'Doing our own Thing'

***Miles travelled today: 65

***Total Miles: 2126

***States travelled through: Still in Pennsylvania

Gosh, what a day and we didn't even travel far....It all started off with a good- hearty and wholesome Amish breakfast.... I tried 'grits' for the first time but opted to have it with maple syrup instead of cheese sauce-quickly realising that I was probably doing something odd as I got a few curious glances (and not just from the Amish!)....I think the cheese sauce is there for a reason as grits is a bit like salty mealie-pap [for those South Africans/Portuguese following this blog-you'll know what I mean; for those of you in England-I can't tell you what it's like :) ]

Anyway, we then went off on a Buggy-ride with Billy, Butch and Jacob (Jacob had the beard and suspenders) which took us to his farm where he showed us around and explained the daily livings of an Amish family, giving us permission to take photos as we went, however we've chosen not to blog the pics of the youngsters and will hold those for the scrapbook. Following this, we again decided to 'get lost' amongst the myriad of interchanging alleys and lanes and were rewarded with various photo opportunities. Linz did brilliantly with the driving today and found as many 'covered bridges' as possible (did you know that these originated in China and Not Pennsylvania ?).

Back to getting on track (I digress ;) )-we visited the farmers market where Amish women sell their baked goodies and jellies (jams) and Yes, we tried Apple Butter and Apple Cider (yum to both although there's no butter in the apple butter and no alcohol in the apple cider!!). This took us on to a quilt store-hope you like the photo Mrs D/Mom . The quilts looked absolutely phenomenal and the work,delicate;each with their own design. By the way, this was the closest I was getting to Linz being dressed as an Amish - she donned a straw hat !

In our own tour of the area,we also visited the Cloisters at Ephrata and then made our way to the 'all-important Make-Your-Own-Pretzel-Place' at Lititz, before we finally found our way back to the hotel to relax and pass-out.

Reading what we have done over the past few days about the Amish really makes us individually question what everything really means for us. We have seen this quote repeatedly and would like to share it. These are the words of an Amishman, taken from the 'Small Farm Journal', in the summer of 1993.

"We realise that not everyone is cut out to be one of the Plain people.Many have not the opportunity but here is the challenge:

If you admire our faith - strengthen your's.

If you admire our sense of commitment - deepen your's.

If you admire our community spirit - build your own.

If you admire the simple life - cut back.

If you admire deep character and endearing values - live them yourself."

Thanks once again to those leaving comments-we have a real giggle reading them and apologies to those who have Only Just got the bloglink !

Tomorrow is going to be an easy day as we are planning to lounge about and possibly (?) do some laundry {it was much easier arriving at Tia Virginia's who took over and just did it....and ironed it too:) }