Amish Country, Lancaster County is a pretty popular tourist destination here in the US. In fact it looks like 10 million people knew better than me because I had never been to Lancaster, PA before. Even sadder to learn is that it is only an hour from me.
Luckily we were invited to visit Lancaster a couple weekends ago. I used it a chance for a girls weekend, just me, Shae and Sabreena.
The day started early but it quickly turned very enjoyable. The ride into the different world was an experience all on its own. The scenery, farms, rolling hills, cows, cows and more cows, the buggys and the quaint homes and shops were hard to miss.
The Bird-in-Hand Family Inn was situated right on the main road but was tucked away enough to be peaceful and relaxing. We were greeted with smiles and treats for the animals in the petting zoo.
I didn’t do much research on the hotel before arriving so when I found out they had an outdoor fire pit, pond with gazebo, miniature golf, basketball courts, large playground and a complimentary 2-hour Amish Farmland tour I was shocked.
Settling into our room was easy. It was spacious and clean and best of all had plenty of towels. We relaxed a little before heading out to the petting zoo and playground. The other parents and I chatted while the kids burned off energy before dinner. The playground nicer than most I’ve seen in communities at home and was large enough to accommodate lots of kids but it lacked a smaller structure to keep the toddlers safe from the older kids.
Dinner at the Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant was decent buffet food. I discovered corn nuggets, YUM. The girls didn’t agree but whatever. The service was lack-luster to say the least. Servers were hard to find, cashiers were heavy on eye rolling at patrons and quick to judge mediocre tips in front of others. For such a large restaurant I thought there would’ve been more variety, Sabreena ended up ordering off the menu. She enjoyed her burger but was hoping for more than just the burger. It was a warm day and our water glasses stayed empty for a long time. In fact Sabreena spilled her ice and instead of someone coming to help clean up she was handed a stack of napkins and cold shoulder. I wish the smorgasbord had the same level of welcome and acceptance that the hotel did. These were two very different experiences at the same establishment.
The swimming pool was amazingly gorgeous. The boast of an “indoor pool” is usually a construction of a second thought cinderblock room with a pool not big enough to hold 2 families comfortably. These indoor pools, yes POOLS, we’re definitely spa worthy. There was ample room for lounging, jumping, splashing and flipping.
photo courtesy of Bird-in-Hand Family Inn
I think we may have had either too much food, swimming, sun or a combination of everything because around bedtime Shae got sick. She threw up the Jell-O she was so excited to eat at after dinner. Unfortunately she didn’t make it to the bathroom in time. We called the front desk and they immediately came up to help with the clean up. And my help I mean clean it up all by themselves. The gentleman was polite, incredibly quiet since it was after 10:30pm and gracious even though his task utterly sucked.
It took a long time to get to sleep because I was then panicked Shae would be sick again but by the time I relaxed and Shae crawled in bed with me we slept like babies. I found the beds to be comfortable and we even slept with the windows open. I would never do that in another hotel anywhere. It was a serene environment that just begged for sound sleep. I was wondering why I was hearing the clip-clop of horses around 2am though. Do the Amish work through the night?
There will be another visit to Lancaster, PA. I’m sad it’s taken me 38 years to visit but I’m hoping to get Rob and Shaun there in the next few month. I’m thinking Fall would be spectacular. If you followed along our trip on Instagram and Facebook you’ll see many more pictures from the weekend. Just look for #VisitLancaster for mine and the rest of the families experiences.
Thanks to Girl’s Lunch Out, Bird-In-Hand Family Inn and Lancaster Tourism for welcoming us “city folk” to your gorgeous worlds away from home.
