Sight & Sound Adventure – Daniel

I’ve written about going to Sight & Sound theater in Lancaster, PA before. The shows there are based on various books of the Bible and are incredible and extremely inspirational and educational. I’ve experienced Moses, Jesus, David, and The Christmas Miracle…..and, now Daniel! I would have added Queen Esther to the list, but that trip was canceled due to Covid.

This year, Sight & Sound is presenting “Daniel”. I booked a bus trip to Lancaster, PA to see it with a friend. The trip was put together by First Choice Travel in Batavia. It was a whirl wind overnight trip jammed with fun things to do and lots of food to eat!

Our motor coach was full….it was a good group of people

Kathy Hamm was the awesome tour manager that kept us on time and didn’t lose anyone (hahaha) and Brian was the driver that got us there and back home safe and sound…..both did the best they could to make sure we had a great trip…..mission accomplished!!! I’ve traveled with Kathy a couple times on Mystery Tours and she’s wonderful!!!

We left Batavia about 8:00 am. It was a long drive to Lancaster! Here are some photos I took from the window of the bus as our beautiful countryside passed us by:

On the way, we played bingo with the chance to win super cool prizes from around the world…..mostly China!!!

I didn’t win…..but, I was really trying so that I might win one of the highly coveted Crossword Puzzle books that was actually printed in the USA!!!

The itinerary listed rest stops and lunch en route. In past years, the Country Cupboard Restaurant was a popular stop going down and/or coming back for meals. It was a huge buffet venue with THE most amazing comfort food of every variety imaginable!!! But….sadly, it closed down and is no longer an option. There aren’t a lot of other choices for a bus load of people to eat along the route. So, when our fearless leader, Kathy, let us know that she planned for us to stop at Wegmans Market Cafe, I thought “Wegmans? Really?” and chuckled a little about it. BUT……it was a PERFECT choice!!! We stopped at the Wegmans in Williamsport, PA – they have a very large Market Cafe with lots of food choices and ample seating for us all to get whatever we wanted and sit to eat and relax during our short time off the bus. Personally, I had the rotisserie chicken noodle soup, boneless chicken wings, and onion rings. Very good choice…..both my food choice and the venue choice! We stopped there, again, on the way back home for a quick dinner break.

Our hotel was the Country Inn of Lancaster. I’ve stayed there on one of these trips a few years ago. It is a sweet place to stay — very “country” with Amish décor, quilts on the beds, free popcorn, ice water, and board games available in the lobby, and a very warm, inviting atmosphere.

Here are some shots of the comfortable lobby:

And our room:

They typically offer a complimentary continental breakfast just off lobby. But, for special bus groups, like ours, they do a full buffet breakfast in the restaurant across the parking lot. Our seating time was 7:30 and it was very good!

Breakfast….the morning of Day 2 (yeah, I know, I’m going a little out of order…..follow me!!! hehehe)

After we checked in, we left to go for dinner at Plain and Fancy Restaurant. It’s a Family Style Dinner where they bring big platters of various foods that get passed family style. We started with huge fluffy dinner rolls with butter, tossed salad, and cole slaw. Then came the main course – country fried chicken, roast beef, and meat loaf on platters and bowls of real mashed potatoes, brown butter noodles, green beans, gravy….and, I’m sure I’m forgetting something! There were pitchers of ice water, iced tea, and lemonade and a self-serve coffee and tea bar. And…..it didn’t stop there…..they kept bringing more platters and asking if anyone wanted more of anything!!! We were bursting at the seams with deliciousness!!! And….then…..dessert…..our choice of apple cinnamon cake (that’s what I chose) or a pie – I forget what they called it, but it looked so very decadent!!!

Sorry — I was so into the food I almost forgot to take a photo…..you get the idea!!!

They rolled us out on dollies to get back on the bus when we were done…..just kidding, but it did feel like they should have offered that service!!! From dinner we went to the evening show.

This is the beautiful and sprawling Sight and Sound Theater! There will be no photos of the show because they prohibit photography or video taping due to copyright rules. But, I was able to take this outside photo and a couple inside before the show began. We had great seats!

This just happened to be the day of the world-wide IT outage! They announced not long after the time the show was supposed to start that they were having some technical difficulties with their media and the techs were working on it and testing their “fix”. In the mean time, people were enjoying conversations and there was even some folks who broke out in applause and sang Happy Birthday to someone in their group….and the entire theater joined in!!! That was cool!!! And then….finally….the show began – not terribly long after the scheduled time to start.

If you’ve never been to a show at Sight and Sound, I highly recommend it!!! It is live actors portraying the biblical characters in colorful and time-appropriate costumes. The scenery and special effects are incredible and bigger than life! The performances are top-notch and extend not only on the stage in front, but all along the sides of the theater, down the aisles, and even up above the audience! And….there are live animals – if someone should be seen with sheep or goats, there are live sheep and goats…..if someone would likely arrive on a horse or camel, they enter up the aisles on horses and camels! Doves fly above the audience and the King had a very large and beautiful white long haired cat! At one point a flock of sheep came running from stage left, across the stage, down the ramp, up the center aisle, and out of the theater! I was amazed that they could be trained to herd like that without human or herding dog intervention – they seemed to know exactly where to go and what they were supposed to do!!! So, the audience is embedded right in the story and the story unfolds all around us.

Every show they do is absolutely incredible and this one was no exception. I do, however, have to add the caveat that this one wasn’t one of my favorites…..but, in saying that, I feel like I’m implying it was inferior in some way and that is definitely NOT the case! It’s just that the others I’ve seen are all tied in one tight group of ones I can’t rank because they are all my absolute favorites for different reasons. This one I do rank ever so slightly one fraction of a tiny step behind the others. But…..it was still amazing!!! I think I need to confess that I didn’t really know much about Daniel’s story….I found myself a bit confused trying to pay attention and follow his journey – which, of course climaxed with his being thrown into the lion’s den and being protected by Jesus, who calmed the lions and closed their mouths. That was the part of his story I was familiar with….the rest was new to me. It still had it’s emotional moments – my biggest emotional point was when Daniel’s three friends were thrown into the fire pit and Jesus protects them so they get out unharmed!

Daniel runs through the end of this year…..if you get a chance, go! You won’t regret it!

After the show, we went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep, followed by that fantastic breakfast buffet I talked about earlier….when I went out of order of events!

After breakfast, we picked up a “step on guide” – a local lady who talked about the Amish culture while we drove around the area and she pointed out various sights and we made a couple stops.

Of course, lots of farms…..many fields of corn and soy beans and other produce….including tobacco – pictured above!!!

We made two stops during this part of the tour…..the first stop was Forest Hill Leather Craft shop:

They had so many stunning things for sale……purses and belts and gloves and wallets and on and on and on!!! The smell in there was incredible…..love the smell of real leather!!! And, it was so soft and supple!!! And colorful….which surprised me — the colors they dyed the leather were bright and beautiful!

I took this photo of a press and tools in a room off the back of the shop.

To the side was this stable that we could go in and visit with the horses. Gorgeous animals!!! But, you know I can’t resist an animal!!!

We were told that the Amish are not allowed to have bicycles in these sects, but they do have these bicycles without pedals that they use their feet to push them along.

Up above the stables was an open room with the leather stored waiting to be made into the lovely products available for sale in the shop.

Our next stop was Smuckers Quilt shop…..WOW!!! The shop was full of gorgeous quilts, pillows, aprons, runners, and lots of other quilted products available for sale. One of the shop owners gave an interesting talk about how the quilts are made.

When we got back on the bus, one of the quilt shop owners and her two granddaughters came on the bus and the two little girls sang a song for us and thanked us for stopping by. It was so sweet!!! I did not take their photo because the Amish don’t like to have their photos taken – I learned on another tour some years ago that they believe to have their photo taken is to have their soul captured! So, I was very careful as I took photos throughout this trip to not get them in any shot as a way of respecting their beliefs and culture.

Sadly, we didn’t have time for the third shopping stop…..but, the guide said it was another quilt and craft shop, so we weren’t missing seeing something totally different. Besides, we requested that she add a stop at a soft pretzel shop…..and she took us to one before we took her back to the Amish Experience Office!

We were able to purchase the most indescribably delicious pretzels in the entire world!!! They make them out of a delicate pastry rather than the usual dense chewy dough you typically find in soft pretzels. Then, they bake them…..then they dip them in melted butter before adding the course salt!!! OMG!!! I bought three and ate one immediately and planned to eat the other two at home….more on that later!!!! hahaha They also had other flavors – one with cinnamon and sugar and one with herb garlic…..I just got the standard ones, but I got a taste of a cinnamon/sugar one my friend got and it was pretty amazing!!!

They also sold other things there…..I noticed someone bought a bird house while we were there!

Each stop (including the Amish Experience where we picked up the step on guide) gave each of us a thank you gift for stopping to visit them:

At the quilt shop, I purchased a center piece for my dining room table — I looked through a whole stack of these several times trying to decide on which one I wanted. They were all so beautiful…..did I want something floral or a print or quilt pattern or what…..I finally decided on this one – it was the first one that caught my eye and I kept going back to it….so, it was calling out to me!

Looks good on my table, doesn’t it???

After we dropped off the step on guide, we went to the Kitchen Kettle Village for lunch and shopping. I’ve been there twice before – both times the weather was yucky — cool/cold, rainy….just not nice for walking around and in and out of various shops. Those previous times, I didn’t get much further than the little restaurant to get lunch and a couple of the shops – I thought there was a lot past that point that I never got to see before. This time, the weather was PERFECT!!! My friend and I got lunch and then went to the jam and jelly shop that started it all…..and then strolled to the end of the “village”…..and laughed cause it didn’t go much further than the point I never passed before and found I had always gone “almost” to the end after all! There are a TON of shops – all kinds of shops – I just always there was even MORE…..I enjoyed it all much more this time cause the weather was so much better. I’m not really a huge shopper when I travel…..I like to “look” and wander, but mostly I enjoy using that time to sit, relax, enjoy the day, and “people watch”! So, that’s what we did — we had lunch, picked up a few things in the jam and jelly shop and then sat to listen to some musicians that were playing in the courtyard. It was a lovely day and that was so VERY enjoyable! But, if you are a shopper, this is a great place to go in Lancaster — so much to shop for all in one quaint village!

These are the musicians…..and one of MANY adorable dogs out enjoying the day with their humans…..it was a huge struggle for me to not stop and make friends with each and every one of them!!! LOL

Here I am enjoying the music, the breeze, and the day!

Our last stop before heading home was at Weavers Farm Market in Trevorton, PA. It was a nice stop — lots of fresh produce, plants, and baked goods…..several on our bus took home bags and bags of goodies!!!

So….I promised more about those pretzels…..well, the “rest of the story” (as Andy Rooney used to say) is that we stopped at that same Wegmans in Williamsport for a quick dinner stop on the way home…..well, I really wasn’t hungry and didn’t feel like getting off the bus. So, I stood up and stretched on the bus after the majority of our group got off….then, I decided to have one of the remaining two pretzels…..and then I decided to go ahead and eat the third one…..so, NONE made it home!!! hahaha They were sooooooo good!!! I hope if I go back there again for another show, I’ll get the chance to get those pretzels, again…..they were one of the highlights of the trip, for sure!!!

So……it was a wonderfully gorgeous two day – weather-wise – and an incredible show and lots of good food and interesting things to see and do…..and a great group of people to share it all with! Thank you to Kathy and Brian for doing everything possible to make it a safe and enjoyable two days…..and thank you to First Choice Travel for putting it together!

As for other shows at Sight and Sound — I keep hearing that Noah is one of the best of them all — I’ve never had an opportunity to see Noah and keep hoping they’ll do it again (I’m told they rotate them, so figured I’d get the chance one of these years)…..Well, they will be doing Noah NEXT year and I definitely plan to book that as soon as I see it is available!!! Can not wait!!!