Just back from PA

I actually had a 3-day vacation to Pennsylvania!  (Does it count as 3 days of vacation if two of those days included driving 7+ hours to get there and back?)  Regardless, I went and I had a great time.

I left on Tuesday, and drove to Reading, PA where I stayed in Candlewood Suites hotel.  I must say, I loved the accommodations.  Bed was lovely, the pillows were awesome!  (We have stayed at places with entirely inadequate pillows, in both number and quality.)  The room was great.  It had a small stove, some cookware and dishes, a microwave, a coffee pot, even an ironing board and iron.  I believe the only thing I used was the coffee maker, but I was delighted to have it at hand.

A high school friend, Lauranne, met me at the hotel.  We had dinner out, then spent some time getting her set up to learn some bobbin lace.  That was all for day 1.

Day 2 was our busy day.  We went over to the IOLI convention in King of Prussia.  What an incredible experience!  The display room was almost overwhelming.  The opportunity to see so many different types of handmade lace in person was amazing.  I found myself drawn to Tonder lace and Point Ground (as well as the Torchon of which I am so fond).  I didn't take many pictures, but I did get a few.

This is a piece of Paris Lace, by Helena Fransens.

The following three are all Tonder lace.  The threads are incredibly fine (I believe the person showing the lace said it was size 140.)

After viewing the display room (which was much larger, but those pieces were among my favorites) we spent a good deal of time in the sales room.  I came home with a few small things from Van-Dieren Bobbin Lace (some divider pins and some bobbin holders).  I also got a variety of bobbins from several vendors.

This photo shows the bobbins with a business card (from a bobbin maker/vendor) and a stick pen, for scale.

After our trip through the public spaces of the convention, we travelled to Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, PA.  This is a little touristy outdoor mall of sorts; a bunch of different shops, a few eateries, etc.  We had lunch at the Kettle Cafe, where I had a turkey wrap (with fries), with a cheesecake burrito for dessert!

We also shopped for souvenirs, and took a carriage ride & farm tour.  Our tour guide was terrific, and told us a lot about Amish & Mennonite history & culture along the way.

Lauranne & I returned to the hotel to work on the bobbin lace some more.  She returned on Thursday morning and we went out to breakfast at a local diner.  After that it was all lace at the hotel until check-out time at noon.  The drive home seemed far too long and totally dragged, but fortunately I had audiobooks to distract me during the drive.

We take very few vacations; in fact, we've taken more this year than during our entire 23-year marriage.  They have all been long-weekend, or one-night-away, but it has been wonderful.  I was so happy to get home.  I missed my family and dogs so much!  (Amazing how the cats don't seem to miss me as much as the dogs and even the goats!)  I spent the morning so far catching up on stuff and still have a few more things to do before I can pull out my lace or cross stitch and get back to my regular activities.