Our Trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

     For our P-Day activity this week we decided to take a trip to Lancaster County, PA.  An elderly Sister in our ward had given me a book about the covered bridges there and it looked like a really cool place to go.  We teamed up with the Holloways and the Smuins who also serve near us and took this trip.  We went first to a Mennonite Visitors Center to learn about the Amish and the Mennonite peoples, their beliefs and ways of life.  We found that religiously they are about the same, but Amish are quite strict, and the Mennonite are conservative and modest, but wear more regular clothing and do believe in modern conveniences.  They believe strongly in the importance of Moses' Tabernacle in the wilderness.  Just below is a typical Mennonite Farm (they have a car).  They each had a huge garden and many were selling their produce.  We did buy some tomatoes, broccoli, and apples.  They take very good care of their farms and they were quite tidy.

 I especially liked the Amish horse and buggies.  We saw them everywhere, but it was hard to get a good photo of them.  Their buggies are very shiny and black and the horses quite fast.

 Another way to tell if the farm was Amish was to look for the laundry hanging.  It had been rainy all week, so they had been unable to hang out their clothes to dry.  So each Amish farm had a very LONG clothesline full of drying clothes.

 A good shot of a horse and buggy nearing the local car dealership.

      We then headed for the Shady Maple, an extremely large smorgasboard (it seats 1000 persons!) where we visited their 200 foot line of food.  I especially liked the grilled salmon with dill sauce.  Dad liked the bratwurst and we both liked the walnut pie.  This place makes Las Vegas smorgasboards look small.

      This is the second covered bridge we saw on this day.  I really liked them and want to return and see more.  They are off the beaten path, however.  We found one more but it had recently been torn down.  Some you can travel through (as this one below) and some you can walk through only and even some you can only view.

      Sister Holloway is a CES missionary, Sister Smuin works in the office with us, and me, also working in the office.  We had a most enjoyable day.  The only thing we missed was the fall colors. Apparently there has been too much rain and the leaves are now just starting to drop even before they turn color.