburger.....without mushrooms.

Nate ordered a double shot of espresso.  

Instead of free bread sticks they serve you pretzel bread sticks while you wait for your meals.  These are to die for.  I could make a meal with just these.

Our food came and it was so yummy.  I was so excited to see that my Guggisburger came on a pretzel bun.  Soooooo good.  I can't wait to go back for another one of these.

I'm standing at Chalet in the Valley in this picture.  This is the Guggisberg cheese shop across the street.

We then headed back to Walnut creek to drop off our cheese and bologna to the fridge.  I had Nate stop at Hershberger's Farm and Bakery.  They are known for their fry pies.  I always get one when we visit the area.  Nate waited in the car and I ran in.  The place was booming with tourists.  I grabbed 1 cherry fry pie, and a package of homemade buckeyes.  (I forgot a picture)

I did manage to get this awesome picture.

I walked around and looked at all the cookies, whoopie pies, pies, candy, etc.  So many treats.  I also tried a homemade caramel in the candy shop.  There were some Amish girls making the candy and they had samples.  It was hard to resist from buying all.the.candy.

We did a quick drop (cheese and bologna) at Nate's Aunts house.  And then we went to the nursing home that Nate's Grandma is at.  It's literally 1 minute from Aunt's house.

Grandma has a nice view of the countryside out her window and all around.

Here's Nate with Grandma.  She was so happy to see us.  We visited with her for several hours.

When Nate told his Grandma that he was running 4 half marathons in the span of 4 weekends back to back she said "It's better than getting drunk and sitting on your ass every weekend".  She's so spunky!

Nate's 2nd cousin, Brady (who was our flower girl when we got married) works at the nursing home. I sent her a message telling her we were with Grandma and she stopped in to see us.

Here's Nate and me with Grandma.

After our visit we headed to Nate's Aunts house.  Nate's Aunt and Uncle wanted to take us to dinner.  Nate mentioned the night before he wanted a steak and baked potato for his pre-race dinner.  Nate's Aunt knew exactly where to go.  She said Malcuit's Tavern in Strasburg.

Here's Leah and Stan.  They are so sweet and kind.

I got a house salad with ranch as one of my sides.  I also had some garlic toast.

I got a steak well done and a baked potato with just butter.  This was probably the best steak I've ever had.  So juicy and delicious.  Nate tried sneaking the bill but Stan wouldn't have it.  They wanted to treat us when we wanted to treat them.  LOL  They are so nice.

After dinner, we drove to Hiland High School so Nate could pick up his packet and bib.  Here's Nate getting his shirt.  Bright neon green.

Here's Nate holding his bib.  This picture is awesome because his dad went to this high school and his dad was always in the gym announcing/playing basketball when he wasn't on the farm.

We got back home and watched some TV.  Stan surprised us with a little bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  YUM!

We had a great day.  I don't think I could live in Amish Country b/c I feel like I would be 800 pounds with all the good food.

Ohio 2014- Part 1

On Thanksgiving morning we packed up the car and headed out for Ohio.  From where we live in Virginia it's about an 8 hour ride.  It was a really cold morning.  By the time we got an hour down the road it was snowing and sticking to the ground and trees.  

The Plains, Virginia

Paris, Virginia.

Heading towards I-81.

We stopped off in West Virginia for a quick bathroom break and Nate got some WVA snow and put it in a ziploc bag and iced his knee.  It was a little sore so he figured he'd ice it.  The best part, as he's doing this "Cold as ice" is playing on the radio.  LOL  How awesome eh?

Once we got to the PA turnpike in Breezewood, PA we got stuck in some congestion.  Probably lasted 15 minutes or so then it cleared out.

We stopped at the first turnpike service station.  We had a quick bathroom break and I made turkey sammiches in the car.  I brought a cooler with turkey, provolone cheese slices, mayo, cranberry sauce and some rolls.  I also had a snack bag for the car.  (chips, veggie stix, fig newtons, cheerios, nature valley bars, bananas, peanut butter, and bottled water)

Here's my sammich.  It has cranberry sauce on it.  So yummy!!!  There was no way we were not going to have turkey on turkey day.  :)

We finally got into Ohio.  At this point there's still a way to go but we were glad to be almost there. 

We got off I-77 and onto Rt. 39 to take us to Walnut Creek, Ohio.  We were so happy to see this sign.

We were even happier to see this sign.  :)

And I was happy to see a buggy right as we came into Walnut Creek.

We got to Nate's Aunt's house and had a delicious dinner.  Oh and the chocolate peanut pie Nate's Aunt made was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.  :)  We chatted with everyone and I know we slept like little babies that night.

Thanksgiving Stuffins

Since we were going out of town for Thanksgiving I decided to make a early Thanksgiving dinner.  Nate made the turkey so we had turkey to eat all week.  I made real mashed potatoes and I made stuffins.

I got this idea from Padma from Top Chef.  She made stuffins using a heart shaped muffin pan and served them last year at Thanksgiving.  At least from what she says on Instagram.  I kept that idea in my head and wanted to make them this year.  :)

I used a regular muffin pan.

I made stove top according to directions for making on the stove.  Once it was done, I put the stove top into muffin tins.  I baked on 350 for about 10 minutes.  I thought I messed it up because it didn't seem to hold together.  I had pretty much given up on them and left them in the pan and walked away.  About 10 minutes later as I went to clean up the kitchen I saw they just needed to set for a few minutes.  They were perfect little stuffin muffins.....stuffins!!!  :)

They are awesome and went well with dinner.  :)

Lunches

My work lunches during Thanksgiving week:

MONDAY:

I brought leftover Chinese food.  Beef n Brocc with some white rice and some mandarin oranges.

TUESDAY:

Sick.  I didn't go to work this day.  I woke up with a huge headache and felt like puking all day.  I slept most of the day.  :(

WEDNESDAY:

Healthy Choice Top Chef Meal.  This had turkey, potatoes, green beans, carrots and cranberries.  It was okay.

The rest of the week I was off for Thanksgiving and we drove up to Ohio.

Norfolk 2014

We went to Norfolk, VA on November 22nd.  Nate was running in the Harbor Lights Half Marathon.  This was run #2 of 4 back to back runs.  haha

Once we got into town we went right to the expo so Nate could pick up his packet info with his bib.

Afterwards, we walked around outside to kill some time before we could check into our hotel.  We saw the USS Wisconsin which is ported here.  This was fun to see.  My Grandfather had just passed away a few days prior to this trip.  My grandfather made some of the missile launchers on the Wisconsin in the large square boxes on the main deck.

We decided to find somewhere to eat lunch.  We walked several blocks and found this cute little bistro.  Lots of winner banners so it's gotta be good right?

I got a burger with fries.  It was yummy.  :)

We finally got to the hotel.  Our friends, Kristen and Dave arrived shortly after us.  They decided to join us on the trip.  We checked into the hotel and we should have checked out 3 hours prior.  Nate reserved our room for the date before.  UGH!  Luckily, there was some rooms available but we lost the money on the reserved room and had to pay for the additional room.  :(  SUCKS!  We will def never make this mistake again.  Always double check dates.

We had a nice view from our hotel room of the harbor.

If you look closely you can see a rainbow on right.  :)

Here's the view at night.

We decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant.  There was a parade going on in the town and we didn't want to get caught up in parade traffic.  Nate wanted a steak and baked potato and that's what he ordered.  This is his day before run meal.

Here's Nate being goofy while waiting for food to come.

I ordered a salad with some ranch dressing and some sliders.

It was too much food for me so Nate helped finish it.

The next morning. we got up early for the run.  I took a picture of Nate all ready to go.

Then I waited in lobby for Kristen and Dave.  When it was start time we went out to cheer on the runners as they started their trek.

Here's Nate running by.

I ran up to the next block and surprised him coming around the turn.

Kristen, Dave and I went into the hotel and had breakfast.  They had hotel buffet and I brought down my dry cereal, banana and water from my room.  We waited it out since we knew we had about 2 hours before we'd see Nate again.

We headed out to the front of the hotel when we figured Nate would be running by for mile 12.  A few minutes later he ran by.  He looked tired.  After that went through the hotel to the back by the harbor to catch Nate for the 4th time.

Here's Nate.  He took off his gloves and handed them to Kristen because he didn't need them anymore.

Nate did good.  He beat his best time by 15 seconds making a new record.  :)

Nate took a shower and I packed and then we checked out and all headed for home.

When I got to the car I realized my Amish Quilt was missing.  I looked every where.  I went back into the hotel and even went back to the room to search for my quilt.  It was no where to be found.  The desk clerk called the head maid and asked if they had anything in laundry and she said no.  I left my info at the front desk about the quilt.  The desk clerk said she would call if they found it.  I was devastated.  I love this quilt.  I've had it for a long time and I always cuddled with my Harley in it.  I was very upset and I was in tears as we headed home knowing it might be lost forever.

About 30 minutes down the road, I got a call.  It was the hotel and they found my quilt.  Nate turned the car around and we both cried happy tears.  They found it!!!  :)  Apparently, I dropped the quilt when I went to my room and didn't notice.  (I was carrying my things and Nate's to our room.  Nate was in the lobby talking to a future bride who's wedding he will be photographing).  A maid picked it up and threw it down the laundry shoot.  The quilt got washed and dried.  The quilt was pulled out of the dryer and a maid remembered the front desk had just called them 30 minutes prior looking for this quilt.  I was so happy they found the quilt.  I gave the maid a few bucks thanking her.  :)

That ended on a happy note.  Thank goodness.  I'm so relieved they found it.

Random.......So, I have an obsession with collecting soaps and shampoos from hotels.  I can't be the only person who does this.  haha  Look at my lovely collection.

Nephew play

A few weeks ago, I found out that my nephew, A was going to be in a play.  He had a line to read and he was really excited about it.  I asked if my little sister and niece wanted to join me in surprising A.  We surprised him and he saw us from the stage with a big smile. 

Here's A saying his speech.

Afterwards, we found A and E wanted him to carry her.

We then went to Chick-fil-a for dinner.  Here's E wanting my phone so she can look at my pictures.

It was nice seeing my nephew in a play.  My parents were there as well as my older sister and my other nephew.  It was also good to see my dad there so I could make sure he was okay since his father just passed away the day before.  My dad was so happy that my sister, niece and I surprised everyone by coming.  :*)