I flew to Philadelphia yesterday with my friend Lynne then drove 1 1/2 hours to get to a farm in the middle of Amish country. It’s late by the time we arrive and dark, way too dark to glimpse the countryside. The farm where we are staying is owned by a Mennonite couple, Elvin and Charlotte. As we arrived big trucks were lined up to load crates of chickens, approximately 26,000 of them. That apparently is only in house 1. Did I mention that was 26,000 chickens? I will definitely have to check this out in the light of day.
Come morning the sun is out and it’s a glorious day to be outside and check things out. I didn’t see any chickens (of course they’re all gone now) but I did see cows. Lynne, being a lover of all animals is infatuated with the Wenger bovines….even getting licked on the nose. I missed that photo op. Darn!
One of the special things about the area is that we are in the midst of Amish land. Right next door is an old one room Amish school house. We watched as the kids came trudging through the snow to school this morning. Some walked, some rode bikes, all carrying cooler type lunch boxes and all dressed as from another time and era. It was priceless.
The dichotomy between old order Amish with horse and buggy against an onslaught of modern day vehicles all vying for a piece of a two lane country road is a sight to behold.
Lynne and I traveled around the countryside a fair today. First stop was in the town of Ephrata for breakfast and a walk about. Who knew we’d be dining in a place where people would be drinking beer at 10:00 in the morning, listening to Irish tunes by a guy in a kilt and a little leprechaun for a chef. All on Saint Paddy’s Day! We opted for coffee and the Irish breakfast, yet celebrated with chiming in on some of the songs.
Ephrata
Time to view the country and find more picture ops. Funny to us was the laundry strung outside to dry on a frigid winters day. How long does one suppose it would take to dry and then thaw? It’s not so funny when you realize the laundry was washed by hand in an Amish home with no electricity and then hung outside to dry. I’m thankful for electricity and that I get to use it.
On we went to the town Intercourse for lunch with an old friend of Lynne’s and a few shops along the way.
Imagine my surprise finding a covered bridge in Lancaster. I was delighted!
As we arrive back on the farm for the evening there are more trucks loading more chickens. I don’t even want to ask if it’s another 26,000. Especially after Elvin told me the night before that those were only from house 1.
So ends today’s sojourn. Tomorrow we begin our drive to Williamsburg, VA. We’ll overnight somewhere en route…just not sure quite yet. Thanks for joining me on another adventure.
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Well, we have traveled from Philadelphia down to Williamsburg visiting little towns along the way. We trained it up to DC and back to Williamsburg again. Now we have come to our last visit in Virginia, Jamestown…where it all began.
Jamestown isn’t so much a town per se, as it is an historic museum and archaeological site. We didn’t see it all, but we saw enough and our enough is shared here with you.
Finally, the cherry trees were all in bloom and as the wind blew blossoms cascaded down.
