Travel Uniquely

I’ve always been a big fan of finding something beautiful and fun that even gets the locals involved. That’s why my trip to Philadelphia wasn’t centered around the Liberty Bell or a museum, but Reading Terminal Market was high on my to-do list. With world famous cookies, chocolates shaped like rats and vats of pickled vegetables of all kinds there was something for everyone.

If you arrive a bit earlier than I did, the choices for lunch are limitless and parking is much cheaper with a validation from the market. If you’re too late for lunch, try some 4th street world famous cookies, they really are delicious (and I’m a cookie connoisseur).

You can also get a wide variety of Amish treats, like pickled anything, homemade baked goods, and these great pretzels from Fisher’s Dutch Treats.   

The Amish aren’t huge fans of having their picture taken, but I did get a great shot of the barrells of homemade goodies.

Sour Kraut and pickled tomatoes? What else could a person need! If you’re shopping for groceries, Reading Terminal Market has great deals on vegetables and fruits, and wonderful spice stores for buying spices or coffee in bulk. You can even find some of the rarer spices and gourmet accessories. No matter if you’re in the area for the day or you live there all year, the market has something to offer.

If you’re in Philadelphia and want to get away from the city some weekend in July, you might check to see if the Bethlehem Blueberry Festival is within your timeframe. Have a good sense of humor, healthy attitude and appetite for blueberry pie at this small-town festival held on a historic plantation.

Coming in you’ll find children riding two ponies, walking slowly around a small field. It’s a hot day, so while there are three ponies, only two offer rides and the children have to wait in line.  It’s a beautiful plantation already, the grash is lushly green, lots of trees and flowers everywhere. 

A bit down the hill there are some old barns and a building with the only horse-drawn mill left in the United States. The volunteer curator there is happy to tell me how the mill works, and upstairs in the same building another volunteer encourages me to try threshing corn with a thresher, and then demonstrates the mechanical thresher that the horses would help move.

There are booths with local crafts, delicious blueberry pie and ice cream, locally made jellies, jams and scones and two stages with folk music playing all weekend. I was lucky enough to catch ‘Kids for America’, a group of siblings who raise money for troops overseas through singing and dancing at events like this festival. They sang showtunes mostly, with matching costumes and adorable voices.
Let’s not forget about the petting zoo, my favorite part! There were goats, ducks, angora rabbits and even a calf to pet. The ducks paddled around in a little pool of water and the goats begged for every scrap of food you had on you.
Perhaps the best part of the festival was the opportunity to walk through the garden. A typical period vegetable garden, it was green, gorgeous and full of flowers in the early summer. I was delighted to catch a bumblebee enjoying the flowers. 

We don’t have bees like that in the south!