We made the drive safely from West Virginia all of the way to Lancaster, PA. We even had to drive through part of Maryland to get here and were scared to death. We arrived at Roamer's Retreat campground in the heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch where the Amish and Mennonite live in pockets through out the countryside. It was literally surrounded by farmland.
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| Amish team harvesting Alfalfa next to our campground |
We decided to use our first day to take an authentic buggy ride through the Amish countryside and to tour a working Amish farm. Our driver Barb was a 23 years old and very excitedly told us that she was recently engaged and planning her wedding day. There were only four of us on the tour so she let us ask any questions and she told us all about the Amish wedding day. Here's a few fun Amish facts.... they are schooled in a one room school house with 22-25 students. The students are K-8 in that one room and they are only schooled until the 8th grade. There is no science in the curriculum, Peg had to bite her tongue. Their lifestyle is one of simplicity, no electricity is the key to this. Think what comes with electricity, music, technology, telephones etc... They are only committed to the simple Amish lifestyle after they choose to be baptized and commit themselves to the church; they have to be baptized to be married in the Amish church; they are shunned only if they turn their backs on the church after being baptized. We had a great day and even bought an authentic Amish quilt!
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| Our beautiful new quilt. |
Barb, our Amish buggy tour driver. Her head covering is what identifies her as Amish and not Mennonite. Mennonite wear doilies on their heads.
Farming and Dairy are the main professions. Here is a dairy calf, look at the heart on her forehead. Her milk will be "lovely"
Two car garage, these buggies are fancy, he also sells birdhouses.
Covered bridge. A buggy went through followed by a Chevrolet.
Notice the piece of equipment on the right has no rubber on the wheels. This does have a diesel engine to turn the blades but it is still pulled by horses.
Now here is a road sign you don't see every day. We feared for their lives. Speed limit is 35 mph and nobody except the buggies are going that slowly.
No electricity, no dryers. Washing machines are the old agitator kind and they run on propane as do the stoves and refrigerators.
I had made arrangements to visit an very old friend and her family whom live in nearby Harrisburg. I hadn't seen Lisa and Dustin in 13 years. I saw her last when she was pregnant with her first son. She now has four beautiful and lively boys. I met Lisa in California when she worked at my favorite shoe shop and I found out that she was a babysitter on the side. She helped raise my three beautiful children for 5 years while she finished up college. I flew to Pennsylvania to attend Lisa's wedding over 15 years ago where I met her mom Carol and her friends the Marty's. We became fast friends and I flew back a couple of years later to take a very infamous trip into NYC. We had such a great time and I was really looking forward to seeing everyone. They were able to get everyone together for dinner even though I had only given them two days notice. We had a fantastic meal and time reminiscing about old times and catching up. Of course once again, I was having so much fun I forgot to take any pictures Darn it. This has been such a fun part of this adventure we are on, getting to see old friends and family.
We used our last day to drive out to Gettysburg. It was a little further than we thought, but it was worth it. We meandered through historic downtown Gettysburg which is still very colonial looking and very cute. Then we drove the battlefield and learned that this three day battle happened purely by chance when the two armies literally bumped into each other and that there were more casualties in this one battle (51,000) than any other before or since on U.S. soil. The large number of casualties is why the Soldier's National Cemetery was created and where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. A very powerful speech that only lasted a two minutes.
Unknown soldiers take up a large part of the cemetery.
Unknown soldiers are identified by number only. This piece of marble has been on the ground for 150 years. You gotta love the durability of metamorphic rocks!
This is the Soldiers National Monument. A. is standing where President Lincoln on November 19, 1863 gave his Gettysburg Address.
Happy 1st Anniversary to my beautiful daughter Alex and her perfect mate Jacob! We wish you both many more fabulous years together.
Coming soon.... Galloway, NJ; White Plains, NY and Boston, MA. This stop is all about family and friends. Maybe I will remember to take some pictures.
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