Chaos Surrounds the Simple

October 29 - 31, 2016
Bernville, Pennsylvania


I am a big fan of the artist Nancy Noel, and for many years a collection of her Amish pieces hung in my home. Now, my BFF has one, and the others have all been sold. So of course I have routed us to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to visit Amish country. 

Colors of Summer

Daughters

It is Saturday, this is a popular place to visit. Still, I'm unprepared for the level of chaos we encounter. There are beautiful handmade quilts hanging at a small shop before the little town of Bird in Hand, but there is no place to park. We find a space near the bakery and cafe and stop for a mediocre lunch. The Farmer's Market across the street is packed. Let's keep going.

I have no space for a quilt, but usually love looking at their artistry. Unfortunately at this shop I only find these that look like they're off a conveyor belt.

Our next stop is supposed to be the Intercourse Pretzel Factory where we can do a tour of the process. Amazingly we find a parking place again and walk a couple blocks, to find a candy store. No pretzels. No tour. Geeez. The traffic here is increasing so we head for the country. I'm all too aware that we are contributing to the crowd - everyone else is here for the same reason.

I'm not feeling the simple life.

Once away from the town there are only a few cars on the roads. Men are working the fields, women weed their gardens and hang clothes, children ride bicycles and scooters or help their parents, and shiny, healthy livestock graze. There are no electrical wires to the large farms, well-maintained wagons take the place of trucks, all the equipment is pulled by large horses. A few gas lawn mowers are the only noise here. This is the simple world I fell in love with in Noel's paintings. 

On our way home we stop for a soft pretzel at a brightly colored store. I've been told we must have one :-) From there Bill finds a couple covered bridges to enjoy. These are very different from each other, both delightful.

Produce lines the pretzel store

This sign cracked me up although it also sadly sums up how I feel about the little towns.

Built in 1844, the Herr's Mill Bridge is showing signs of age and is no longer a working bridge. 

The burr truss structure is still beautiful.

The Herr family fled Germany in 1710 to practice their Mennonite faith. In 1730 the grandson built this grist mill and a small village grew around it. It is still a beautifully maintained building. And there is a small RV park in the back :-)

Business lunch.

No place to pull over near this small, 1862 bridge.

Very pretty inside, even through a dirty windshield.

We get home as the sun is setting, giving us a lovely final evening in Pennsylvania. 

Monday we get a late start, pulling out of the nearby gas station at noon. It's a lovely drive into Maryland, our 21st state. 

We're here to visit Washington, DC, and everyone says Cherry Hill RV Park is the only place to stay. Although the rates are very high for dirt and grass sites, I can't disagree that the location is perfect and the park very nice. Our site is level, FHUs with 50 amp, and strong, free WiFi. The staff are very friendly and helpful.

In April, 2014 I wrote about making reservations for August 2017 to be in the shadow of the solar eclipse. At the time few people knew about it, including the rv park in Rexburg, Idaho.

A few weeks ago I checked in with the park to re-confirm our reservations only to learn that the park was sold in 2015 and none of the reservations were kept. Now, of course, the eclipse is a huge deal, and every park in the area is booked. Arrggh! 

I spent hours looking at locations in the shadow and did finally find a place in Albany, Oregon. There were a few other openings, but at highly inflated prices. So now we'll be at the Blue Ox just off Interstate 5 - and still in the shadow's path. Soooo glad I checked with the park!!