Anniversary Getaway

Back in July we celebrated 8 years of marriage. We managed to plan in a weekend getaway, which almost didn’t happen! At the last-minute, the bed and breakfast we’d booked weeks before ended up having a flooding issue so we had to quickly find a new place to book. Thankfully, we were able to secure lodgings, so the trip was on!
I’ve wanted to share our little trip since then, but client images have taken priority and I’ve only just now found the time to go through them and post them here.

We went to Lititz, Pennsylvania. I’d been to Lititz many times, but not very often as an adult in recent years. We spent Saturday visiting the little shops and Wilbur Chocolate.

We enjoyed touring the Lititz Historical Foundation and learning more about the town’s Moravian past.

I also didn’t realize that John Sutter lived his later years in Lititz, after his land was overrun during the California Gold Rush. Sadly, he basically lost all his land during the Gold Rush and came to Lititz, in part, to be closer to Washington, D.C. so he could  petition Congress for the restitution of his land. This didn’t happen. However, after his death, the U.S. government decided they should at least do something for him, since he lost his land and all, and ended up placing slabs of marble around his grave. Strange but true.

For dinner we enjoyed Tomato Pie Cafe. It was a charmingly homey place and the Tomato Pie was delicious. We ate outside on their lovely patio, enjoying the summer evening. Another cafe we enjoyed during our visit was Cafe Chocolate.

After our dinner at Tomato Pie Cafe, we walked around Lititz Springs Park, also full of history.

We also decided on a whim to drive to Elizabethtown, PA, to check out the town and farm I lived from around the age of eight to twelve years old. Some of my fondest memories are anchored here. . . .

Memories of exploring the creek banks and fields.
The smell of silage, hay, and cows.
Feeding calves, helping herd heifers, assisting with the birth of a calf and feeling the solemn responsibility of it.
Memories of our huge garden and learning to cut the grass with the riding mower.
Reading The Happy Hollisters, The Sugar Creek Gang, and the Mandie series under the covers with a flashlight when I was supposed to be asleep.
The various dogs and cats that made our lives so companionable like Sheba, the Irish Setter, and Smokey Grey, the fierce tomcat.

This is also the home where I really knew I loved to write. I spent many afternoons churning out “novels.” Nubs of pencils attached to clipboards and sketchbooks becoming constant companions.

The trip was a wonderful respite amidst the busyness of work and life.