From the Amish Country

The Pictures:

1. Our friend Ben

2. Beautiful Lancaster County

3. An Amish wagon

4. Going home

5. The recreated Amish Village

6. Gerry and Mr. Ed

7. More beautiful countryside

We didn't get very far from Philadelphia today, were lost a number of times, shopped til we dropped and had a wonderful day.

As we were packing up this morning we ran into our friend Ben from yesterday and got his picture this time. This reminds me of something I have been thinking about. It seems Ben was downstairs at the desk trying to straighten out his reservation. He has another day or so in Philadelphia and all of a sudden they have no record of him and no credit card on file. But.....he is already there. Hmmmmm. Well, I have a theory. Here is this lovely Holiday Inn located in the middle of the historic district of Philadelphia with all the apparent amenities of a first rate hotel and prices to match. Our experiences with the room service, gift shop, check out, parking, etc. were at best a bit frustrating. They don't quite have all the pieces put together. All the staff was most helpful and hospitable, but there were glitches in such things as our dinner the other night when it came minus one part of the order and then we noticed there was only service for two. Little things. The location was the greatest but it still has vestiges of a 1970's motel. A motel masquerading as a hotel. Enough complaining! Philadelphia was wonderful and not having enough silverware is not going to spoil that.

We headed out of town toward Lancaster County which was 70 miles to the west. We drove through some gorgeous country and think we drove into Delaware by mistake. When some of the roads share many numbers it does get a bit confusing. Every time we stop for help there are usually several people who will weigh in with offers to help. Finally found the right road and drove through interesting little towns like Intercourse and Bird in Hand. When we realized it was Sunday and most of the stores were closed we were very sad, but if you have lemons make lemonade! Many Amish families were out in their buggies zipping up and down the roads which we would not have seen on a day other than Sunday. Stopped for a tour of an Amish village which was very informative and bought some books to better understand the religion and culture. Like the Shakers, I've had many misconceptions. There is a huge industry in Amish watching here in Lancaster County and it is hard to imagine growing up having cameras pointed at you all the time and treated as curiosities. They must be so relieved when the high tourist season ends.

Couldn't find any thing open for lunch and ended up in Lancaster which is a large city by comparison to the small villages. Ate for the first time at a Ruby Tuesday. Great salad bar and will eat there again! Checked into the Holiday Inn Express about 5:30. I flopped down on the bed and promptly fell asleep. It is now 10:00, I'm wide awake, and Judi and Lee are sleeping. Grrrrr!

Off to Gettysburg tomorrow. Wonder if I could recite the Gettysburg address like I used to require of my 8th grade history students? Stay tuned. Will let you know.

Nighty night from the Gotta Go Girls