Saturday afternoon – 23 August

Our first full day in Pennsylvania, and a beautiful one at that. Determined not to miss anything, we headed out early. A quick stop for breakfast in Elizabethtown, then onward to the Amish countryside.

Unfortunately, whoever they hired to make tourist maps of the area, lacked some basic map-making skills. No matter which road we tried, no matter what the highway number said, we found ourselves heading off in directions other than what we wanted. (By the way, if you wonder why Miss Priss – our GPS stalwart – didn’t help yesterday or today, it’s a long story. If you don’t have the exact coordinates of your destination – either address or city – it’s difficult to tell her where you want to go. Yesterday the RV park was in the middle of nowhere; today, we just wanted to see the countryside. Sigh…)

As we finally got straight and headed in the right direction, I realized I’d left my camera(s) – yes, all three of them – in the motor-home. Not much of a photographer I’m afraid. But it was too far to turn back, so we decided to just enjoy the scenery. Having said this, you might wonder how I got the above photos. Ta-Da! New cellphones with built-in cameras. Not the best quality, but better than nothing.

Our winery stop was in: Intercourse, PA (sign above). The town was originally called Cross Keys. Why in the world they changed the name, there are several theories, is beyond me. The town’s claim to fame was the movie, WITNESS, with Harrison Ford, was filmed there. We didn’t know this when we were there, but we actually went into a couple of the buildings they used in the film. Have to watch the movie again. The fight scene was on the main street, and the police station is now an Amish furniture store.

You see lots of “interesting” signs when traveling. We saw one today, Kosher Jewelry. Not sure what they sell. Gems blessed by the Rabbi? Lots of motorcycles. How does one wear his beautiful silver belt buck when one’s tummy hangs too low? Well, you slide it around to the side, of course.

What else did we see interesting? Went to the Saturday morning farmers’ market in Bird-in-Hand. Very crowded with tourists (bus stops here), but we purchased a metal star for the front of our house, three Pennsylvania-Dutch hex signs (good luck, etc.) – my family was PA-Dutch -- some pickled beets, preserves, jellies, smoked meats, etc. As with most tourist places, the people and the quantity of stuff gets over whelming. And it was Saturday. What were we thinking?

The good thing about it being Saturday was that the farmers were busy getting things done as well. Horse-drawn buggies were clip-clopping along the roads (and at a good clip at that). Parking lots accommodated cars and buggies, side by side. Gentlemen were dressed all in black with suspenders, straw hats and flowing white beards; boys in dark blue shirts and black pants held up by black suspenders; and girls had their hair drawn back in buns and attired in black jumpers (only the older girls and women wore the sheer caps).

Laundry was hung on the line to dry at every farm house in the basic black and blue theme, sometimes with a quilt or two adding a splash of color and design. Fields of corn looked like a green, swelling ocean covering the hills in every direction. Every farm had an enormous barn and three silos. The fields, the building, the homes – all looked abundant and immaculate.