Monday, June 22, 2015

Lancaster Adventure, Day 1

We're one day into a week of summer vacation fun. Unlike most of our vacations, we aren't flying off to some exotic locale. In fact, I'm typing up this post a mere 2 hours from home. But as anyone who's ever been to Lancaster, PA will tell you, this place is worlds away from the hustle and bustle. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday, Shira needed to step away for a few hours, leaving me and our friend's 5 year old, J, to fend for ourselves. After wrestling with the question of how we should best use our 9:30am free time on a Sunday, I decided to go with an oldie but a goodie: treasure hunting.

We hit Potomac Overlook Park for a little geocaching. There are three caches in the area, and our route took us near all three. In the end, we only found two of them because we ran out of time. Both caches were just hidden enough that they weren't obvious, yet J was able to discover each of them. And both caches had a few little goodies in them, meaning that we could walk away with some treasure. The Donaldson Run trail in Potomac Overlook Park is one of my favorite hikes in Arlington, as you're required to make a number of stream crossings. I'm quite thankful I wore my water shoes, allowing J to hop from stone to stone, while I tromped along in the water next to him making sure he didn't end up on his tush. Good times.

After that, our vacation really began! We made our way to Lancaster, PA and met up with friends. The main attraction: Dutch Wonderland, and old school amusement park that's ideal for J and our friend's 4 year old, A.

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not the biggest fan of amusements parks. I could probably make up some highbrow reason, but really, I'm just too scared of the rides. But even I have to admit, this place is perfect for the kids. Dutch Wonderland has a policy that allows you to visit the park for the last 3 hours the day before a full visit. This preview option is truly fantastic: the kids got to experiment with almost every ride, and the parents got to get a lay of the land to know what supplies we'll need for main day.

The kids loved everything they rode, with the log flume and roller coasters being top choices. J even went on the big coaster with Shira. And I got to offer my services as bag holder and photographer, which let me feel as though I was contributing.

Day 1 was a huge success. With a full day of playing at Dutch Wonderland ahead of us, I expect Day 2 to follow suit!

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