A Little Amish Country....

We've headed out on a little family vacation. Unlike our "normal" get-aways, this one is a fully "wing-it" vacation. All I know is that Mike wanted to travel north & possibly end up in Niagara Falls. I told him I was willing to try (I'm not good at not having plans). I just would need to know at least one day ahead of time where we would be. So, Thursday night, we decided Friday we'd head out to "Amish Country" - it was within driving distance in time to give us enough time to do something there, but not make Anne Marie NUTS in the car. (she's not the best travel-mate). So, here is the 1st day of our "Grizwold" vacation.......

Unsure of our exact plans, we have packed food, snacks, tents, air-mattress and enough clothes along with swim-suits in case we stay @ hotels.....you just never know. This is the back of the van -- and the 3rd row seating is F-U-L-L!! How does a family of 3 need so much stuff?

There is a budget for this trip -- so the duration will also depend on our spending habits (reason for SO much food packed in the back of the car!!) Well, I will say that if these tolls keep coming we're in TROUBLE! At least we stayed @ about $5 the first day -- but if you notice the ticket -- there are places that were going to be almost $14! UGH!

We traveled through 4 sates today -- leaving VA, then the 1st picture is off a bridge in WV near Harper's Ferry, then we dipped our toes in MD, and finally passed into PA! Anne Marie wad "done" long before we ever got there...so I'm glad we didn't go much further the 1st day.

How is that for beautiful countryside? (except for the glare off the glass-duh!)

I don't know if you can make it out -- this is not an Amish family (looks to maybe be Mennonite, but the boy is holding a hen in his hands while driving his tractor! heee!)

Again, there was BEAUTIFUL countryside -- I have pictures of goats, sheep, cows, majestic horses -- but this was one I had to post -- a little barn w/ a sweet little horse peaking his head out the door -- with the out-house on the side!

See -- i really did get pictures of "purty things"!

Mike and I decided after about a 2 hour drive in the country-side we wanted to eat dinner. We hopped over to a local highway near where we were -- boy, were we SHOCKED! The traffic was NUTS -- the outlets, the malls, the shopping, the theme-parks, the "CITY" -- ahahahah! It's NOT what we were looking for on this vacation -- we were going for "relaxing" - "simple" - "peaceful" -- so we headed back the way we came from. We stopped at a little Amish/Mennonite deli/shop and grabbed some fresh cold-cuts - fresh picked blackberries (OH YUM BY THE WAY!!!!) - and home-made oatmeal-whoopie-pies! We decided that we'd head back the way we came from since we saw a cute little park w/ a play-ground, a pond & it was behind this quiet little farm.

When we pulled into the park -- this is what we saw waiting for us. A large Amish family (about 50 or so) were there to celebrate someones birthday. Well, the park was large enough where we could stay and eat, play a little & still not bother them.

After our dinner, Anne Marie wanted to play on the play ground -- it was a VERY nice playground! Plus they had a volley-ball court (with sand -- so that was another fun thing for her -- she just build HUGE piles of sand that were "houses")

We walked around the grounds a little bit - got to "visit" with some sheep -- looked @ the pond - talked to the little Amish children -- and found a gazebo to take a few really cute pictures!

It's been a fun 1st day -- looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings!!