Twisting the Day Away

On Tuesday of our vacation week we first visited the oldest pretzel bakery in the country, the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery. Located in Lititz, PA, the pretzel maker is celebrating its 150th year of operation this year. Since we all love pretzels, and since it was a rainy day and we needed an indoor activity, we headed out to tour the bakery.

Located in an ancient building, the bakery was suprisingly accessible. Ramps had been retrofitted into the building, and although they were pretty steep in some places, it was nice to be able to access the entire tour. Even the restrooms had been redone, and were the nicest I found during the whole vacation.

The first part of the tour involved making our own pretzels, and learning about the history behind the design. Really really fun, although Ashley had her own approach to making the pretzels...

Ronnie and Chip did took a much more traditional approach with their pretzels, and the result was awesome...

We toured the old ovens (pictures are black and white because the lighting was not conducive to color pictures), and learned how pretzels were made before the automation of today...

When the tour was over, pictures had to be taken by the giant pretzel out front, of course!

The rest of our day was spent touring the peaceful countryside and visiting some Amish shops. Since the Amish don't like pictures being taken, I have none to share with you. But, as with the first day, I loved the peaceful, quiet feeling I had when the day drew to a close!

Tomorrow - Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!!!!