By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 10, 2003; Page C02

Reindeer are ticklish.

I know this because I tickled one over the weekend.

You can tickle a reindeer, too, and you should, because it's either this or get trampled at the shopping mall from now until Christmas. Tickling reindeer is way more fun.

With pals Anne and Ray in tow, I set out Sunday to find Maryland's only reindeer farm, about 50 miles north of Baltimore in the rolling hills of Harford County. And we found Maryland's only reindeer farm all right -- in Pennsylvania.

The 100-acre Applewood Farm straddles the Maryland-Pennsylvania border (and the Mason-Dixon line) in thick, forested countryside that was coated in white after last weekend's first snowfall of the season. The Christmas trees and pumpkins grow on the Maryland side of the farm. The reindeer live in Pennsylvania, as farmer Brian Adelhardt emphatically pointed out. Reindeer are illegal in Maryland. What a bunch of scrooges.

You will not find Dancer, Prancer, Donner or Blitzen at Applewood Farm. But you will find Spruce, Sassy, Molly and Minnie, a small herd of genuine Alaskan reindeer, a domesticated cousin of the caribou.

The reindeer are the central draw at the farm, a working spread that is transformed into a whimsical Christmas tourist attraction every year. Applewood is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends through Dec. 21. That means you have only two weekends left to see the reindeer. So hurry! Grab your camera and a stash of candy canes for the ride. Bundle the kids up, and bundle them up good -- it's reindeer weather here.

The $2 admission fee gets you into the Reindeer Village (really just a corral where the reindeer hang out), the Christmas tree fields and a log barn, but it will not buy you circulating heat or indoor plumbing. This is the country, people.

Although we came primarily for the reindeer and to pick up new material for holiday parties, the rest of the farm has plenty to make a day of serious holiday prep: You can cut down the Christmas tree of your choosing, go for a pony ride, get your hands on the potbellied pigs and pygmy goats at the petting zoo or hang out in a 220-year-old log barn filled with vintage model trains, hot chocolate and holly by the pound ($3.50 a pound -- "You Weigh It, We Trust You!!").

Big corporations spend lots of money trying to make Christmas villages look as authentic as this classic red barn trimmed in swinging Christmas lights, holly and greens. The barn's six trains include one that runs on a track overhead. A small shop at the back sells country crafts, and a little refreshment stand called the Crazy Crow Cafe offers coffee (50 cents), hot or cold apple cider (60 cents), hot chocolate and soda (75 cents), hot dogs ($1.50) and honey sticks (25 cents or five for $1).

Once you've warmed up, you can head back outside, where there's a Christmas tree maze for the kids, a reindeer antler toss, snowball bowling and hayrides. Applewood has been selling Christmas trees for more than 20 years, but Adelhardt said the trees weren't growing fast enough to keep up with demand. So he set out to create not just a Christmas tree chop op, but a value-added holiday experience for a few fleeting weeks before the Big Day.

He cautions people looking only for a tree to find another farm, one that doesn't charge the admission he started collecting three years ago to keep the crowds down (about 10,000 people visit the farm annually between the fall pumpkin-picking season and Christmas).

"We want families who want the whole experience and get a nice Christmas tree," he said. The reindeer, he added, "were a good fit with Christmas trees."

Brian and Pat Adelhardt bought their first reindeer, Hollyberry, in 1997 from another Pennsylvania farm. She survived only six months before dying from a tick-borne disease that eventually felled three other reindeer. After the first reindeer died, Brian spent six months at the University of Alaska's Reindeer Research Program in Fairbanks to learn more about raising and breeding the animals. In 1999, four new reindeer from Alaska came to live on the farm. They have produced six offspring, including Minnie, the reindeer we got to tickle.

Four times a day each Saturday and Sunday, Brian gives a 20-minute lecture on reindeer from the corral. The kids can watch the animals playing silly reindeer games, while the oldsters pick up all sorts of interesting tidbits about them. (They have very dexterous lips and love raisins and animal crackers. Both the males, called bulls, and the females, called cows, have antlers, which they grow every year and shed and regrow.) At the end of his talk, Brian brought Minnie out of the fenced area on a rope. We got to pet her as she twisted under our touch, her whole body as ticklish as a human foot. Her two layers of hair were coarse but soft.

Reindeer love the snow. We love the snow, too, but we loved our four-wheel drive more. This isn't just country -- it's almost backcountry. Although the plows had made a pass at some of the main roads, the offshoots were still covered in places. So be advised: If it snows again, bring the Big Daddy car and a shovel -- just in case.

We hung out with the reindeer until we couldn't feel our feet and then decided to head over to Hickory Dick's in nearby Dent, Pa., a place Pat had recommended for its excellent chicken and ribs. Anne and I are vegetarians, so going to Hickory Dick's really was all about Ray and soaking up a little local culture.

The drive took us through the picturesque township of Peach Bottom, Pa., with its century-old churches and brightly decorated houses lining Main Street. Not so picturesque: the eerie Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. After a couple of missed turns, lots of backtracking and stopping to ask for directions twice (a big-city thanks to the hunters in the red pickup and the bearded fellow watching his kids sled down a hill; you know who you are), we made it to Hickory Dick's, a redwood smokehouse about 10 minutes from Applewood Farm, if you have good directions, which you will if you read the Escape Keys box.

Hickory Dick's serves four types of french fries, homemade soups, pit turkey, beef and pork sandwiches, two kinds of ribs, crab cakes, oysters, grilled cheese sandwiches, even a vegetarian wrap (a tortilla filled with coleslaw) and -- trust us on this one -- fried pickles.

If you're too tired to drive home after an afternoon with the reindeer, the Peach Bottom Inn, a two-story motel with a restaurant attached, is less than five minutes from Hickory Dick's. You can sleep off your belly full of fried pickles there or you can find brand-name lodging 20 minutes away in Bel Air, Md. If you turn in for the night in the area, you can have breakfast at the noisy Delta Family Restaurant, which serves comfort food down the road from the Peach Bottom Inn. And be sure to leave time for a stop at the 230-year-old Jerusalem Mill and Village in Gunpowder Falls State Park in Kingsville, Md., as you head south to Washington (Exit 74 off I-95).

The village is open weekends, and the mill, the centerpiece of a Quaker settlement in the 18th and 19th centuries, has a museum and visitor center. On Sundays, the cooper and blacksmith shops have live demonstrations. The youngsters can take a few swings at the red-hot metal pulled from the forge before heading back to the highway. As the sun sets in dramatic orange and pink blazes, you can roll along cold but refreshed from your country adventure, with visions of Minnie prancing in your head.

GETTING THERE: Applewood Farm, at 4435 Prospect Rd. in Whiteford, Md., is about 80 miles north of Washington. From I-95 north, take Exit 80 toward Churchsville, Route 543 west. Go two miles and turn right onto Route 136 north. Follow this 14 miles to Dublin. Go another four miles, turn right onto Prospect Road and proceed 21/2 miles to the farm, on your right.

WHAT TO DO: Applewood Farm's reindeer herd is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends through Dec. 21. Admission is $2 per person (children age 2 and under are free) and includes access to the reindeer corral (with demonstrations at 10 a.m., noon, 2 and 4 p.m.), the Christmas barn, petting zoo, a Christmas tree maze and hay rides. Carriage and pony rides are $2 extra. Info: 410-836-1140, www.applewoodfarm.org.

Jerusalem Mill and Village in Gunpowder Falls State Park in nearby Kingsville, Md., is the centerpiece of a Quaker settlement from the 18th and 19th centuries. Info: 410-877-3560, www.jerusalemmill.org. The village, open 1 to 4 p.m. on weekends, has a museum and live demonstrations.

WHERE TO EAT: There's a refreshment stand at the farm. Hickory Dick's (913 Broad St.) in Delta, Pa., serves up tasty charcoal grilling and is a favorite among locals. Prices range from $2.25 for a grilled cheese to $7.95 for a half-rack of ribs. The five-piece fried pickle special is $3.95. Getting to Hickory Dick's was tricky -- turn right onto Prospect Road as you leave the farm. At the first stop sign, make a left onto Slateville Road. Follow this for about a mile and turn left on Atom Road. This turns into Main Street as you enter Peach Bottom Township. Make a right on Broad Street and follow up a long hill. Hickory Dick's is on the left.

Delta Pizza (533 Main St., Delta) offers classic Italian grub from Sicilian owners, including pizza with homemade dough, great subs and stromboli. Delta Family Restaurant (5978 Delta Rd., Delta), cooks up creature comfort foods, family-style.

WHERE TO STAY: At the 24-room Peach Bottom Inn (717-456-9831, 6085 Delta Rd.), rooms are just $40 a night for a single, $50 for a room with two double beds. It has a restaurant and sports bar on the premises.

INFO: Harford County Tourism Council, 800-597-2649, www.harfordmd.com.