Good eats in Lancaster County, PA during Thanksgiving week - November 19-27, 2016

Ever since Kaleb and I were married, we've been taking turns between families for the holidays. This year (2016), Thanksgiving was to be in Kaleb's hometown near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

We used American Airlines miles to fly to Baltimore with a connection in Chicago, thanks to credit card sign-up bonuses from Citibank and Barclays. At the time, there was only AAnytime tickets available (cost more miles than Saver awards), but the silver lining was that we could reserve exit row/Main Cabin Extra seats on our flights at no charge.

A couple of weeks after booking the tickets, American sent a notice that our departure time was moved two hours, and our connection time in Chicago increased from 40 minutes to 2 hours, making us arrive in Baltimore later than we'd like; the rental car shuttles don't seem to run as often at night. We also were not able to get extra legroom seats on the second flight.

On the plane, we purchased lunch from the in-flight menu. If you use either the Citi or Barclays AA credit card, you get 25% off the purchase as a statement credit. The sandwiches were fresh and tasty.

exit row legroom for a 5' 5" gal

I think it was a turkey sandwich

The O'Hare airport (ORD) was decked out for Christmas, even though it was only November. With two hours to spare, we were able to visit the United Club, redeeming passes that were going to expire at the end of the year, a benefit of having the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer credit card. The last time I was in a United Club, edible offerings included pretzels and snack mix. It was nice to see that the food selection had improved.

looks like Christmas but not yet Thanksgiving

a CPR training machine in the airport?

heartier food at the United Club

sunset view out the club windows

Our connecting flight to Baltimore was on a CR7 jet. We were in regular coach seats, but they were roomier than expected.

coach seat on CR7 jet

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait super long for the rental car shuttle. It was a nice surprise to find that our vehicle had only 10 miles on the odometer.

10 miles!

Then an unfortunate event happened an hour after driving off the lot with a brand new car...we collided with a deer on the way to Dad's house. This was the first time either of us had ever experienced hitting one. I will not forget its eyes illuminated by the headlights, the many points on its antlers, and the few seconds I had to consider what to do if it went through the windshield. Whichever way Kaleb steered to avoid the animal, it matched to intercept. Thankfully, there were no other vehicles on the road, and our car had slowed down enough that when we hit the deer's left rump, it was able to run away. Upon inspection of the front of the car, what felt to be a tap on the animal caused more damage that I thought, as the bumper was designed to crumple. Apart from the cosmetic damage, the car was still running fine. Thank goodness we paid for the rental with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, which provided primary collision damage coverage so we wouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket. (we hoped!)

The next few days were spent with family, along with early Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday.

great-grandparents with great-granddaughter

turkey feast at Mom's

grandma with granddaughter

Arianna having fun with Uncle Kaleb

On Wednesday, we went with Kaleb's brother Jarrett and sis-in-law Kate to John J. Jeffries, a farm-to-table restaurant in Lancaster. It was really tasty!

bread with amuse bouche soup

surf and turf

oyster chowder

scallop BLT

pumpkin and ginger bisque

pork belly

catch of the day

smoked pork

chocolate pate

black apple cider sorbet

Whenever we are in Lancaster County, I long for Amish baked goods, since they are so delicious. I loaded up on pumpkin roll, sticky buns and whoopie pies from Forest View Bakery. I wasn't surprised to not find a link to their business on the internet, since the Amish avoid using most technology. In fact, the "telephone" the bakery used to talk to the manufacturing facility consisted of a large PVC pipe routed between the two buildings, with staff yelling into the tubes back and forth.

mmm mmm good

On Thanksgiving day, Kaleb's paternal extended family met at the Press Room restaurant in Lancaster for dinner. It was a nice meal.

crab bisque

pumpkin ravioli

scallops

roasted turkey (it is Thanksgiving after all)

pecan pie

black cherry ice cream with hot fudge

The rest of the time, we visited friends, and also browsed local stores such as BB's, an Amish-based grocery outlet. Electronic cash registers were used there, so not as traditional. Many shelf items were expired, but most processed foods are still good after the best-by date. There was a huge walk-in freezer section about the size of a small house - impressive and bone-chilling cold!

interesting to see Amish buggy parked at a store

At the end of the week, we headed back to Baltimore airport. Upon returning the rental car, Kaleb filled out an accident form describing the deer encounter. We had already contacted Chase's benefits administrator to obtain a claim number, which he wrote down in the insurance portion of the form, with no need to provide our policy information. We got a carbon copy (be sure to press really hard as you get the last page) after completing it, which we eventually submitted to the administrator, along with photos of the damage. It took several months, but Chase paid the entirety of the damage cost, with no upfront payment from us. It was fortunate that Kaleb had gotten the Chase Sapphire Reserve card a few weeks before our trip! It is a good card to have if you travel a lot as it has a lot of other benefits like a $300 travel credit and lounge access to name a few. You can also consider getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred card with waived annual fee the first year, which also has the same rental car collision primary coverage.

Our award flights were on United, thanks to the MileagePlus Explorer card sign-up bonuses. I had to redeem miles for Standard Awards, which cost more than Saver Awards, but we weren't offered Economy Plus seating, unlike the exit row/Main Cabin Extra seats with American Airlines AAnytime awards.

Our connection time in Denver was only 35 minutes, so we didn't get a chance to visit an airline lounge. Fast food was on the menu today.

I think I eat filet-o-fish once a year?

this was not an E+ seat :(

Where to next? We're headed to the Rose Bowl for New Year's...stay tuned!

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