Second Camping Trip -- Amish Country

We took another camping trip in October 2010, this time to the Amish-country area of Ohio. Last time we went and stayed in a motel, but this time, since we had the whole family, we took the camper and stayed in a small, but very nice, campground. Once again, it started out bitingly cold! But we had a couple of nicer days in there.
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We went to all the old familiar places, like Hershberger's Farm and Bakery
We did see some new and unfamiliar sights though -- like the exciting and dangerous roof goat!

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The roof goat stands on the roof of the barn and begs for food, which you supply for a buck. Get a cone-full, put it in the conveyor-belt holder,

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turn the handle,

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and send it up to Mr. Gruff!

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Hershbergers still had the full range of non-dangerous, non-exciting, super-domesticated fuzzy-wuzzy barn animals and babies too. Oh, and that great big horse. And lots and lots of pumpkins.

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Amish country is beautiful any time of year, but I particularly love it in the fall. And the spring.

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The kids were especially enamored of the buggies (which they called, "campers") and the horses and their drivers (which they called, "cowboys"). They were somewhat less enamored of this particular buggy after we discovered the yellowjacket nest.

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This is a Swartzentruber farm, where we went to look at some quilts and to see the home. It was a weird sort of vibe --not the countryside, but the home. It was just so very stark and quiet, even when their children arrived -- they sat and stared, not saying a word. Mrs. Swartzentruber says the quilts come from other families who sew them and she sells them. The quilts themselves were okay, but very very expensive, $800 or more. I am not sure really how I felt about that whole experience -- I've been there a couple of times now, and I still feel a bit off about it. Weird, huh!

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Morning in the camper, before we set out for another day of yumminess and gorgeous scenery. This camping trip was a lot smoother, with generally nicer weather -- except for the one night where bad storms were predicted, and we opted to rent a cabin at Evergreen Resort (which was, incidentally, very nice, even without running water or in-cabin bathrooms.) It rained and rained and rained, and blew for a while, but we were cozy in the cabin, and we got to watch cable tv too. Bonus!

Of course, in Amish country, you eat a lot. So much pie! :-) But of all the places we ate, once again, the Chalet in the Valley was still the best, by far. Not the cheapest, but definitely the best. I am pretty sure that the little kids, Gater and Bert, liked the "cowboys and horses and campers" the best.

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