We start off the day slowly with breakfast and then we wander across the road to Great Clips, the American version of Just Cuts, for us both to get a haircut. Last time either of us had a haircut was on Di's birthday 28 Feb in Scottsdale, AZ at... Great Clips there. So our hairstyles have become quite wild and wooly.
Prices for haircuts are much better in the US than in Australia. A little bit of Hans hairdresser can be seen to the left in the picture below.
Mind you, the haircuts we got in Scottsdale were much better than the ones we got here, but what the heck... It was a fast service and very convenient.
Back to the motel for some washing. In the bathroom sink as you do...A traveller's chores never end...
We had decided to check out Lancaster city today, and to have a picnic in Central Park just outside Lancaster, so not that central after all. We made up some sandwiches using the nice bread and cold meat and cheese that we bought yesterday and off we went.
A bit of bumper to bumper traffic in Downtown Lancaster and we soon figured out why. A Fun Run. Race against Racism. Oh well...
Along the way we passed this funny little side alley of sorts...there are lots of nice older home features in Lancaster.
We park our car when we find some free space and start exploring. Lancaster turned out to be a really nice and alive town, even on a Saturday. Not many tourists from what we can see but the locals were there in force. Lots of very nice old, renovated and well maintained buildings.
Here, but no further... Di keeps guard.
Clean up your shoes outside on the street before you go any further...
We found the park where the Fun Run finished and wandered around for a while. We asked a participant how far they had gone and they advised 3.1miles. Yep - it's a 5km (exactly) Fun Run but they can't quite bring themselves to convert to metric.
We like mingling with the happy family crowd and think its a nice spot for a coffee - but after queuing for a while we find they had run out. So we continue wandering...
...until we found Square One Cafe. In summary, best espresso since Los Angeles. Yippee. Two thumbs up from Hans. Di had very good filter coffee. The cafe itself had great atmosphere too. The baristas looked like they could have worked in Newtown in Sydney. Who would have thought? In Lancaster, PA?
Di outside Square One Cafe.
Downtown is quite trendy and feels like a cross between Melbourne and Newtown. Here is the Fulton Theatre, which is rated as the number 1 thing to do / see in Lancaster by Tripadvisor. They were currently running Dream Girls there. Looks good from the outside.
The town retains a lot of 100+ year old buildings and we liked these fire escapes...although Di suggested she would have to be really pushed to climb down these!
Penn Square is probably the absolute centre of Lancaster. A war memorial to the left and the red building in the centre is the Central Market. Of course, wild horses could not keep Di away from there...
We reckon that this guy was a bit of stirrer, although we didn't see anybody approaching him with a question or argument.
And into Lancaster's Central Market we go. A nice mix of everything, Amish and non-Amish.
This guy was selling spices and Di bought some curry powder for Monday night's dinner at Mary's place in Chester, MD (Chicken Tikka Masala but she bought Madras powder because it smelled great and is the very first place she's been able to find what she wants in spices in USA).
Amish vendors to the right. We love the boy in the blue shirt and his "pudding basin" haircut. Di bought some yummy ripe tomatoes here for our picnic.
Fun little wurst carousel... Good prices.
Out we eventually go (Hans reminding Di of car parking limitations) to explore some more. This old hotel is now a Marriott. Really nice building.
Foxy Aussie...? It's a bar coming soon and we love the logo - both the kangaroo and fox are holding wine glasses. Cheers!
Hans' son Jeremy is sometimes called The Champ. Maybe he could improve on Hans haircut from this morning...
We are approaching noon and also the 2 hour of allowed parking where we parked the car, so we decided to head off to Lancaster County Central Park for lunch.
An absolutely fabulous place, with hardly any people just after midday on a Saturday. We think we counted maybe 20 in total in this huge parkland. A whole line of cherry blossoms in full bloom just behind where we sat. In front of us was a river.
There is also an old plantation within its grounds called Rock Ford (we think no relationship with an old American detective series on TV).
Di looked very relaxed here...and yes, the tomatoes were good.
...and Hans was doing his best Northern European spring impersonation (a sun seeker deep down).
After lunch, we explore Central Park a bit further. In one place, they have one of those covered bridges again, but this one you can actually drive across. Cool!
We then drive back to Lancaster town for a further wander and a summer treat. The ice creams below have 3 "mini" scoops in each for a total cost of $2.75 each. Everything have different proportions in the US. The ice cream was nice, but not as nice as in Charlottesville, VA a couple of days ago. Di could not finish hers but Hans was there to assist.
We then drive back to Eastbrook Inn, our motel in Ronks just outside Lancaster. Time for a break.
We've decided to try a Texas Steakhouse for dinner, but the queue was enormous and they said that there would be a waiting time of about one hour. Given the sheer number of people loitering outside the steakhouse, we thought that it would probably take even longer, so we decided to go back to Red Lobster.
We had to wait there too for some 30 minutes before getting a table, but again, the food was very good. We are quickly becoming great fans of Red Lobster.
Back to the room around 8pm, full but not stuffed from great fish and seafood. Good night.
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