Amish Country

You wouldn't peg the Amish for their sense of humor, but their towns have some quirky names. In fact, reading a map of Pennsylvania is quite entertaining with odd towns such as: Bottom, Big Beaver, Climax, Blue Ball, Burning Well, Burnt Cabins, Eightyfour, Hop Bottom, Jim Thorpe, Jugtown, King of Prussia, Jersey Shore, Lover, Nanty Glo, Scalp Level, and Walnut Bottom.

Two of the snicker-inducing towns we visited were Bird-in-Hand and Intercourse (a favorite joke platform for the week).

Having a snack in Bird-in-Hand

The quilt museum in Intercourse

Dillon's favorite

Grandpa's favorite

Grandma's favorite

Learning how to milk a cow

Asleep at a farm stand

Buggy hitching post

You couldn't drive a half a mile without passing another farm stand. This one became a quick family favorite. (We may have cleared them out of pickled beats, green peppers, pickled vegetables, and strawberry-rhubarb jam.)

Seeing the Amish at their homes made us realize the lines between "us and them" weren't as defined as we had thought. Most had gas-operated appliances (stoves, washers, refrigerators), and many had solar-powered reading lights. Their shopping carts at the grocery store were full of exactly the same things we were buying (except apparently they'll drink Sunny D--yuck). The most shocking thing we saw--even more so than the young kids in Pampers or the adolescent girl wearing Silly Bandz around her wrist--was a buggy filled with two moms and four kids all drinking Mountain Dew. We decided if you were doin' the Dew, you couldn't be that separate from society.