Our Trip, Part 4

The fourth stop on our adventure was Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  

Definitely on my "bucket list" on places I wanted to see.

As soon as we arrived you could see the buggies in the roads along with

the cars.  I'd always heard that the Amish didn't like to have their pictures

taken so I was careful not to take their images up close.

I later learned near the end of my trip that most don't mind

at all as long as you don't get right up in their face or ask

them to take a picture with you.  While all of the curious tourist

are riding around looking, they actually live there and are going

about their busy lives with work.

They really grow their pumpkins hugh.

There were lots of opportunities for buggy tour rides.

This is a farmer going about the business of moving his crop.  The

locals are really patient in Lancaster and move slowly

when there is a buggy or wagon on the road which I was

very happy to see.  It seems the movies I've seen showing

the "english" being so mean to them just isnt true.  At

least in Lancaster.

This was one of my favorite antique shops of the entire trip.

Mike and I both got a few really good deals and the people

were so great.  They asked where we were from, made suggestions for

food locations and directed us to the best buggy ride business.

I loved this shopping location.  It's fairly new and hosts lots of shops in one

place.  It also happened to be where we began and ended our buggy ride.

A lot of the shops had Amish working in them.  There was a shop that had mustard, jellys, relishes, candies and baked goods that had an open view of the cannery.

The Amish ladies working in it were beautiful and very sweet.

This is the buggy we rode on.  It had been raining off and on (which happened

most of our trip) so this one offered protection in case of a down pour. 

Which did  happen a couple of times on our ride.

The young man who drove us was not a practicing Amish.  His father had

been Amish but decided to leave when he was 18 and live among the towns people.

Did you know that they get a year or two when there about 16 or 17 to

experience living they way the other teenagers and young adults do?

After that period of time they decide whether they want to live in the

Amish traditions or live in the "world".  I had heard of that but what

I didn't know is that if you decide not to live in the Amish ways, most Amish

families do not bannish them.  They come back for Sunday dinners with the family.

Our buggy driver told us he grew up visiting on the weekends.  His grandparents

had even bought his dad a car when he was 18, but he just had to park it

at the neighbors house.

There were lots of dairy farms in the area.

The first covered bridge of our trip.

After we finished our ride we decided to head to dinner to

the famous Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant.  We wanted to try

the food that was known in that area.

It was a beautiful converted farm.

           I'll admit when I saw the menu, I was a little taken aback.  Not what I would
             normally choose.  They served your food family style and they bring an
          enormous amout of food to your table in serving bowls.  But I decided to
               give most everything a try.   They had something called hamloaf
                 (basically meatloaf minus the beef and adding ground ham). 
                 It was incredibly good.  There fried chicken was some of the best I've
                  ever had.  There were also lots of farm vegetables.   We were
                        pleasantly surprised at how delicious the food was.  I'm so
                      glad we made an agreement to try the food that is famous for the
                area we were in.  I don't think we would of chosen this if we hadn't.

We had heard so much about shoofly pie in every store we were in

and neither of us had ever had it.  That's what they served for dessert.

It's wonderful.  Kind of (but not exactly) like pecan pie without the pecans.

The food is prepared by Amish women and I definitely think

if you ever visit there you have to make this a must do.

 

I just had to get a picture of this.  It was just the cutest restaurant decor

I've ever seen.  It just puts a smile on your face.

And I'll leave you with a cute lawn decoration that you'll see as you

leave the restaurant.

Things we learned on our visit to Lancaster.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are the best fall dessert I've ever tasted.

It's alot more commericalized that I thought it would be.

The Amish don't mind if you take pictures as long as your not directly in their face.

Amish quilts are beautiful and expensive.

There are lots of really great antique stores with reasonable prices.

Some Amish have solar power, even though they don't have electricity.

Amish farms are AWESOME.

The English and the Amish get along great where we were at.

I really like covered bridges.

I like shoofly pie.

They grow really big pumpkins.

Just because some Amish decide to leave that way of life, it doesn't have

to mean they are bannished.

Great memories were made here.

We realized about a week after we left Lancaster that Mike's favorite ball cap (Cherry Point Naval Hosptial) was missing.  We tried for days to retrace where we had been recently.  Because there had been so much rain and no sun he couldn't remember the last time he wore it.  One eveing (while we were in Maine) I was thinking about our trip and it suddenly dawned on me that the last time I saw it was on a chair at the Stoltzfus Restaurant in Lancaster the week before.  We called them and would you believe they had found it and decided to keep it in case someone came back for it.  It had been almost two weeks by the time we called them.  They were so sweet and put it in the mail to us.  Can you believe that?  Mike was so greatful.  He was at that Naval hosptial in the 80's and had found the hat in an antique shop in mint condition a few years ago.   We will always be so thankful for their kindness.