Vacation from CA to PA

Well it has been a great vacation visiting in Stroudsburg,PA and I was in good health almost the entire trip only getting really sick once which I suspect was from food allergies.

 Day 1 leaving on United air from CA to PA with a long layover in Chicago. First off our layover was supposed to be less than 2 hours but the plane was delayed and the gates kept getting changed making it a 4 hour layover. Thank goodness I was prepared and brought in my carry on lunch and snacks for the day. In my bag I had udi's gluten free muffins, peanut butter sandwiches, glutino crackers made into peanut butter sandwiches,pretzels and fruit snacks. Once we arrived at the Allentown,PA airport I already had Chick fil a mapped out on my gps to stop at for dinner.

 We stayed at a beautiful hotel on the Delaware river called The Shawnee Inn. Each morning they served a full breakfast. I do have to say they need to train the omelet chef better because I informed her of my allergies and that I needed her to use a clean pan and clean utensil with no contact with butter. As I watched her she dumped out the buttered pan and just wiped it clean with a towel but she did use a clean spatula. Luckily I did not get sick from that but the next two days they did the same thing, one of the days I avoided the eggs all together and just ate fruit and bacon. We were mainly there for my husbands grandmothers 100 birthday party at her home. The food at the party was catered but we stayed away from the buffet and in my checked luggage I had pasta and some other dry goods with me and I prepared them for our meals.

 The next part of our trip was to a town about 20 minutes away called Scott Run,PA. The main attraction there was a hotel with an indoor water park called The Great Wolf Lodge. Before staying at this hotel I called and spoke with a chef and they gave me some ideas on how they could accommodate my food allergy needs. I was a tad disappointed that I could not make a quick serve order downstairs by the pool but instead they required me to go inside to the sit down restaurant and speak with the chef. The chef was great he wrote down all my allergens and gave me different options to choose from which were so many. I had decided I just wanted hamburger and fries. He said he would make it and then I could pick it up at the bar in 20-30 minutes. He also gave me a great price on the meal. When I picked up the meals it was so much more food than I imagined. It was a double burger on a safe bun with fresh fries and a huge container of fruit. It was so much food for me and my 8 year old I had wished I only ordered 1 but I was able to save it to eat leftovers the next day. Not only was this hotel fun but the room accommodations were great equipped with a fridge and microwave. For breakfast I brought my coconut milk from home and trix cereal. Because we wanted to save some money on other meals in the area we ate at familiar chains Wendy's and Burger King down the road from the hotel.

 2 days before we were set to leave to go back home we decided to celebrate my teenagers birthday with a meal at a local Red Robin. In our hometown we have successfully eaten at Red Robin several times so I knew we would be ok. First they were great they gave me a special gluten free/ other allergen binder menu to look at. I ordered my usual a chicken sandwich on a gluten free bun. The waitress seemed very knowledgeable about the food allergies and made a note to tell the kitchen. When our meal came the bun on my sandwich looked different than what I have seen before and it had a weird taste too. The manager came by and assured me if I ordered it gluten free than it was infact that and they are very careful in the kitchen. Because I was still unsure I went ahead and did not eat anymore of my bun (by that point I had eaten maybe 1/4 of it). Not long after we returned back to our room and all night I felt sick to my tummy. At first I thought it was just traveling sickness and maybe missing being home but no it got worse from there with full on running to the bathroom. Thank goodness I had a day to recover before my flight home.

 Before our flight home we ate a very late lunch/early dinner thinking that would hold us over but I was wrong. Back to a layover in chicago and I was hungry and not prepared. I searched everywhere and could not find anything to eat except for fruit,veggies and jamba juice. Luckily that did the trick for my hunger pains. I am actually surprised there are not atleast some gluten free options as this is a major airport.

 So all in all it was a great trip and I was very happy to be back in CA in my own bed! One thing I thought that was funny was every time I ordered something without the bun the employees had a total look of confusion on their face and questioned if I was sure I wanted it with no bun. I guess not many people in PA order their food bunless.