Today we drove to Lancaster PA, less than an hour away.
Bernie wanted to go see Amish country, she has always wanted to know more about the Amish and their way of life. We found the Amish House and Farm and lucky for us, we got there in plenty of time to tour the farm (which is a self guided tour) until the guided tour of the house started.
The house is arranged in traditional Amish fashion. Going from room to room, you learn a lot about the Amish, everything from the clothes they wear to what they eat. We learned that they get their food products from regular grocery stores including Walmart and Costco. It was also interesting to learn that many Amish, including the women, get jobs outside of their community to make ends meet. Also, they buy houses or farms just like anyone else. The only difference is they can’t have electricity or phones in their homes.
The farm is a working farm. There are animals, a windmill, barns, a tobacco drying area, and a well. There is also a one room schoolhouse and some displays of olden days. This was a good tour and a great learning experience.
Afterwards we headed a couple miles down the road to check out Dutch Haven, a local store that gives free samples of shoofly pie. Bernie had never had shoofly pie and was a bit grossed out by the idea of making a pie to attract flies, but Mar said it was really good pie, so Bernie ate her sample and decided it was pretty good. In fact, she liked it so much we bought a small pie to take with us.
The cashier at the store directed us to the closest laundromat and off we went to do our laundry. When we got there, we saw on the far wall a sink deep enough to wash Mar's hair and it even had a spray hose and hot water. We decided to get Mar’s hair washed while we did our laundry. Yes, people probably thought this was pretty weird but the ladies who were there doing their laundry just smiled at us.
After the laundry was done we decided to just have sandwiches for dinner so that we could leave room for dessert … shoofly pie and coffee. Mar had two big slices, it was sooooo good. Finally we found a grocery store with a RedBox and we rented The Happening by M. Night Shyamalan. Then we found a spot at the Home Depot next door to park for the night.
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IN OH also have large Amish population. probably IA IL and other mid-west states also.
ReplyDeleteHave you decided what you are doing for the winter?
Ok, hear me out before you decide not to even think about it.....It appears that you boon-dock 98% of the time and don’t have sufficient water supply to wash long hair as well as finding a place to wash your hair is difficult. It also sounds like you sometime have to go for an extended period of time in between washes which I can’t imagine as being very comfortable or hygienic. How about considering cutting the long hair and donate it to a good cause. There are many cancer patients that need wigs. You can enjoy the remainder of the trip without worrying about how to wash the long hair and then grow it back when you are done with the travels and know that you have done something nice for someone else.
ReplyDeleteHey, there - in Lancaster, PA, you are leass than 1.5 hours from Towson, MD, home of Kristin and Susan! We will be in Philadelphia this weekend for Kristin to take a cooking class, but if you are passing through MD, let us know.
ReplyDelete