Lang-kiss-tur, PA

Hi again!  Mike and I are still here, stuck somewhere between Christmas and New Years.  Actually, we're both sitting in the dining room, sipping on our morning coffee.  I have a stretch of a few days off before working New Years Eve and Mike, well, Mike's just working from home today with an extra appendage of a dog (Kaia) on his lap...if only he could bring the dogs to work with him every day ;-)  I can't believe it's already been two weeks since Karen and Pat came to check out the 'Burg.  I was hoping to get these up sooner, but sometime's life is just a bit crazy...here you go, enjoy!

Thursday afternoon (yes, two weeks ago Thursday the 15th) Mike and I made the short trip
 to Harrisburg International Airport to pick up our travelers...

Let's just say the place is quiet, calm, and totally void of stress...
the entire airport is comparable to the Humphrey Terminal at MSP.  

Thursday was Jen's birthday, so we headed downtown HBG to celebrate at Miyako on Second Street for some delicious birthday SUSHI! I mean, who doesn't <3 sushi!  I'm glad to have friends and neighbors who truly appreciate the world of raw fish :-)  Sadly, I don't have any pictures from dinner since I've been a bit lax on the whole picture taking thing lately...but it could also be the fact that everything was so yummtastic that the items on our plates disappeared faster than I would have anticipated.  After dinner (and a few 22oz Sapporos) we headed next door (literally out one door and in the other) to Anthony's Micropub for a few more beers and some darts.

Some stock photos of Anthony's...I've never seen it this bright or this shiny! 

Gotta love the selection of craft beer on tap (or...draft as they like to say here)!

The one un-fuzzy iPhone photo I have from the night...
the birthday girl and Jase posing it up and on display in the front window!

Friday morning, after a few cups of coffee and homemade breakfast at Little Amps, we headed south to Lancaster to peruse the city streets and do a little window shopping.  On a side note...I ventured down to Lancaster a couple of weeks ago (for the first time) on a day off to check out the city.  Cute, quaint little downtown with some fun shops...so, I thought it would be a fun morning/afternoon activity for guests!

Downtown Lancaster...Queen Street bus station

All decorated for the holidays...no snow in sight, though.

Fun little sign...I assume radio or TV station of some sort. 

I was so, so, so glad that I could snap a quick picture of this to share with all of you.
The name of the city is LANCASTER...so I assume the normal pronunciation would be lan-cast-er, eh?
Well, you'd be totally wrong, it's lang-kiss-tur as the photo shows...or as people really say it link-iss-tur.
Needless to say to the dismay of many central PA natives, I remain stubborn and utilize my midwestern pronunciation :-)

Building Character, a collection of shops/booths selling just about anything
and everything.  Love the unique, repurposed, and vintage items scattered about...
and they have a great architectural salvage area with tons of old keys, knobs, doors,
signs, windows, etc., etc., etc.  

Byfar my most-favorite store in all of Lancaster...Mommalicious & My Aunt Debbie.
Sort of a combination small-scale Anthropologie meets Hunt & Gather
(a south Minneapolis must if you haven't already been there...I promise, you won't be disappointed),
but much, much less congested.  I wish this store was right down the block from me!

Hehehe...cute little awning poles all
wrapped up in old sweaters. L<3VE!!

Oh my, antler love in the front window!!  I'm not all about the hunting/trophy head on the wall
of your home, however for some odd reason, I'm extremely interested and intrigued by the
quirky and kitschy "decorate with antlers around your home" trend!!

Awning/ceiling above the sidewalk in front of the store...decorated with old doors, too cute!!

Another reason I first headed down to Lancaster.  Green Scene...a variety of different
green and eco-friendly products for use around the home.  I'll be going back again soon
to stock up on their CommonGood laundry and cleaning products...sold in BULK and refillable bottles!

Can't forget about Occupy Lancaster...Pat was cheering them on :-)

Cute little intersection at the heart of downtown Lancaster...all decorated for Christmas!

The mounted police kinda add to the small-town nostalgia

What you don't see here is the whole host of other small little vintage shops tucked in and around the city. Once I started looking for them, they seemed to pop up out of nowhere...you just have to look!  Mike and I definitely need some time to go and do some more vintage exploring at some point in the near future.  Oh yeah, and we'll most likely be heading back to the Lancaster Central Market to pick up some kitchen goods and mouthwatering grass-fed, free-range meats and homemade cheeses (had a really, really, hard time passing by the guys selling their homemade goat cheese...it looked delicious)!