Some catching up to do: Opening Day At Knoebels

This year's opening day at Knoebels was so much fun. It was one of the better times we've had at the park.

First of all, it was a beautiful day. There was rain expected but thankfully, it held out until we left the park. This year, the trees and flowers were all in bloom. So much so that it played hell on my allergies. My eyes were all bloodshot for the better part of the day but we didn't let that hamper our fun.

We got there around lunch time so that was the first order of business even before buying the all day passes. That's one of the better advantages of opening day. All day passes are buy one get one free. It's really quite a savings. We pretty much get to hit all the rides (except the haunted house - you still have to pay for that) multiple times. Faith and the girls rode both coasters twice in fact.

Speaking of the haunted house, there's a few new additions to it this year. Anna and I ended up going a couple of times in a row. She even persuaded Amy to go through but I don't know if Amy kept her eyes open or not.

The only rides not open were the Skloosh (still too cold for the major water ride) and the new Flying Turns ride because it's still under construction. We've been waiting over a year and a half for that thing. Hopefully, it'll be finished by the time we go back later this summer.

Knoebel's also has a mining museum because the land the park resides on was once part of a mining operation. For some reason, we've never gone in it before. The joke's on us, it was one of the funnest parts of the day. Many a dumb picture of us posing next to the strange exhibits were taken.

We always end the day on the train ride that goes through the woods. And this year because of the weight we've lost, Faith and I actually fit together in one of the cars comfortably. That was a pleasant surprise.

All in all, it was one of the better times I've had at the park.

One Local Summer, Meal 4

I am totally stealing from Meredith at Edge Effect again this week and having breakfast for Meal #4. Onil and I had been talking about doing a breakfast meal last week and Meredith's yummy breakfast from last week inspired me to actually do it.

Also, we had a special guest this weekend: the illustrious Captain John Sniff!



Captain John Sniff (aka Cappy, Johnny, Cap'n John, Rotten Boy) is my dog but is staying with Amy and Anna at their dad's house for a while because we're not allowed to have pets at our apartment (the landlord doesn't know about Kitty or Nutmeg). Amy and Anna were with their dad and stepmom at Knoebel's this weekend, so rather than see Cappy go to a kennel I said we'd take him. He was very well-behaved and my best friend all weekend. I'd like to take him for the weekend more often.

Anyway, our local meal. We had bacon and eggs with blueberry pancakes:





Bacon - Meadow Run Farm, Lititz (12 miles)

Eggs - Meadow Run Farm, Lititz (12 miles). This was the first time since I was a little kid that I had fresh eggs. I mean, just-laid-that-morning fresh eggs. Oh my heck, Onil and I were blown away by how good they tasted! You people with your own chickens and a steady supply of fresh eggs are so lucky! We made scrambled eggs with Kreider's milk in Manheim (2 miles).

Blueberry Pancakes - Whole Wheat Flour from Daisy Flour, Annville (16 miles), Milk from Kreider Dairies, Manheim (2 miles), Egg from Meadow Run Farm, Lititz (12 miles), blueberries from NJ (not local).

Blueberry Syrup - Masonic Homes Orchards, Elizabethtown (15 miles). I melted down Wild Blueberry jam and added some water to thin it out and a little bit of lemon zest for flavor.

Milk - Kreider Dairies, Manheim (2 miles)

One thing I have to add that has been amusing in this whole eating locally thing, is how old-fashioned it all tends to be. For example, I read about Meadow Run and decided to check out their farm market, because there are vegetable stands everywhere in Lancaster county but you have to really suss out your meats. Well.... calling it a "farm market" is being very generous. It amounted to a small shed with two freezers for meats and a refrigerator for eggs. You take your meat and eggs (which are marked with the price), write down on a steno pad what you're taking, how much it weighs and how much it costs, and put your money in an open cash box. I can't tell you how much I love that we're supporting this kind of economy, where honesty is given a chance and the cash goes to the farmer and not to a corporation. And damn if the food doesn't taste a billion times better, too.

Knoebels Opening Day 2007

Oh yeah! It was totally opening day at Knoebels again, and we were there! We had a great time. Here's a picture of us on Twister, one of the two big roller coasters at the park.



We always try to make faces at the camera -- usually I pretend I'm asleep or bored or picking my nose or something. We all had hoodies on, so I had the brilliant idea of turning them around and putting our hoods up for the picture. Actually, Anna, Amy and I had our hoods up the whole time, but Onil didn't because he's a big baby. We had to yell at him to get him to do it. That's me in the blue, Anna in the yellow, Onil in the black and Amy in the stripes.

Onil made a video of our day there and I put it on You Tube this morning. You Tube always makes these videos of ours all herky jerky so it's not the best quality. But you get the drift. It was a really overcast day -- it looks like it's about to pour the whole time. But it looks worse than it was. It was actually pretty pleasant and didn't rain once. And the grey skies kept the crowds away. Yay!

Our theme this year was camouflage. The hillbillies in Pennsylvania lurrrrrve certain kinds of clothing, camouflage being one of them. So Onil surreptitiously took pictures of people in camouflage clothing all day. You'll notice a few in the video. You'll also see pictures of us that are half cut off -- that's because the real focus of the shot was the people in the background in camies. The girls and I were just there to pretend like he was taking a picture of us. Last year, the theme was American flag clothing.

Click here for our You Tube video!