Becca Jane St Clair

This morning, my mom and I went to the Bird in Hand Farmer’s Market to pick up some vegetables. Since we were on that side of town, we decided we’d go over to the Strasburg Railroad and take a ride….only, we got to the parking lot and discovered that neither of us had managed to bring along a camera, so back home we went. We weren’t really planning on going back out today, but I was checking the Strasburg Railroad website to see what times the train was running on a Sunday, and discovered tonight was a Wine and Cheese train. I also discovered the Wine and Cheese train would be running on both our birthdays, but since Mom’s birthday is near Independence Day and my birthday is near Labour Day, we figured it’d be busy on those days, so we called up and got tickets for the 6PM train.

We boarded at gate “0” and were at the back of the train for the ride over to Paradise. They brought around trays with cubes of cheese, grapes, and strawberries for us to get what we wanted. I think we had four choices of cheese, but by the time the tray got to us, there was only Gouda, Cheddar, and an herb cheese to pick from. Our crackers were from a small basket sitting on our table. 4 Carr’s Wafers and 2 wheat crackers for the two of us to share. We had a choice of 4 wines – Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot, or Strasburg Red. I was a little disappointed there wasn’t a blush/pink option. A Zinfandel would have rounded out the choices nicely! We picked the Riesling for starters.

The train got going and it’s a fairly straight 20 minute ride through the Amish countryside between Strasburg and Paradise. We passed the Red Caboose Inn and the site of the Amazing Maize Maze (currently being grown), as well as several Amish and non-Amish farms. in Paradise, we briefly meet up with the Amtrak line and the engine loops around to hook onto the back to pull us back in the other direction, so for the ride back, we were now the first car.

While the engine was being moved, we were offered our second glass of wine (this time we picked the Strasburg Red) and the platter of grapes and cheese went around again. We happened to be in the middle of the car, so by the time the trays came by this time, it was really slim pickings! We each managed to find a few pieces of cheese and some grapes. We were not offered seconds on the crackers. The group sitting across from us decided to order non-alcoholic drinks. 2 colas and a bottle of water. I was surprised when the gentleman on the end got out his wallet and needed to pay for the drinks. I think it would have been nice if they offered the non-alcoholic beverages for free (or at least, offer free water) since you pre-paid for your wine and if you weren’t going to drink the second glass, why not?

The train soon re-attached and we were headed on our way back to Strasburg. They came around for a third time offering wine, and I decided to try a bit of the Chardonnay. Mom opted to skip on her third glass. This time, the grapes and cheese were not offered.

We made it back to Strasburg a little before 7PM, which leads me to believe we must not have left right at 6, since it’s supposed to be a 45 minute ride total.

After a visit to the restroom (I had to, I had too much wine in me!) and some more photos, we headed to the car and decided to round out our little trip with dinner at Willow Valley.

Amish Farmland

Shadow of the Engine on the way back.

More photos are available at my Facebook page, which can be found here.

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Tonight, my mom and I went over to the Weis Market in the Manor Shopping Center (Lancaster, PA). We usually grab one of the mini-carts and put our reusable bags on the bottom half while we shop. As we walked in the door, the security guard stationed by the door tried to tell us that we needed to leave our bag(s) with the customer service desk while we shopped. We explained to him that they were our grocery bags, and his comment back to us was “people still could use them to steal stuff”. The overall impression I got off this security guard was that he somehow thought Mom and I were going to steal groceries and that’s why we were bringing in bags. I’ve never felt so offended before going grocery shopping. If this is going to be a trend with that store, we simply won’t shop at it anymore!

And then when we were checking out…it seems to me that if you bring in your own bags, the cashier doesn’t make any moves to assist you with packing up your purchases. Even if they have finished ringing you up and you have paid and the remaining items are out of your reach. No, you must stretch yourself to try to push them down to where you can reach them.

I compare this type of service to the service I regularly received at Tesco in the UK. Never once were we stopped by anyone for bringing in reusable bags, in fact, they encourage reusable over plastic and offer you 3p off your order for every bag you bring in. If you need plastic bags, you need to ask the cashier to give you some. Also, as soon as you start packing your groceries, the cashier always asks if you need help packing and will do their best to ensure that you can reach all your purchases.

I could be looking at grocery shopping in the UK through rose coloured glasses, but I never came across a rude cashier or stocker in any of our trips to Tesco. Matter of fact, I even received help finding an item in the store from an employee who was off-duty doing her own shopping when she heard me tell Tim I couldn’t find an item off our list!

I wish Weis was more like Tesco (and I wish they didn’t charge over $7 for the tiniest bottle of Ribena you can get for under £1 in the UK!). I’ve also sent in a complaint via the Weis Market’s website. I had wanted to speak with the store manager, but there was a long line at customer service and only one woman behind the counter. I didn’t want to cause a huge fuss asking for a manager to complain to when clearly, they needed help dealing with all the customers.

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I’ve edited the “about this site” page, and thought it was worth sharing on the regular blog. I put it behind the more tag, but I don’t think those tags work on the RSS feeds. Sorry!

Read more

[I was asked to post this somewhere where it could be linked to, so apologies to anyone reading this who saw it on FB or LJ who is also seeing the RSS re-posts.]

I took the train out to Philadelphia mid-morning. I couldn’t meet up with Erin until later in the afternoon, but I got a ride to the train station, so I had to go when the ride was offered! My plan was going to be to just plop myself on a bench in 30th Street and read for a few hours. I went into Cosi to get some tea and my iPod beeped with a discovered open wifi at the Cosi, so instead I grabbed a comfy booth and alternated between being online on either Jack (the N810) or Ianto (the iPod) and my book (Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry). I even managed to catch Tim for a bit on Skype before Erin was out of bar exam prep class and she finally met up with me.

We were only a few blocks away from WXPN, so we headed over there to pick up the tickets for the show. Surprise, surprise, guess who we bumped into? None other than Barry,who was going out to the van to get something as we were walking past. We stopped and chatted with him for a few minutes and had a fun moment while Barry tried to remember my name and all he could tell me was “you sell merch for us sometimes, but I didn’t need you tonight….” until I took pity on him and reminded him of my name.

Tickets procured, it was time to find dinner. They serve food at WXPN, but we both agreed the prices were a bit on the high side, so we opted to walk around until we came across a food court and got pizza slices the size of my head. I’m not kidding, they were huge! and cheap. We headed back over to WXPN, even though it was early, and got in a small (but growing) queue for the door. Most of the people ahead of us were older adults (which I now suspect might have been the family members of the new bassist) and they all went and sat at the tables to order food, so Erin and I were able to grab prime real estate at the front of the stage. We were *really* early, so we opened a bar tab, ordered some beer and just caught up on a lot of things. Nicole texted me at this point, so we made plans for her to meet us when she got there. I saw someone from S&D III who recognized my kitty ears, but I can’t remember who it was (Sorry!)

The opening act, Alternate Routes, was a lot more than I expected. I know I should give openers more credit than that, but more often than not I wind up not being overly impressed with openers. But Alternate Routes rocked, and the lead played a tool box. I’m not kidding! We saw this tool box on the stage with a cord sticking out of it and had no clue what it was and then the lead picked it up and started shaking it for boom effects. After the opener was done, I made a beeline for the bathroom. Erin and Nicole asked him what was in the box, and apparently it’s just a lot of junk that makes noise when you shake it. Still, pretty cool!

Soon it was time for Carbon Leaf! 😀 I received nods/grins/acknowledgment from Barry, Terry, and Carter (several times), and Barry kept focusing on our group. I don’t know if it was because he talked to Erin and I before the show or if it was because I was one of the few recognizable faces in the front, but no complains from me…until Barry almost took me out with his mic stand, that is.

Barry uses a cordless microphone and he has a stand for it. The stand can be batted around and will (usually) pop itself right back up, sort of like a boxing dummies. Well, a weight must have fallen out of it or something happened to it because Barry batted it and it stated coming down straight at me! If I hadn’t stuck my hand out to catch it, it would have cracked me (and possibly the person behind me) on the head! Erin and I tried to get the thing to go back on stage, but it bounced back and almost hit her, so then we just got it to lay flat on the stage. Whoops. After the song, I shouted “are you trying to kill me?” and Barry grins back at me and mimes being smacked in the face with a mic stand. Thanks.

Later in the show, he had a piece of paper with someone’s birthday on it, and he was trying to figure out if the date was the 26th or not. He claimed his watch said it was the 21st and everyone is laughing at him and people are shouting that he must be drunk, so he comes over to the edge of the stage and leans down at Erin and I to show us his watch to confirm the date. LOL. (and sure enough, his watch said the 21st)

But the funniest part had to be the re-telling of what happened at the Philly Diner. For those of you who follow CL and Terry on Twitter, you might have seen the posts about a guy passing out in the bathroom. Well, Barry proceeded to show us exactly how the man was laying on the ground:

and flops down with his butt right in front of my face (yeah, thanks for that “/)

The BEST part of the show was the encore. A reprise of Learn to Fly unplugged:

Absolutely beautiful.

After the show, we headed outside to the lobby where Erin got to talk to the lead from Alternate Routes a bit more while we waited for the crowd around Carbon Leaf to thin down. Finally it thinned down so we went over to talk to them and so Erin could get her CD signed (I recommended she start with Indian Summer, since she was familiar with a few songs off that album to begin with). Barry apologized for almost whacking me with his mic stand, and then decided it was better it was me and not a new fan, because then there might have been a lawsuit. I told him I’d have PTSD now and dream about mic stands flying at my head. LOL. We also found out that Carter’s banjo is broken! 🙁 He was playing his guitar as if it was a banjo for a few songs, so Erin asked him about it and he told us that it was broken. Oh noes! So I hope he can get it fixed soon! I got a big hug from Terry, and I talked to Terry about performing in the UK….he said maybe next year and asked me if I’d fill the bars with people I knew if they do. heh. I also found out that CL is NOT scheduled to be on ANY of Sixthman’s cruises in 2010, and Carter made it sound as though they had wanted to do BNL’s again before BNL decided to not do one. I asked about the rumors of a Celtic Cruise, and Terry said they’d probably do it if there was one….though there were questions on being able to fill an entire cruise ship, so we decided we ought to charter the Lewes-Cape May ferry for a show. LOL. Love those guys.

We made our good-byes and split off from Nicole. Erin decided since it was so late we’d just grab a cab back to her apartment and we were soon in Pajamas. I think we wound up going up to bed around 1. She has a studio loft with the bed in the loft. I woke up around 4/430 to use the bathroom and decided I didn’t want to climb up the ladder and try to squeeze my way back over to the bed, so I just crashed on her couch (and really didn’t get much sleep. Darn Philadelphia street noise!). I finally decided around 630 to just get dressed and I managed to make it to 30th street just as the 9AM Keystone was boarding. Woo.

So, fantastic day/night. I wish CL was playing more shows near me…they need to come out to Lancaster! 😀

[x-posted to facebook and LJ….with more photos on FB, so if you’re NOT on my FB, add me!]

(Amtrak commercial from 1985!)

I remember this jingle and I always want to sing it when I’m waiting to board an Amtrak train. Ironically, they started using the old Metroliner cars on the Keystone and Pennsylvanian service…or at least, they were yesterday and today. I amused Tim by calling it “the boxy loco” because the engine part looks like a box. Apparently they no longer need to change the engine in Philly and haven’t needed to since 2006….shows how often I’ve ridden the train since 2006. Shame, really, since I used to take it all the time to visit friends.

I was fortunate enough on both trips to grab express services. The Pennsylvanian only stops at Harrisburg, Lancaster, Paoli, and then 30th Street, and the Keystone “express” skips about half the stops in the middle, too. All-in-all, a pleasant ride in both directions, though this morning I sporadically napped since I was worn out from the Carbon Leaf show at WXPN World Cafe I went to last night with my friend Erin.

30th Street even has free pubic wi-fi at both the McDonald’s and the Cosi, and Cosi even has comfortable booths and tables to sit at. We saw a lot of people lined up around the perimeter of both restaurants “mooching” wifi. I went inside Cosi, ordered a hot tea, and sat at a table for hours using their wifi and reading while I waited for Erin. No one seemed to mind.

Unless something comes up, the next time I get on Amtrak it will be to pick up Tim! 😀 He visits in less than 2 months now!

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On Monday, 11 May 2009, I had the opportunity to go down to Cape Canaveral with my mom and aunt to watch the shuttle launch. None of us had seen a shuttle launch live before, and we managed to score a really good view at Jetty Park!

Video of the launch:

My bog’s undergone a layout change, please let me know what you think!

(of course, now I have to change the rest of my site to match…..)

I’ve decided I’m not going to take the time to completely blog every single town and place we visited. I’ve been home for over a month, and I just haven’t had the time. BUT – I know I have some readers (i hope?) who want to read about things, so here is the list of places we were. If there is a place you’d like to see me write more about and I haven’t already, please leave me a comment.

Stamford
Liverpool
Lincoln (multiple times)
Stratford-upon-Avon
Hereford
Hay-On-Wye/Brecon Beacons
Cardiff
Bridlington
Scarbourough
Robin Hood’s Bay
Yorkshire Moors (and NYMR!)
York
Nottingham
London
Portsmouth
Stonehenge
Blackpool
Liverpool
Rainhill
Newark
London
Greenwich
Beamish
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Alnwick and other Castles in the North
Scottish Borders
Durham
Darlington
GCR
Bletchley Park
Leeds
Mablethorpe (and other seaside towns)

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