Amish Country Ohio

Monday, August 17, 2009

This is the Guggisberg Cheese factory and store. The mural at the top has little people and animals that move through it. As you can probably tell, it has a Swiss theme. We bought several different cheeses and sausages there. We also went to Miller's Bakery that had the best apple friters we've ever had--like biting into a cloud with apples and cinnamon. A very light dough. Randy also liked their cheese tarts. We visited Charm and visited several stores and purchased a few things. We went to a restaurant in Berlin called Boyd & Wurthman that everyone said was so good. We didn't think it was very good. They did have a good apple dumpling for dessert though.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

We went on a tour of Yoder's farm. We toured two old Amish farm houses, the barn with lots of animals, the one-room school house, and went on a buggy ride. The donkey with Randy in the picture is the kind Jesus rode into Jerusalem on, so the Amish farmer said. It has a stripe down its back and one across its shoulders making a cross.

We then went to Walnut Creek and Sugar Creek and various other towns along the way. Sugar Creek had a bulk food store--Swiss Village--where we bought a lot of stuff including some homemade root beer that was really strange. At night, we dined at Der Dutchman's which was pretty good. This was the sunset when we came out. The restaurant has a beautiful of the valley below it. There is also a chocolate store next door that we have to come back to and buy some chocolate--they were closed when we finished dinner. There was also a gift shop across the street with three floors of pretties that I spent quite awhile in--Randy sat on the front porch with a few other husbands.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

We walked two miles around the high-school track across from the RV park first thing this morning. We ate so much yesterday that we had to walk some of it off!

We shopped in Berlin today and bought a few things. We had ice cream cones for lunch because we were taking a tour that afternoon which ended with dinner in an Amish home.

This tour was really great! We started at the Amish & Mennonite Hertiage Center and an Amish gentleman told us the story of the Behalt. It is a 10 ft x 265 ft cyclorama (circular mural) that tells the history of the Amish & Mennonites. Then we boarded a van and drove around Amish homes and the tour guide talked about the Amish culture and we could ask questions. It was really informative. Then we ended with dinner at an Amish home. There were two vans and three cars of guests that dined--maybe 30 people. The dinner was wonderful and the Amish family was very nice. The four children helped serve and even sang two songs after dinner.

If you come to Amish country, come hungry and prepared to shop!

Thursday, August 20, 2009
We had the tires on the Yukon rotated this morning. We have gone over 5,000 miles so far on our trip! Then we drove to Roscoe Village and had a ride on a canal boat in part of the Ohio/Erie Canal that they have restored. In the early 1800's, they dug canals to open up the interior of the state to commerce. They had to build hundreds of locks to raise and lower the boats to the different levels of topography. Randy is standing in the remains of a triple lock. They lined the interior walls with huge rocks several feet thick.