My husband and I just went to Stockyard Inn for dinner. The food was beyond belief and the service  incredible. Keith had a large cut of prime rib and I had a special of fillet Mignon and a stuffed shrimp with garlic potatoes, the vegetable of the day was green beans. I don’t think I can adequately describe the garnish but it was edible and good. We decided on an appetizer of bacon wrapped scallops that were done with an apricot chutney, again they could have been my meal.

If you are celebrating a special occasion (ours was our 45th wedding anniversary) or just want to enjoy fine food in a great atmosphere Stockyard Inn would be a great choice. I didn’t discuss the atmosphere but it was something we both commented on, no loud music and everyone was respectful that you might want to actually hold a conversation while you eat.

We will definitely go back.

What is a visit to Lancaster County be without an Amish Buggy Ride? We have several good ones.

Ed’s Buggy ride on Rt. 896 offers two, one of which takes you to an Amish Farm and you get to visit the quilt shop.

I just took the AAA ride at Intercourse. Very interesting, the Amish guide was a young woman of about 23 yrs old. Elsie was certainly not your typical Amish girl. She knew her way around and did give factual information about their life (although her social life was in question).

Abe’s Buggy Ride has always been good, although I have not tried it since they have new owners.

The experience makes one realize just how simple the Amish live.

As I’ve mentioned before, food in Lancaster County is plentiful. Recently I went to Haydn Zug’s for dinner with some friends and since I haven’t been there in quite a few years I had forgotten how nice the atmosphere was.  The food was great and the service impecable, of course, I was with friends so the company enjoyable. Two of us had the 1/2 portion of crab cakes and the other a beef dish.

This building was an 18th century roadhouse and the owners use Williamsburg style place settings absolutly  elegant. You can call for reservation at 717-569-5746 or look online at www.haydnzugs.com

Playing golf at Meadia Height Golf Club is a must for the golfer. I now have the opportunity to offer you, the guest, a chance to tee off at Meadia Heights. We are about a 30 minute drive. Keep watching my site for a fall package that will include golf, 2 nights stay and dinner at the club. However, you don’t need to wait for the special to play golf. Meadia Heights is considered one of Lancaster County’s best courses.

Strawberries are in season and we have oodles in Lancaster County. This weekend we have a local festival at the Historic Haldeman Mansion. We are serving them for breakfast as often as possible.I can also recommend a good place for strawberry ice cream (or any other kind).

If you don’t know…..strawberries are very persnickety. They do not like alot of rain (we’ve had 8″ in some spots of Lancaster county in the last 2 weeks), some humidity but not to much and lots of sunshine.

The next thing in season will be cherries.

I am so grateful for the sacrifices of our Veterans! All the freedoms I enjoy are because they were willing to serve our country and protect those freedoms. Thank you to all who have served. If you have lost someone while they served in the military I thank you also.

Today is absolutely gorgious! After several days of damp it is always welcome to see the big sun in the sky.

The goslings keep coming, it seems like each day Keith and I notice another group in varying stages of growth appearing in the meadow.  The big family (16) is growing quickly. We have about 3 families of 4-6 babies.

We had frost the other morning but fortunately my tomatoes were spared. Everything I planted last week is just laying in the ground. We need heat from that big sun. We will see how tomorrow helps that.

I think Spring has finally arrived in Lancaster County. We’ve had rain, and warm sunshine and you can’t beat the end result of green grass and blooming flowers, also the growing garden. This morning as I was making breakfast I saw a Mama and Papa goose with about 16 babies walking in the meadow. If you want to experience them you must come quickly they grow very fast.

The Landis Valley Museum is a great place to go when you want a learning experience that is fun. May 7&8 is the Herb Festival at Landis Valley. They have people knowledgeable in the growing and caring for herbs, they even will sell some. An expert will teach about old herbs used for cooking and medicinal purposes.

My experience with herbs is putting parsley, basil and few others in pots. Thus you see the difference in knowledge. Landis Valley has not offered me a job.

Well, today is just one of those days in an innkeepers life. I’ve been working with my developer to get a new website and he kept saying get me new pictures. Today is the day we did some of that, the photographer came and we did shots for a slide show (my preference). Friends came over to pose for some of them and we laughed a lot. All-in-all it went well, now this evening we are hoping for a nice sunset and finish up on this part of the project. I’m aiming for a June 1 debut. Things like this force me to get projects done that otherwise would wait, so that is a positive aspect of the day.