Christmas in Pennsylvania

We returned late last night after spending a snowy Christmas with my family in West Chester, Pennsylvania!
We left around 3:30 on Thursday and took a new route north, heading up along Highway 29 through North Carolina and Virginia, then continuing north on Highway 15 through northern Virginia and 30 east through Pennsylvania.  We spent Thursday night in Leesburg, Virginia, which we both loved!  Loudoun County, where Leesburg is located, is a bucolic haven of gently rolling farmland and Leesburg has a a historic 17th-century downtown area.  We also visited the premium outlets in Leesburg and did a little pre-Christmas damage. :)
I have been visiting my grandparents, aunt & uncle, and cousins in West Chester since they moved there in the late 80s and Roberto has been there several times for work and for family functions with me.  The Brandywine Valley area of the country was also settled in the 1800s, and there are plenty of historic landmarks to visit there.  I love all of the old stone structures and rolling countryside, although there are a lot more people there now than there were when my family first moved there.  The family has expanded in recent years, too, with my cousins' spouses and four great-granddaughters!  It was great to see everyone.  We did have to cut our trip a little short due to the enormous blizzard that worked its way up the East Coast yesterday.  We headed home early to beat the storm - and on our way back we missed it entirely thanks to our more western route - only to find the most snow we had seen when we returned to Greensboro!  Probably about 6 inches in places.
From now on, that's the route we'll take up to PA.  There were a lot of beautiful things to see along the way.  I already mentioned Leesburg, but we also drove straight through Amish Country and were amazed by the Amish riding in horse-drawn carriages along the roads.  We also stopped at the Bavarian Chef - just north of Charlottesville, VA - which I have ALWAYS wondered about when we drive past.  This authentic German restaurant serves some of the best Bavarian-style food in the northern VA/DC area, and we LOVED it!  We enjoyed roasted red pepper soup with lump crabmeat, an appetizer of three different kinds of wurst on top of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, and jaeger schnitzel as a main dish.
It was a memorable Christmas, over too soon as usual, but it makes it even more special when we get to visit everyone again.