Road Trip - Day 13 - Leaving Pennsylvania via Gettysburg

Today was our last day at the farm stay so after another delicious Amish breakfast complete with homemade bread (I make my own bread too but this one was exceptional) I had to buy the Busy Mother's cook book - a cook book Martha's recipes are in including the bread recipe which I am keen to try out.

After breakfast the girls disappeared playing on the farm, whilst we dressed and packed up the car ready for the start of our journey home to Chicago.

The girls enjoyed their last play with Stephen Jr and Malinda, then it was time for goodbyes and for us to be on our way, it was hard dragging the girls away but finally we did and we got on our way, we had a quick stop at King's Hardware where we picked up an Amish scooter for myself, don't laugh but this scooter is ace and my girls are so fast on their scooters now I can't keep up, so now I have my own scooter complete with a basket. After the scooter purchase we got on our way, our next stop was Pittsburg for the night via Gettysburg.

So we took the original historic Lincoln Highway out of Lancaster County, the Lincoln Highway was the first/original highway in America, the Lincoln Highway spanned coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, originally it flowed through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinios, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California, we truly travelled through history, one of the highlights was seeing an old fashioned MacDonalds sign

Our reason to see Gettysburg was to visit the Gettysburg National Military Park - a place rich in history as the Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War and it was where Abraham Lincoln (the then president of the USA) made the famous Gettysburg Address. It was a very interesting place and gave a great insight into the Civil War - it was truly amazing, the best bit was the painting called the "Battle of Gettysburg"  it was an enormous circular painting of The Battle of Gettysburg, also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama (a type of 360° cylindrical painting) painted by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux in 1864 and it re-creates Pickett’s Charge, a climactic Confederate attack on Union forces during the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.

 After leaving the museum we bumped in Abe Lincoln well a statue of him, then we made our way back along the Lincoln Highway to Pittsburgh our stop for the night.

Although still in the beautiful Pennsylvania we were well and truly on our way home, next stop Cleveland Ohio and another new state for me.

Road Trip - Days 12 - Strasburg

This morning began with another delicious Amish breakfast, the girls were keen to finish to go and play with Stephen and Malinda, so whilst they were playing we showered and dressed, then the girls went with Stephen egg collecting, not many eggs today, only one Tilly found, which Martha said was unusual.

After the egg collecting we then had a traditional buggy ride - you see the Amish don't own cars but instead use a horse and buggy and it's the norm, we saw so many of them out and about, so we were lucky we were able to ride on the family buggy, the ride took us to a neighbours farm to drop off some gas. It was a great ride and the girls loved it

After the buggy ride we went out for the day to Strasborg to ride the Steam train. I have a love of steam trains, you see I grew up in York home to the National Railway Museum, where there is a great collection of steam trains, and back home in Haxby we lived near a railway crossing on the York to Scarborough line and every summer the steam trains would run from York to Scarborough so we were lucky to see the steam engines pass by every day.

My most special memory of steam trains is one year my Mum & Nanna took us on a steam train ride to Scarborough, I'll never forget it, it was actually my brothers birthday and mum took us down to York station under the pretence of looking around the steam train - it was the famous Mallard my brothers favourite, anyway we got on board and had a look around (took our seats) when the train set off, my brother was so surprised until we explain it was his birthday present I have never seen him so happy, we had a fantastic train ride to Scarborough and a lovely day there.

My other great steam train ride was in Lithgow, in the Blue Mountains in Australia, whilst I was backpacking I took a trip out to Lithgow to go to the Zig Zag Railway and ride the steam engine, I could never imagine that day, being on my own, I would get invited to ride up in the actual steam engine, I was so lucky, it was a great ride and whilst having general chit chat with the driver and telling him about the (York) National Railway Museum he told me he had been there.

Anyway sorry for the digression and to get back to the point, so knowing at Strasburg there was a steam train ride I was there eager to go, in addition to the steam train ride, there was a museum and train related rides for the kids. We decided to do just the steam train ride so the four of us choose to travel in the open air carriage and we enjoyed our 45 min round trip tour through the Amish country side to Paradise and back again. It was a lovely ride.

After our steam train ride, we had lunch in Strasburg and visited a local winery, and on our way back home we saw one of the famous covered bridges that were typical to the area many years ago but only few remain.

So back to the Homestead it was and again the girls sought out Stephen Jr and had a play out in the garden, in fact the girls just go out and play, one minute they are there and the next minute they are nowhere to be seen just out playing around the farm and discovering.

I must admit I found the Amish/Mennonites very interesting, which prompted me to find out more, The Amish are known for their simple living, plain dress and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology including cars and electricity. They get around by using buggy's pulled by horses, fields are farmed the traditional way using the working horse to pull the plough or machinery needed to harvest the crop.

The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists  in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann. Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish. In the early 18th century, many Amish and Mennonites emigrated to Pennsylvania for a variety of reasons. Today, the most traditional descendants of the Amish continue to speak Pennsylvania German, also known as Pennsylvania Dutch which is what we heard Martha speaking to her children.

I love the fact the Amish haven't been influenced by modern technology and continue to do things the old fashioned way or their way, it keeps good traditions in the family, they truly are a family/community unit, bound by their faith and traditions, it's lovely to see and heart warming - I think Mr C was a bit worried for awhile about how much I did love their lifestyle...

In one way it has been a very humbling stay, seeing the women and men work so hard every day, the amazing family & community unit they have, the big loving families - it's normal here for woman to have 8 or so children.

Having said that, all of us did thoroughly enjoy our farm stay and we'd recommend it to anyone who'd like to sample this way of life for a little bit or just getaway for some peace and quiet. I wish we could have stayed longer but this was our last evening at the farm stay and our last night in Lancaster County so we dined at Yoder's a local Amish smorgasbord which we enjoyed, before we retired for the evening.

Road Trip - Day 11 Cherry Creek Farm

After a yummy traditional Amish breakfast, a run around with the kids, some egg collecting and a quick change we headed for Cherry Crest Farm  - where we were told there was an amazing (corn) maize maze. I expected we'd probably have a few hours there, then could do Strasburg on the way back.... little did I know how great this place was for the kids and we'd end up spending all day there

To begin admission was only $15 each and this entitled us to unlimited entry until September now that is a good deal if we were local to the area, we started by going on the tractor ride around the farm, we got to hear about the history and how the farm had been diary farm etc, then it was back to the maze area, where in addition to the maze, there was plenty of other things to do....

Big bounce mats, race carts, hay stack obstacle course, playgrounds, gem dig, hay stack tunnels, a super chute slide, and hay stack slide - we all had a go on the big bounce mats, I rode the go carts as did Ruby and we all went on the big slides that was so much fun and the girls spent ages at the playground, it was gone 2pm and we hadn't even had lunch or done the maze, there was so much to do, so after a quick lunch, a small tractor ride for the girls, a look in the discovery centre, where we held a few baby chicks, saw a baby goat, feed a goat and looked at the pigs we finally made it into the maze.

Go Team Chaplin

The maze was huge, it was a-maze-ing, we had 3 choices to do - follow the yellow flags and that took us round the outside of the maze and only took 15 mins to do - not enough of a challenge for us Chaplins though, the orange had more of a challenge and you could collect some of maze pieces around the maze time 45 mins, and red the ultimate challenge collect all 15 maze pieces plus solve a crossword puzzle time 2hrs to complete, we decided to do the orange challenge, but we got so engrossed in the challenge we decided to find and collect all 15 pieces and we nearly did it but we ran out of time (the maze was closing) and we only missed it by 2 pieces in the end we'd been in there nearly 2 hours and the girls loved it.  It was a great day out.

Back to the farm we went, the girls hunted out Stephen to play with whilst we chilled out for an hour, then it was time for dinner and we ended up choosing to have dinner at  Stoudt's Brewing Company  it's one of the pioneering craft breweries in America, and offers a variety of amazing Lagers and Ales. I tried the Scarlet Lady Ale - an English style ale and it was delicious and went well with my Weiss wurst dinner.

After dinner it was back to the farm, and after we'd put the kids to bed, Mr C and I enjoyed a couple more Scarlet Lady's whilst watching a movie on the Mac.

Road Trip - Day 10 - Intercourse

After being treated to a lovely breakfast by Hilda we set off in search of Intercourse - a town in the Lancaster County and what a gorgeous town it was, full of Amish furniture (they could put Ikea to shame - good quality, handmade & cheap) produce, craft, fabric, wool, antiques, food, candles, quilts, soaps, and shops that sold lots of nik nak type of things it was great. My first stop was at Lancaster Yarn Shop  where I got some gorgeous wool for a cardigan I'm knitting, the yarn shop also sold hand dyed wool from the region I was very tempted.

We then came across a great place called Kettle Kitchen Village - it was a place full of shops, over 40 local shops in one outdoor shopping village, filled with homemade Lancaster County food, fresh baked goods and tasty canned goods - it was truly an awesome place and well worth a visit, it was a place to get buggy rides, have pony rides, there was a little farm area and playground for the kids it was lovely, the girls had a pony ride each of course.

Next stop I found a fabric shop a fantastic fabric shop so much better than my local one in Chicago for choice, I was very surprised but then the area is rich in homemade quilts. I did manage a purchase of fabric I've been after for ages.

Next stop back to the village for lunch then it was time to head to our official farm stay - our home for the next 3 days.

So we arrived at The Homestead our Amish farm stay for the next 3 nights/4 days, on arrival we met Martha our host, Martha is married to Stephen and they have 8 children (9 but the eldest boy died) ranging from 17 years to 23 months old, and each have a role in the family - the older girls help mum out and work outside the house but within the Amish Community, the boys help look after the farm, we were always seeing the older boys tending to the farm, mowing the lawns, milking Caramel the 3 teat-ed Jersey Cow, mucking out the stables etc, even Stephen Jr aged 5 had jobs to do, he took out the trash and collected the eggs, Ruby and Tilly took to Stephen Jr and Malinda (23 months) and helped Stephen Jr with his chores as well as playing with them all the time.

After settling in, we had heard that the best ice cream in the USA was sold from a dairy farm down the road, well we couldn't pass up that opportunity now could we, so off we went to Lapp Valley Farm to sample the delicious ice cream and truly delicious it was and why is it so delicious because it's made from the milk of Jersey cows -  The Lapp family who own the farm make all their ice cream & other dairy products on the farm itself from the milk produced by the Jersey cows (this milk is noted for the higher butterfat, calcium, and protein). Ruby now calls the beautiful Jersey cow an ice cream cow.

Ever seen a drive through Ice Cream shop? No well not only did the farm serve fantastic ice cream in the shop it also had a drive through, how cool is that? and what did we see, not a car that pulled up, but an Amish buggy, it pulled right up to the drive through window, they ordered their goods, paid for them and left, we were so glad to have witnessed this.

After our ice cream I dropped Mr C & the girls off at the farm driveway, whilst I went back to Intercourse for some needles to get started on my next knitting project with the Yarn I had bought earlier - I just couldn't wait to get started.

Whilst I was out, the girls got acquainted with the children, and helped milk Caramel, I joined them whilst Caramel was still being milked, which Ruby had a go at, we then visited the horses and the girls played in the barn, they also discovered a great play house.

After a lovely smorgasbord dinner at  Shady Maples dinner it was time to retire - we'd had such a busy day it was lovely to retire to our room with no TV for distraction.

Road Trip - Day 8 & 9 Back To The States & Amish Farm Stay -Pennsylvania

Leaving Niagara Falls was sad, we'd had such a fantastic time there, but it was time to head back into the States for the next part of our road trip.

So after brunch at Denny's and postcards written we set off in search of a Totem Pole and woodcarving place, but we couldn't find it so we decided to get on the road to our next stop St Mary's - Pennsylvania

We took the Rainbow Bridge out of Canada and into the States, you can also view the Niagara Falls from the States but the best views are on the Canadian side, although the crossing over Rainbow Bridge did provide a great lookout over the falls too. We didn't stop for a look on this side but headed south through New York State to Pennsylvania.

Driving through Pennsylvania was truly beautiful, we stopped for an hour in a little town called Ridgeway before continuing onto St Mary's our stop for the night and to break up the journey to our 4 day Amish farm stay in Lancaster County.

We arrived at our farm stay via the neighbours first as our farm stay was fully booked (which we knew in advance) so the lovely neighbours kindly took us in (something they do when the farm stay is full). It was a gorgeous house with a suspended bed the girls loved, there were horses nearby which the girls got chance to feed them an apple each very exciting for a 5 & 3 year old.

Hilda and Michael who we stayed with are Mennonites - Mennonites are very similar to the Amish but not as strict with their dress,they have electricity and are more modern, although still strong in their faith.

The Amish & Mennonites are truly fascinating, I was very keen to learn more about them and through talking to them and reading about them I found out more which I will share later.

Road Trip - Day 7 Niagara Falls

We've all heard about Niagara Falls, seen the photos and images on TV, I certainly have but I never thought I'd ever see them up close and personal, although Canada has been a country I've always wanted to go too and Niagara Falls a place I've always wanted to visit, this is probably true for a lot of people, but for whatever reasons we don't always get there, so I feel so lucky that I have and I have really enjoyed it and that my girls have too.

Niagara Falls

Our day at Niagara Falls was brilliant, we started by heading straight off to see the falls - which were amazing, although Mr C & I both commented we thought they were smaller than we had imagined, that was until we took the world famous Maid of the Mist boat tour and got up close to these magnificent falls, and magnificent they are - it was truly an awesome sight - the falls are huge, noisy and wet.

The American Falls - On The American Side New York State

Horseshoe Falls - On the Canadian Side

There are three falls, collectively named the Niagara Falls - from largest to smallest the waterfalls are Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, the Horseshoe Falls are on the Canadian side of the border and the side we are on, the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls (which fall between the other 2) are on the American side.

The World Famous Maid of The Mist Boat Tour

Horseshoe Falls directly behind us

After our boat trip, we had an early lunch overlooking the falls, then we took a walk along the cliff top savouring the view all along the way and ended up at Niagara Falls Fury - the top of the Canadian Falls, the spray coming off the falls was amazing you were soaked in seconds,

View of Niagara Falls from the Sky Wheel

Then we had a long walk back into the main strip of Niagara Falls - called Clifton Hill this part of town is very commercial, crowded, neon-lit that brings a certain tackiness to it but in a fun and exciting way it's packed with wax museums, arcades, and souvenir shops, this area provides ways to spend money at every turn and luckily our girls are too young to be demanding they go in every haunted house or wax museum on the strip, so instead we went on the Niagara Sky Wheel this was really good and provided a great view of the falls and the other treat as the girls really really wanted to go in the "Space thing" was we did Galaxy Golf - a cool indoor mini golf game in the dark it was all fluorescent inside and lots of fun, the girls couldn't get over how they were so fluorescent too - great fun.

Playing Galaxy Golf

Then it was back to the hotel for a swim, although Tilly feel asleep, Ruby got to have a good swim and play in the pool. We also managed to watch quite a bit of the brilliant Olympics opening ceremony - I was very proud to be British, sat in my Canadian hotel room, with my Australian children.

Dinner was at the Rainforest Cafe - a place we nearly went to at Euro Disney but didn't, so the girls were very excited to be going there and it was great inside perfect for two animal loving girls, Ruby said it was the best restaurant ever..... and fine it was, but I have to say the food was average and expensive, but the experience with the kids was worth it.

Our dinner ended perfectly in time for us to make our way back to the Niagara Falls viewing areas to be treated to a free fireworks show - all I could hear from Ruby & Tilly was wow, wow, wow, wow they loved it and to cap it all off the falls where illuminated too. A brilliant end to a brilliant day.

Niagara Falls you have been an awesome adventure, not sure if we'll ever get back to see you, but thank you for having us.