Did someone mention chocolate?

In case we haven’t mentioned it…we like chocolate. This obsession makes living in Lititz ideal. First, there’s the Wilbur Chocolate Company. Having a 100+ year old chocolate company just two blocks away offers so many “sweet” advantages. Early mornings, we can wake to the pleasant aroma of chocolate throughout the house. Add that first cup of coffee and sneak a dark chocolate Wilbur Bud and we are ready to start the day! Consider a visit in October when Lititz holds its annual “Chocolate Walk”. Chocolatiers from all over are located throughout our little town and, for a small fee, you can enjoy samples of some of the finest sweets ever!

Another location to satisfy a chocolate craving is Café Chocolate of Lititz. This Main St. café serves a daily menu of organic and fair trade products and of course…chocolate. One of our favorites is Chocolate Strawberry Lush. The perfect drink for any time of day.

And finally, there is the “other” chocolate place that we are really not allowed to mention within the Lititz borough limits…Hershey (shhhhh). We recently took the 30 minute drive to “research” the new Hershey Museum on Chocolate Ave. This job of ours is so stressful. The new museum is an interactive experience for all ages. We couldn’t leave

without stopping in the Café Zooka for a little refreshment. Our intensive research required us to endure the Countries of Origin Chocolate Tasting. Six shots of warm chocolate from all over the world! Our research of chocolate has proven once and for all…there is no such thing as bad chocolate.

Major Award!

2009 has already brought a great deal of excitement to Lititz!

Lititz, Pennsylvania was among 12 locations throughout the USA to receive the 2009 Dozen Distinctive Destinations award. This award has been presented annually by the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 2000 to locations that offer an authentic visitor experience by combining dynamic downtowns, cultural diversity, attractive architecture, cultural landscapes and a strong commitment to historic preservation and revitalization. Our little town of Lititz, PA. is ranked among destinations such as Bristol, RI., Sante Fe, NM., and Santa Barbara, CA. What an amazing honor! We always knew Lititz was the ideal place…this award is an affirmation. But you don’t have to take our word or even the word of a national organization…just visit Lititz and decide for yourself.

Happy NEW Year!

2009 is a new year for all, but a new year for us as innkeepers. We just surpassed our 1 year anniversary at the Lititz House…and what a year it has been! As we reflect upon 2008, we realize there are just too many moments to highlight. We are often asked “is it everything you expected?” Yes, and then some. We have met some of the most amazing people throughout the year. Our guests have become friends. From neighboring areas throughout Pennsylvania, to far away Australia, we have met every day people leading extraordinary lives.

We also have a hard time with the realization that this is REALLY ours. We sometimes think Pat & Jim will be walking through the door saying…“We’re back…thanks for watching the place for us”. They have been back to visit us, but they keep leaving. It was just a visit, which leaves us thinking…“maybe it really is ours”.

A resounding thank you to all who have shared the enthusiasm of this experience. We look forward to seeing you all, as well as meeting and greeting new ‘friends’ this coming year. Good health and happiness to you and your families.

Wow! It's fall already!

Where did the summer go??? Is it really October??

The summer seemed to have flown by-beside being crazy busy with guests, we’ve been able to sneak away a day here and a day there to explore the area. Among our newest favorite places is Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. Longwood Gardens encompasses over 1000 acres of fountains, gardens, woodlands, and meadows. We especially enjoyed our time spent meandering in the magnificent 4.5 acre conservatory, one of the world’s greatest greenhouse structures. It’s about an hour’s drive from the Lititz House through the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside-we’ve been once this summer and again this fall. You can be sure we’ll be visiting again during the holiday season!

Happy Spring!

Wow! Have we been busy!! Our apologies for this late entry to our journal...

We've had many wonderful guests this past month from ALL over-Australia, Peru, Scotland, from all over the US, many family and friends from VA...plus we were part of an art tour for the month of April hosting open houses on Sundays and Wednesdays. And when we didn't have guests we had a few days off to do some spring projects (painting the upstairs common room and dining room, new kitchen floor, cleaning and mulching flower beds just to name a few...).

Wish we could take the credit for our beautiful yard and gardens-the credit belongs to the former owners, Jim and Pat. Everyday we discover another surprise in our gardens. Finally, the yard we've always wanted-lots of flower beds, plethora of tulips (one of my favorite flowers), fountains...

Our schedule did allow us some time to expore a few places. When Lauren was home for spring break, we toured the Landis Valley Museum, which is not too far from us-a wonderful recreation of life here in the early 1900's.

Heidi and some visiting friends went over to Intercourse to the Kitchen Kettle Village and went on an Amish wagon ride through the country side-absolutely beautiful! Be sure to ask for Elsie-she was a fantastic guide.

There is so much to do here! We highly recommend visiting the Lancaster Visitor Center website and visiting the center once you get here. Whatever your interests are, let us know and we will try to get as much information as we can before your visit.

Lunch at Lily's

Not your mother’s meatloaf…
Mary Lynn has proven to be an indispensable friend during the ‘getting to know the area’ period of our lives. She has become the go-to girl whenever we need to find the best of something. So when she invited us to lunch at Lily’s on Main (also known as Lily's American Cafe) in Ephrata, we knew it would be fabulous. The restaurant is decorated in the art deco style of the 1930s. Be sure to check out all the little art deco style lamps on the tables-I absolutely love them! The menu has some very creative selections, which made it difficult to decide. We chose to have the grilled Kobe meatloaf, and as the title says, it’s not your mother’s meatloaf. It’s a very sophisticated version (ketchup not needed-my mom used to put an inch layer of the stuff over the top!)-the meal of meatloaf with mashed gold potatoes and asparagus was beautifully presented in a tower fashion. Now this is comfort food! After savoring our food, we decided to just look at the desert tray-after all, this is research- we have to be able to tell our guests the lowdown on this place-Big mistake! Again, very tough decision. The one that got our vote was the ‘turtlemisu’-a very clever rendition of tiramisu with caramel and nuts. Absolute heaven!

Another cool note to point out is that the restaurant is adjacent to a very retro looking movie theater, showing first run movies. BE sure to check that out. Lily's American Cafe is definitely a wonderful place to send guests.

Our new Amish friend...

Coming to this area, you can’t help but notice that there is another world living and breathing right beside the world ‘we’ live in. We're sorry to say that we don’t really know very much about the stoic people we now live amongst-the Amish. We’ve been a little uneasy about offering the ‘Amish dinners’ that is so popular among tourists for fear of exploiting the Amish. Before Jim and Pat left the area, Pat arrange for us to experience one such dinner and to meet one of the women she sends guests to. Her name is Amanda and was sweet as can be. It was a delightful time. Amanda was just as inquisitive about us as we were about her. We left her home with a greater understanding-she explained to us why she offers this experience. It provides her a little income to help take care of her family. Many of the Amish women do these dinners as a way to help the family with farm expenses. Sadly, many of the Amish are unable to keep their land.

Rachael is the other Amish woman that Pat spoke so highly about. She’s been taking a break (until March) from the dinners, as she recovers and adjusts after the birth of her sixth child. I really wanted to meet her and to see where I would be sending our guests. So Lauren, our little baker, made some big chocolate chip cookies for us to take on our visit. We had a nice time, getting to know each other, watching her interact with her older children when they came home from school, really not so different from us “English”. The children were very polite, as was Rachael’s husband Samuel. I knew right away that Rachael and I would become fast friends. This past weekend, we had several guests who requested dinner at Rachael’s, if she was up to it. Rachael said it would be great to do sort of a practice run to see how things went with the baby-I decided to join along. As we drove towards Rachael’s (it’s only 3 miles or so) the sun was starting to set low over the farmland-this perhaps is my favorite time to drive the country side. The land is so beautiful…

Rachael and her family welcomed us with great hospitality, letting us share a wonderful meal and fellowship, followed by a tour of the farm. Our evening ended on a sweet note-Shoo Fly Pie! Our guests couldn’t get enough of it and suggested that we should sell them at the inn for guests to take home… guests could order them when they make their reservations. Rachael and I exchanged a look of inspired partnership and agreed to meet soon to work out the details…
To learn more about the Amish way of life:
http://www.800padutch.com/amish.shtml