It has been a very busy year and we had been wanting to get away for a few days. Several weeks ago we planned to go to the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We know several people who have been there over the years and they have told us "you have to go" so we decided to finally make plans. I found a great deal on a hotel in Harrisburg (about 50 miles from the theater) so I booked that and then bought the tickets.
Everything was all set to head down to Harrisburg after the meeting in Sempronius. The plan was this: we would find a good church to go to on Sunday, go to Hershey Park on Monday and then go to Sight & Sound on Tuesday. We also were told by several well-informed people that while at Sight & Sound we absolutely had to go to the Shady Maple - a HUGE, delicious smorgasbord nearby.
During the meeting at Sempronius the big news of the week was HURRICANE SANDY - the big 'super storm' heading up the east coast. The target was going to be New Jersey and New York City. To be honest I really never thought about our plans being affected by the storm. Boy, did I have another thing coming!
The day after the meeting (Saturday) we enjoyed one last meal with Bro. and Mrs. Grimes then headed to Harrisburg. We were officially on vacation! Our route took us through Scranton, Pennsylvania which is where "Steamtown" is: a system of trains and rail yards operated by the National Park Service. This was not in our plans but, hey - we were on vacation and we could do whatever we wanted. We got parked and literally had enough time time to hop on the "short ride". The ranger said there wasn't enough time to pay and then board so he just told us to pay on our way out (which we did!). After the ride we went through some of the museum then got back on the interstate and continued our trip to Harrisburg.
About one hour from the hotel we received a phone call from Sight & Sound that the shows on Tuesday were cancelled because of the hurricane. Stacie and I debated about changing plans and going somewhere else to escape the storm but the news said this was a wide system and we would have had to travel several hundred miles west. Well since we only had about 3 days we decided this wasn't an option so we stayed the course to the La Quinta Inn in Harrisburg.
We found a good church to go to - Calvary Baptist Church. Their website said they were "King James" and that the pastor was a "straight shooter". I told Stacie that this looks like the place to go. We enjoyed meeting the pastor (Jim Moore) and the people and enjoyed the services.
The weather was predicting an historic storm and that the Harrisburg area would be impacted greatly. They said on Sunday that if you were not prepared to ride it out by the end of the day then you would not be prepared. As a rule we do not go shopping on Sundays but the circumstances created a need to forgo that rule. The stores were packed with people getting last minutes supplies. Both stores we went to were out of bottled water on the shelves. Stacie found a stash in another part of the store and got a couple cases and then some food we could eat in the hotel.
Monday brought lots of heavy rain and bad winds. I mentioned about going to Hershey and checked with them and they were closed because of the weather. With the worst of the storm being predicted for Tuesday, we decided to go to Shady Maple on Monday for supper instead of Tuesday. In the morning I then had the thought, "I better see if the Shady Maple is opened". I made a call to them and they told me they were opened for breakfast and lunch but supper would be a last minute decision. We didn't want to take the chance so we decided to make it for lunch. We sat down at our table at 12:30 and then the announcement came over the loud speaker: the Shady Maple will be closing at 2:00 today because of the storm. Well we enjoyed the smorgasbord and were glad we made it - just barely!
After lunch we headed back to the motel and that is where we stayed the rest of the day and all day Tuesday (except for a trek to the mall on Tuesday afternoon where we got some walking in). Harrisburg ended up getting 6.5 inches of rain and there was bad flooding in some parts of the city. We are thankful that the area we were in did not lose power or get flooded.
Although we did not get to go to Sight & Sound, we were together and safe and so it still made for a great "staycation". We are to receive a gift card for the theater to be used within the next two years and we look forward to finally getting to see a future show.
I have posted a few pictures of our trip to Steamtown below. There is also a photo gallery on Photobucket with more of our pictures - you can visit that by CLICKING HERE
Here are some related links to our vacation...
Hershey Chocolate Factory
 |
| Steamtown - Scranton, Pennsylvania |
 |
| Steamtown - Scranton, Pennsylvania |
 |
| Steamtown - Scranton, Pennsylvania |
 |
| Steamtown - Scranton, Pennsylvania |
 |
| Steamtown - Scranton, Pennsylvania |
Looks like you had a fun time, even though your vacation was not what you started out to do! I heard you were in town here! Maybe we'll run into you before you sneak out again.... Love you guys!
ReplyDelete