Back in Philadelphia, living two weeks at a hotel: Revisiting some of our favorite attractions including Peddler’s Village and Nockamixon State Park
As the month of July was marching on, my wife and I were quietly preparing to get back on the road to our next destination. For our next destination, we had initially reserved another Airbnb rental to follow our month long Airbnb stay near Cape Cod. It was to be a recently renovated small condo in a town called Lewisburg near Harrisburg, PA.
Our goal was to revisit some of our favorite neighborhoods near Harrisburg as it had already been some time since our last visit to the area. Well, our plans changed.
The more I thought about the cost of the 2 week long Airbnb rental (at near $1400), the less I was convinced it was such a good idea. One of the major reasons for that was because about a year and a half prior, we had signed up for the Hilton hotel chain’s rewards program, called Hilton Honors. The thought of trying to achieve Diamond status (highest status) definitely loomed over me.
On top of that, we had suffered without a good working air conditioning system in our Airbnb rental in Fairhaven, which was eventually resolved, but that left a bad taste in our mouths. We wanted to stay cool and comfortable in a hotel. At least at a hotel, we can ask to change our room if air conditioning doesn’t work.
After thinking both scenarios carefully, I realized we could get a higher return on our money by booking a 2 week Hilton chain hotel instead, all while getting closer to that coveted Diamond status. Here’s what Hilton was offering at the time: a “double your points” offer, which doubles the points for a hotel stay. This was something I couldn’t pass up.
Here’s the math behind what this all means when booking a Hilton hotel rather than an Airbnb:
- Normally, for a $1400 spend at a Hilton hotel, I would get base points of roughly 13000. *Points are calculated based on room rates (and incidentals) but not on taxes. Taxes would be about $100 or so.
- With double your points offer, I would get 26000 rather than 13000 points.
- With my then Gold status, I get another 10400 bonus points (80% of base points)
- For having a Hilton linked credit card, I also get 120% of base points, which equal 15600 points.
- Add 26000, 10400 and 15600 which equals 52000 points. This has a value of around $260.
Based on this calculation, the cost would actually be lower by $260 to do Hilton hotel booking vs Airbnb booking. I went ahead and cancelled the Airbnb booking and booked a two week stay at the Homewood Suites by Hilton at Lansdale, PA.
We had never stayed longer than maybe a week at a hotel in our lifetime, but there’s always a first time for everything. We were looking forward to it, especially when it was in our old stomping grounds!
We left our cozy Airbnb rental in Fairhaven Massachusetts at the end of July, heading towards Lansdale, Pennsylvania. The drive would take roughly 6 hours to cover 300 miles.
We took the usual route of I-95 heading south, then in New Jersey, we took I-287. The light rain that started as we left Fairhaven had become a true downpour as we crossed into Rhode Island. We had the windshield wipers working on the fastest setting trying to get a better view out the windshield.
Summer times on the east coast usually means heavy downpours and it was business as usual. I personally love seeing rain come down just about anywhere, just maybe not the heavy downpours when I’m driving…Oh, well.
The heavy downpours stopped after several minutes, and we were merrily continuing our road trip. By the time we got on the US 202, the same road we had taken many times while living in Pennsylvania, we were feeling good coming back “home”.
When we crossed a small bridge connecting the towns of Lambertville, New Jersey with New Hope, Pennsylvania, we were definitely back home. It was good to see both towns, as we have fond memories of both of them from our 14 years of living near the Philadelphia suburbs.
We saw busy traffic going into New Hope with many visitors (as usual) jamming up the narrow streets along the main thoroughfare. We passed through town to continue onward, via US 202.
As we neared the town of Lansdale, US 202 cut through Bucks County followed by Montgomery County. The drive, which we always liked, took us on winding roads over Pennsylvania’s famous rolling hills.
We had taken this same road on several occasions, and we were inwardly reminiscing about our time we spent in Pennsylvania. The time we spent there were full of great memories: we raised our fur baby Toby (a Pomeranian), we accumulated wealth so we can retire early, and we had some fun times with our family and friends. It was truly good to be back…
As we got into Lansdale, we both smiled at all the familiar buildings and landmarks. We found our hotel soon afterwards, and we pulled into the lobby area to check in.
We unloaded our luggage (which was sizable) then opened the door to our temporary home for the next two weeks. First impression: it was the most up-to-date Homewood Suites and quite possibly the cleanest one we had stayed in.
Everything looked brand new: the modern furnishings, kitchen/utensils, and wood floors. We thought we were in one of the higher class hotels like the Vdara in Las Vegas. It was impressive!
The views of the surrounding areas were amazing, and we got to enjoy some epic thunderstorms during our stay, as well as beautiful sunsets. And, the air conditioning worked great! What more can you ask for?
Add free breakfast to the list of these fine amenities and we were happy we booked a hotel stay. Oh, one more thing: Homewood Suites offer a free manager’s reception on Wednesday nights that includes salad bar, soup, crackers, cold cuts/cheese, adult drinks, and soft drinks. We skipped dinner on both Wednesday nights thanks to this awesome amenity.
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| Epic thunderstorm! |
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| Updated interior |
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| Nice views |
With this excellent Homewood Suites offering a very comfortable home/base for the next two weeks, we got to revisit some of our favorite places near the area. Here are some of them:
- Peddler’s Village
Peddler’s Village, located in Lahaska, Bucks County, is a storybook-style outdoor shopping, entertainment, and dining complex featuring over 60 shops. We must’ve visited this place about 3-4 times when we lived there, and we also passed by this place while driving in from Fairhaven via US 202.
We left our hotel feeling good to be going there again. It had been at least 7 years since our last visit.
On a weekday, the place felt deserted with only a handful of people walking around. We didn’t mind that at all. We actually prefer quiet, less crowded places anyway.
We walked around, window shopping and even walking in to some gift shops to see if anything has changed. The familiar smell and the look of most of them were intact, especially the strong scented candle smells wafting throughout the store.
The stores are nice, but for us, the central focal point of the place is the beautifully landscaped gardens, the walkways and the small pond. A nice gazebo adds to the relaxed feel of the place providing a much needed respite from the hot summer sun.
As we walked around, we thought about our dearly departed friend Eric, who had introduced us to this place. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania, and he was our tour guide for everything Pennsylvania. We certainly miss him, as he was like an uncle to me, showing me around, feeding me, all while sharing his life experiences living in Pennsylvania.
We had walked into the same stores and walked through the same streets we were now walking through. Why does it seem like all the good people die first? Eric was always helping others, serving in homeless shelters/soup kitchens and trying his best to feed the homeless on a weekly basis. He would go to local supermarkets to pick up bread that would’ve been discarded so he can bring it to those homeless shelters.
He was that kind of a guy. Putting others’ needs before his own, willing to help others…We miss him.
As we sat under a large gazebo, we listened to the birds, listened to the pond, and listened to people around us. It was good to be back, and we recommend anyone visiting this area to check this place out.
- Nockamixon State Park
Nockamixon State Park is a 5,286 acre park located in the rolling hills of scenic Bucks County. It is one of the most popular parks right outside the city of Philadelphia, with the park featuring activities such as boating, hiking, picnicking, bicycling, hunting, and fishing.
This was one of our favorite parks when we lived there, yet there were spots we didn’t get to see as it’s so big! We wanted to revisit it again as it would only be about an hour drive from our hotel in Lansdale.
We headed west from our hotel, taking the familiar roads we used to take to get to the park. We always loved driving country roads in Philadelphia. Eric actually turned us onto them, and we must’ve drove miles and miles of these scenic roads with idyllic scenery of countryside and their enormous corn fields.
We arrived at the park via the scenic Mountain View Drive, telling us we were here. We took a right turn at the sign for the marina area, which was our usual first stop at the park.
As we drove down the road to get to the marina, the lake opened up before us, majestic and beautiful. It was good to be back.
As usual, we saw plenty of boats moored in the marina. We headed towards the marina, then got on the walking path right next to it, with even nicer views of the lake and the marina.
This was the area we used to walk often with our dog Toby, enjoying the nice breeze coming off the lake. We did the same, checking out the same area and reminiscing about our times together.
We decided to grab a bench near the lake after awhile to really immerse ourselves with the lake. It was a beautiful day. We loved seeing the small sailing boats with their white masts, enjoying a quiet Saturday in the summer. Not a bad way to spend a day…
- Assi Plaza
Assi Plaza is a Korean supermarket chain that we know well after living in New York City for the better part of 20+ years. We used to frequent the location near College Point, Queens when we lived there, and we have good memories of picking up delicious Korean (and other Asian) foods.
After we had moved back to the mainland after living in Hawaii for 2+ years way back in the year 2006, we were pleasantly surprised that Assi Plaza had opened in Montgomery County, the same county we were living in.
We frequented the place ever since then, often eating at the food court with various food vendors selling everything from Korean to Japanese foods. There was a Korean style bakery in the same food court we used to go just about every time to pick up some tasty pastries and croquettes.
When we left the area in August 2020 (our early retirement), we longed to go back to the place to sample those tasty foods. We were so happy we were only a short 10 minute drive away from our hotel (Homewood Suites) in Lansdale!
We picked a midweek to stop by, hoping to miss the weekend rush of customers to the popular supermarket. Well, we were just about right.
The place looked deserted as we were only a handful of customers shopping that day. Our favorite bakery had closed (oh, no!), and even the small coffee shop next to the bakery was not opened that day. We asked the owners at the Korean food vendor next to the bakery and they informed us that they had retired few years prior, closing the store with them. Bummer…
We ordered our usual: rice cakes in spicy broth (ttuk-bbok-kki) and fish cake soup (odeng-goog), then did a takeout. While waiting for our food to be ready, we walked around the supermarket.
There were noticeable empty shelves, and with no one around, it felt like the supermarket had seen better days. We felt bad at the state of the local economy (or maybe it was just this supermarket), but we kind of missed seeing the place packed, especially at the food court, always humming with activity.
We picked up our food, but when we opened our foods, we were bummed to see how small the portions had become for close to $30 worth of food. Disappointed, we still ate our foods. At least it tasted about right…
If this supermarket is still around, we will go there again to pick up few things, but we’re not so sure we would be eating at the same venue due to small portions. I have to eat, and the portion for a $30 worth of food was not cutting it.
There were other food vendors opened that day, and we may try a different one next time we visit there. Tip: the bento box from the Japanese food vendor is good portions for around the same price point. That is where we’ll probably head to next time.
- Lancaster County
Lancaster County was popularized by the Harrison Ford movie “Witness” in the 1980’s, depicting the life of the Amish population. That popularity has grown since, and we’ve been visiting there ever since we moved to the area in 2006.
Driving to the county was one of our favorite pastimes, especially taking the less traveled Route 23 heading west to see the wide open pastures and farms with cows. We had 2 full weeks in Lansdale, so we decided to take a day trip out there on a sunny morning.
We took the same route as if we were still living there, reminiscing about the time we spent there. When we got to Lancaster County, we stopped by at a Chick Fil A, for a quick lunch.
Afterwards, we went to the Rockvale Outlets, just across the street from the restaurant. As usual, we were hunting for bargains, but that day, we didn’t find anything there.
We then headed further west, to the Tanger Outlets, another 30 minute drive. We found a Nike store and we scored bargains!
After living our nomadic lifestyle for the past 5 years or so, the things we constantly need are things we wear often, like sneakers, underwear, and hiking boots. Sneakers, out of the three listed, wear out the quickest so we’re always looking for bargains when we can.
After scoring our sneakers for cheap, we headed back towards our hotel, but decided to stop by at one of the most popular places in all of Lancaster County, Shady Maple. Shady Maple’s famous buffet is big with a huge seating capacity, bigger than most Las Vegas buffets! We used to frequent there with our friends and family, and we really stuffed ourselves each and every time!
We had eaten already so we didn’t go to the buffet, but we stopped at the supermarket right next to the buffet to pick up few things (fruits, snacks). I always found prices to be cheaper than Montgomery County, and luckily that hadn’t changed.
The drive getting to the county, the drive through the county with its idyllic surroundings, and various shopping and dining options make this a top destination in Pennsylvania. We highly recommend it!
In conclusion:
During our married life, we had spent the most amount of time (14 years) in the state of Pennsylvania. It is, and will always be, one of our second homes. We have so many great memories there, especially raising our fur ball, Toby.
Revisiting the state is always a treat, and we always feel like we’re back home. We know exactly what to expect and that is a good thing.
It had been 5 years since we left the suburbs of Philadelphia but it sure felt good seeing the neighborhood we lived near, to revisit the same places we liked to visit, and to live there again (even if it was just 2 weeks in a hotel). We have no regrets leaving the area as that was the beginning of a new chapter in our lives: of early retirement, reconnecting with our family, and traveling extensively.
You know what they say. When one door closes, another door opens…
This is how we live our lives. What we had in Pennsylvania was great, and we will always be grateful for all the state has done for us. But we also are flexible enough with our lives to fully embrace our nomadic lifestyle these days, traveling to faraway places by car.
I wouldn’t change anything right now. We are, happy where we are…
Thank you for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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