In Amish Country

43 this morning. Cold!

We decided on the spur of the moment to take a drive to Ohio's Amish country. We missed the peak of leaf change but we have wanted to explore the area a bit so off we went.

First, I have to say the land is beautiful, rolling hills interspersed with valleys, forests and giant farms. And on the roads, giant tractors, 

Amish buggies,

 and many electric bikes. These bikes have a battery that charges when the rider pedals, but can be used for power on hills. Ingenious.

We stopped first in Cambridge just to see what that town looked like and to see if there were any good thrift shops.

There weren't, at least we didn't find any, but their courthouse was well worth seeing.

We've stopped before at a thrift in Sugarcreek which we found had moved to  a much larger building.  It was 50% off day! Very crowded but we scored some good finds. Across the road was the Walnut Creek flea market which was a big disappointment as almost everything there was either brand new from China or food products. And cost a dollar to park. Yuck.

So we left quickly and soon found a very junky d store that was just our kind of place. This is Vogt's General Store in Trail, Ohio.

We had a happy time browsing and visiting with the owner. Her prices were for the most part more than we could pay for resell but we still found a few things. She told us about a good Amish restaurant not too far away so we drove on to Mrs. Yoder's Amish Kitchen in Mount Hope. The food was delicious and the coffee even better. A good stop.

Everywhere though were tourists.  I guess I didn't realize that this area was such a tourist destination. So while we had a great time, I am not sure we will go back. Although that thrift shop...

It is common to see windmills in Amish country, 

but this time we saw that the Amish were getting into solar power.

Many homes sported panels on their roofs, most of them pretty small. 

It was a good day and a nice break. Our work will always wait for our return!

A few more photos from our travels.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.