Day 11: Amish Country to Flemmington, NJ

We started our tour of Amish and Mennonite country at a working Amish farm. It was quite interesting to learn about the way they live, customs and religious beliefs. I feel like some of them have caved to our society. They seam to pick and choose when they want to be traditional and when they do not want to. Its a little weird seeing a horse drawn carriage pulling into the parking lot of Target. Lauren and I were disappointed by this crossover of lifestyles.

Then we stopped at a farmers market and sampled all their hard work. (Jeremy there were lots of bakeries, better than Costco). We ended buying some meats, cheeses, popcorn and fresh peach milkshakes for lunch. After that I did a little quilt shopping. I found one that I just loved and came very close to purchasing it. After I thought about it for a while, I decided that every time I looked at it on the guest bed and remembered that someone else made it I would be bummed that I didn't make it. I decide that I like the cathedral window quilts the best. I guess that I have a project to replace having kids at home.

We decided to take country roads from Lancaster to Washingtons Crossing, PA. We thought this would be a great way to see how the Amish really live. The GPS said it was only 1 hour. We went through Valley Forge and Lahaska and kept driving and driving and driving............and finally arrived in Flemington, NJ 4 hours later!

Tomorrow its Troy, New York or Bust!

Day 10: Somewhere in Virginia to Lancaster, PA

Ok everyone this is going to be a long blog today. We went to 4 states today and saw a lot.

We started out the day the same way we ended it yesterday, 50 ft tall trees lining the roads. So, I was playing with my phone to see all that it could do, and I texted a lovely picure of what Lauren has done for 10 days, (sleep) to my sister and I told her I was bored. Debbie sent me a text back and said "What did you expect, it took us 2-3 hours to get dropped off to college, TWO WEEKS IS A LITTLE EXTREME.............

We went through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennysylvania. Do you know what that means? Geocaches in four states! It was a beautiful drive once we ditched the trees and could see something. I love all the rolling farms. We are now in the land of silos.


The first stop on the agenda today was HERSHY, PA., Lots and Lots of CHOCOLATE!
Hershy is a beautiful town, with rolling farms and estates. Many of the streets are themed named.


The street lights look like Hershy kisses!
Best of all its the home of the Hershy factory. The whole town smells like CHOCOLATE! (Just kidding) You are no longer allowed to tour the real factory. They have a ride you go on, through a fake factory, that explains the whole process and at the end yo get a sample! UMmmmm..... The prices were so high! You can get a bag of kisses for 1/4 the price at the drugstore the day after any holiday, its the same darn stuff.

We drove on country roads between Hershy and Lancaster. Oh my! The estates! I could live here. Ed decided he could also live here, when in the evening all the amish ladies were out mowing their lawns and the men were driving about in their buggies.

We ate dinner at a lovely farm that serves all the food family style. The menu included:
HOME-MADE
Chow-chow
Applesauce
Apple buter
Pepper cabbage
Bread
Sausage
Fried chicken
Ham loaf
Mashed poatoes
Candied sweet potatoes
Buttered noodles
Corn and string beans
I'M NOT DONE YET......
Shoo-fly pie
Cherry crumb
Apple crumb
Chocolate cake carrot cake
Pumpkin roll
Tapioca pudding
AND IT WAS ALL SERVED WITH HOME-MADE ICECREAM!

I had two Curves sightings today ladies, one in Manheim, PA and one in Lancaster, PA. Of course I just kept driving, stuffing my face full of chocolate. I would like to go tomorrow so I could see how the amish work out.

I thought you all might get a kick out of something Lauren said when we driving home from dinner tonight. "I thought the amish lived out in towns by themselves, I didn't know they went to Target".

Tomorrow we get a full day in amish country. Yeah!

Day 9: Memphis to somewhere in Virginia

ALRIGHT EVERYONE! You all say that i'm obsessed with Geocaching, well you are right but...... You wont even believe what Ed did this morning. He got up at 6 am and drove to Mississippi ( I like spelling that word) just to get a cache in that state for our caching map. HE IS OBSESSED TOO! I guess thats a good thing we have something in common to do, now that both our children have left us.

Here is our Geo caching stats to date:
8 States
21 caches (Lauren is holding us back)
2 Earthcaches
23 caches total

9:30 this morning we were finally on the road headed for Nashville, TN. We stopped at a rest stop to use the restroom and of course to grab a cache. I asked the man inside what street we should get off at in Nashville to see the main drag. He pulled out a map and said "Baby cakes, this is where I want you to get off so you can see it all". Of course this was all in a thick southern drawl. I sure was tickled. Our waiter at lunch said, "this is easy as pie", after he took our order.

Nashville: OK Pops, I know that you really liked Nashville and were there for a couple of days but, it didn't do a thing for me. Its just an old, big, busy city. Oh, and hot and humid. The Ozarks were more my speed.

We had a couple hours of rain after lunch today. Boy, when it rains in Tennessee it really rains! Big, Huge raindrops and lots of it. It did push down the humidity though. YEAH. (and our car is cleaner)

I got lots of knitting done today. There was not a whole lot to see since the roads are all lined with 50 ft high trees. I have 6 inches complete on the first sock. Almost to the heel.

We are staying the night somewhere in virginia. Good night.

Day 8: Arkansas to Memphis Tennessee

This morning we woke up to an old fashion country breakfast. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, fruit & preserves. We headed out to go back for a cavern tour at the Blanchard Caverns. We are now in the land of accents and all the National Forest workers spoke with a heavy accent. I had to ask what they were saying a couple of times. They had the nerve to say that I had an accent!

I think this formation looks like a battleship.

Lauren and I pretty much slept from Arkansas to about an hour before Memphis at which point I pulled out the AAA book to look up the Civil Rights Museum. The Johnson girls all said it was a must see and do. OF COURSE, Its closed on Tuesdays. Guess what today is? Then a lightbulb went off in my head, "isn't Graceland here?" YIPPIE, off to Graceland we went.

Buy this point we were STARVING. We were going to try another Diner, drive-in or dive but uncle Wes said we had to go to Corky's. It was FANTASTIC. Ribs, coleslaw, rolls and beans. Thanks Uncle Wes!

Tomorrow, its up in the air. Stay tuned till tomorrow night to see what we did.

Day 7: Enid to Mountain view, Arkansas

We were very sad to leave Enid this morning:( We had a wonderful visit with Wes, Linda, KT and Jacob, oh and Simon. We played lots of games, had a nerf gun war and competed against each other on the Wi. Thank You Tutt family for your wonderrful hospitality.

The road today ( with 2.38 a gallon gas mind you) lead us on a beautiful drive into the Ozarks. We stopped at an Amish cheese house to sample their wares and purchased a dozen chocolate chip cookies. OK I thought that I had mastered the art of the perfect chocolate chip cookie but these folks have me beat! Next it was off to the Blanchard Springs caverns in Mountain View, AR. We arrived too late for a tour of the caverns so we will go back tomorrow morning for our adventure.

We checked into this wonderful bed and breakfast Inn for the night. It is called the Inn at Mountain View, we have a two room suite that is sooooo cute. Lauren has her own little room and we share a bathroom. It sits right on the main square downtown. Mountain view is the worlds capital of Folk Music. I sat on the porch this evening knitting away listening to all the wonderful music out in the square. Oh, and chatting with some of the local ladies who where waiting for their husbands to get out of bible study.
Tomorrow we are off to Memphis, TN since there was so much flooding in Nashville and nothing is open.

Day 6: Play day #2 in OK

Today was a fun day up on base. We got to see a movie, well sort of. It wasnt working real great. And.....We went bowling and visited the airplane simulators where all the airforce pilots learn to fly. The base is its own little city.

I made a new friend last night. Jim the toad. Enid had an infestation of toads a couple of weeks ago and this is one the few remaining ones. Is'nt it cute?

We leave Enid and the cousins tomorrow to travel to Arkansas. (Boo Hoo)

Paid $2.38.9 for gas today. Enid is truly the cheapest gas in the country!

Day 5: Enid, OK Play day

Well, we woke up this morning and it was already 85 degrees! It hit a high of 109, YIKES. We got a very late start since we were up until midnight last night playing with the cousins & Simon (the tutt's new puppy). We went to see Vance airforce base. Wes our brother in law gave us a tour and took us out onto the tarmac to see all the planes. They are pretty neat.


Then we went to this unusual little gelato shop for ice cream. Its the best gelato and its homemade. You feel like you are walking right into these peoples living room when you go in. Its very inviting and cozy. So we sat and ate ice cream and played games for a while.

After that we took an air conditioned car ride around Enid to see the sights and did some geocaching. My nephew is hooked. YEAH! After that we went to Braums for a late lunch of hamburgers and what else, but MILKSHAKES. My kind of meal. Ice cream twice in one day. But the real highlight was..............

Wait for it..............................

Wait for it...............
Peggy R you are absolutely correct in saying this place is the greatest craft store EVER!

Did I mention that it is 109 degrees here today!

Well I finally had a curves sighting today in Enid Oaklahoma. Did I work out? Of course not, I ate icecream all day.