12th Anniversary Getaway: Back on the Road!

 

We kicked off the month of December on the road! We got up early at our hotel that we weren’t sorry to leave and had one last breakfast there. Then we went in search of coffee (not hotel coffee) and that took MUCH longer than anticipated.

            Settled in with some fuel for the road, we pointed our car in the direction of Delaware. Many years ago…like almost 25 of them…I was in a wedding in Delaware! But this was Ryan’s first time to visit the state and certainly our first time to be there together. I had done some research on fun things to do in Delaware and came up pretty empty on attractions that weren’t summer-specific and were open on a Sunday morning. Many of the Christmas-specific things I found were only open later in the day – or on weekdays only. And clearly it wasn’t beach weather. 😊

            Still, we wanted to find something for our travel map (which we can always replace someday if we go back and find something more fun!), so we landed on visiting Wilmington, Delaware. On our drive, I tuned into our church service, so we could worship with our people from a distance. The service was also a special one for our youth pastor, who was ordained that day, so we were really glad to be part of that even from afar.

            We found a tiny welcome sign to the state – but then again, the state itself isn’t too big! We finished up church in a parking lot outside an arena in Wilmington and then walked a bit of the riverfront. It was cold and windy, so we kept the walk brisk and short!

            We grabbed a picture for the map. (I will post an updated picture of the map soon!) We had to stand so far back to fit in the tiny shape of Delaware, that this is our official map picture. Ha!

            While down on the riverfront, we also took pictures with a few other things that were interesting – like some cranes that hold Christmas décor!

            I had picked out a local burger place for lunch, but guess what? Closed. It became comical on this trip how many places were closed (change of hours or permanently) from when I did my research. I promise I double and triple checked! It turned out to be okay, though, because the part of town seemed a little rougher than I anticipated, so maybe we wouldn’t have wanted to leave our car there anyway.

            We really were hoping to have lunch in Delaware, and just before we left the state again, we found this place called SaladWorks. I was excited to find a place to get a salad, and Ryan had hoped for soup, but the prices were a bit higher than we were expecting, so he went for a sandwich instead. (Don't ask him how much it cost. He's still not happy about it. And it was FREEZING in there, so he wore his hat for lunch.)

            My salad was HUGE, so it ended up serving me for dinner, too!

            We made our way back into Pennsylvania, where we headed to our next destination: Bethlehem! How fun is it to visit Bethlehem at Christmas??

            Our hotel there was much better, and we breathed a sigh of relief. If you’ve been to Bethlehem before, you might know they have the Hotel Bethlehem, which is quite historic and beautiful. Alas, it was out of our price range, but we did get to see it, and it was so pretty.

            Bethlehem is a sweet little town – at least the downtown part of it – and we enjoyed exploring it on foot as dusk came. We found the old Woolworth building, which I thought was really cool.

            Found some photo opps…

            This was on my list to see as well…the Moravian Book Shop. It is the official bookstore of Moravian University, but it is also the oldest bookstore in the US! Ryan was so kind to wander through with me – on two different occasions. When we found it on Sunday, they were about to close for the evening, so we did a quick walk-through, but we did go back the next day to spend a little more time there.

            But our favorite thing on Sunday was this: The Live Advent Calendar. I’d read about it online and thought it was SUCH a cool concept. Before I explain it…here is the spot where this used to take place. It’s an old house on the main downtown street. This year they moved the event to a nearby courtyard. I wonder if it just got too congested on the main road? Regardless of the reason, the house is cool!

            Now the event takes place in this darling courtyard, just off the main road.

            Here’s how it works. Every night from December 1-23, at 5:30 p.m., people can gather in this courtyard and a child from the crowd is selected to knock on the door. (The “door” is now part of a façade built onto this shelter house.) Behind the door is someone from a business or organization in Bethlehem, and they provide something to the crowd. We went two nights, and both nights, it was a musical guest. I don’t know if that is true for every night or not.

            Anyway! While we waited, a person rang a bell and then some carolers led us in We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

            Then they brought up the little girl who knocked on the door.

            And behind the door was a local choir. They’re called a Bach choir, and they were about to have a Christmas concert there in town. They gave us a preview with four BEAUTIFUL Christmas songs. It was so cold, and their voices were still absolutely flawless. The little girl helped conduct the first song, too! She had so much fun.

            It was a great night and a great way to kick off the month of December!

            After the singing, we went back to our hotel to warm up. I ate the rest of my salad, and Ryan ate some leftover food we brought along – and dug into that custom made Reese cup! 😊