Pennsylvania.......Lancaster County

After reluctantly leaving our accommodation in Virginia we did the quick drive into Pennsylvania...I always thought that's where the vampires live...turns out that's Transylvania!!  Thanks Josh! Also, it has taken me 48 years to spell Pennsylvania correctly...so I'm quite proud I've finally worked it out..that's one up on Stu!

As soon as we got off the busy freeway I fell in love with Pennsylvania.  It is so green and clean, crops everywhere, small picturesque towns, winding roads...

rolling hills....

and some beautiful properties....

The crops were mainly wheat and corn and I never thought they could look so beautiful, especially grown together....

We were heading to a town called Ronks, in Lancaster County, which is the heart of the Amish country.  Amish are  members of a strict Mennonite sect that established major settlements in Pennsylvania and Ohio from 1720 onward. We were all ill informed about the Amish and were keen to show Joshuah more, particularly as his knowledge came from South Park....(actually South Park has taught Joshuah a lot...it seems every town we go through has an "educational" connection to an episode of South Park!) So it was with great excitement that we saw our first Amish buggy...even though it held us up for a while.....

and it was amazing to see the Amish alongside mainstream America, but it appeared that they were totally oblivious to what was going on around them.

Our hotel was called Scottish Inn, in Ronks and Stu had read about it.  The advice from many reviews was to ask for a room upstairs, out the back, overlooking the fields belonging to the Amish, so you could watch them ploughing the fields and if you were lucky you might see some hot air balloons.  We checked in, went to our room and there we had it....from the verandah outside our room.

It was a beautiful evening, nearly a full moon and I think the longest day of the year, so our next mission was to go in search of "Covered Bridges".  Again, (and I don't know why) I have always wanted to see covered bridges.  The only one I really know is from Beetlejuice...which isn't one of my more favoured movies.....but there are over 25 covered bridges in Lancaster County and we wanted to find one of them before nightfall.  Directions were really sketchy..even on the internet...and when you go looking for them you can see why. Narrow, windy, out of the way roads everywhere!  But we did find one.....not as I expected, but there nonetheless....

right next to this gorgeous old building.....

So I was a happy camper as we headed back to the hotel, but life got even better when we saw all these small farms..Amish and non Amish with the huge moon as a backdrop...a few photos, but I was in love....

You could pick the Amish farms...no vehicles - only buggy's and old fashioned machinery.  All the houses and farms were immaculate and there seemed to be a real sense of pride amongst all the home owners in the area.  We came across 2 young Amish girls aged about 8yrs old, playing on the road with an old fashioned wooden cart and lots of Amish with scooters...that you push with one leg.  They prefer these instead of bikes.
Our hotel was close to a large shopping centre and we were amazed to see this parked outside a  local takeaway.....

When the sun went down and it was dark we were sitting outside overlooking the fields when all these lights started flashing.  They were fireflies (I think that's what they were called) and it was a most amazing sight.  I videoed it, so if you look carefully you can work it out....

The next day we were in search of more covered bridges...Joshuah was thrilled with this idea as you can imagine...but being the good sport he is, he came along for the ride...(he's told us he hates how people must think he's an only child and we should have had more kids after him, so he'd have brothers and sisters around him, and we're a bit selfish by not having any more!)  We found this one within minutes....disused, but on the Heritage list.

We were about to go and look for more when we came across a sign for an Amish Village tour.  So we paid $8 each and went into a replica community, where we were given a brief tour by a non Amish guy and then were able to wander around, check out the gift shop and the one teacher school...it was really interesting and we learnt heaps...which shall remain in my head!

Stu and Josh in the buggy..it is tiny and whole families travel in them.

A mixer that runs by a diesel generated air compressor.

Farm machinery which is used

I took some photos of their quilting for Joan....hers is far better, but it was still lovely....

They don't have electricity, use horses for work and travel, attend church once a fortnight at a different persons house each week..this service goes for 4 hours, men eat first, followed by boys, then women and finally girls, females never cut their hair, men have beards if they are married - clean shaven if they're not, 9 out of 10 Amish in the Lancaster community who go on Rumspringa, return to their communities...these are just some of the facts given to us.  We were really glad we did the tour....gave us more of an insight...not one that we necessarily agree with...but interesting.
Off we went to find more bridges,,,,,

but not, before I was abused by some redneck for parking next to a bridge....he yelled at me that I was on his property (there were no signs to say Private Property) and that if I was going to be in his backyard, he'd come to mine and piss on it! Nice.  I really wanted to tell him he was more than welcome to....WA is a fair hike from Pennsylvania, especially if you're busting for a wee....but I thought he might shoot me.  He certainly changed my perspective of this quiet, peace loving area we were in.
Our last afternoon in the area, we took a drive to Intercourse (a most unfortunate name), which is the epicentre for the Amish community., and where a lot of the movie Witness was filmed,  There happened to be a huge gathering of Amish at what we think was a town event.  We didn't really know what was going on. There were food stalls and volleyball games happening...mainly between young men who looked around 18/19 yrs old.  It was some sort of competition....with polite applause and minimal cheering from the large Amish crowd, but all watching intently.

I was standing by myself, watching, when a group of about 5 young girls (around 13 yrs old) stood right next to me.  So I decided to ask them what the volleyball game was about...was it a competition?  One of the girls was so incredibly rude to me...looked at me in disbelief that I would dare to speak to her...said "it's about volleyball" and that was it.  I was so furious...I thought....13 year old girls the world over can be rude little cows!! So I said "I know it's about volleyball, we play it where I live too...but I wanted to know if it was a competition"...she just looked at me and didn't speak again.  That's when I realised that we are insignificant beings to them and barely exist!
Still, it was fascinating to hear the language, see the haircuts, the clothing.....

the buggies....

 

it was a real insight into a totally different world.  Then to top it all off, a local church band played for the crowd, and before every song they praised the Lord, America, each other, people they knew...the list went on.  It was a surreal experience to say the least.

 

 So again, I left another place reluctantly. I'm hoping we can go back to another Amish community in Ohio and I know there is plenty more of the US to see, but it really was a fascinating closeup look at a completely different society.

Virginia.....thanks John Denver......

From Tennessee we drove into West Virginia (very, very briefly) and then into the beautiful State of ....

Stuart and Joshuah went and explored some caves.......they're everywhere....as it was a particularly warm day.......nice and cool in the caves

before we went in search of our night's accommodation.  Stu does most of the bookings for accommodation which is really time consuming...most evenings are spent on the internet organising where we'll sleep the next day/week. US motels have a bed size called full size....we assumed this was a full size bed...turns out it is a full size single bed!!  So we have been caught a few times with a nice full sized single bed for Joshuah and Stu and I sharing a full sized single bed!
Free internet is a prerequisite as well so we can organise our day/travels etc, a fridge is always handy, air conditioning (it's pretty warm here at the moment) and if we can, 2 queen size beds....throw in a microwave and we're set. And when you are paying for accommodation every night for 10 weeks, it can't be too expensive either!
Our first night in Virginia hadn't been booked so we drove and drove....and as the sun was going down knew we had to make a decision.  So many hotels we rang were too pricy and of course you are quoted a price and when you go to pay tax is added.....so we thought we'd go cheap.  KOA (Kampgrounds of America) have cabins...so we rang to book one.....$90 for a 2 room cabin which is above our budget. But she could give us a 1 room cabin for $69, with a queen size bed and a bunk bed....great... but we don't have linen...another $15 for linen...ok we are desperate...then another $10 for tax.....so this one room cabin ended up costing us around $95.....but they had free wireless internet, which we needed to organise the next nights accommodation...so we took it!
It looked really lovely from the outside....

and there was plenty of space to kick the footy.....

but the inside was teeny tiny.  There were plastic covers on the mattresses and pillows...they gave us a set of sheets and one blanket each that was the size of a hankie...and a towel each.  There was no toilet/bathroom....that was communal.....I guess it is a camp ground....no fridge.....but fortunately an air conditioner....and to pick up wireless internet...you had to stand on one leg, facing north, one eye closed and head twisted left to pick anything up...and when you did get it, it was for about 2 minutes!!

There was no town nearby and we didn't have any food, so it was suggested we go to the Pink Cadillac Diner down the road before they closed...they were pretty busy (because there were no other shops for miles...) and we were seated by an angry lady who was obviously pissed off that we came to eat at her Diner...2 hrs before closing time!!

That night and early the next morning, Stu did all the internet tricks and managed to somehow book the next 3 nights accommodation, despite having internet access for about 2 mins total!! He did well.  We had planned to do a scenic drive to a place called Natural Bridge, then up through the Blue Mountains before staying the night at Front Royal.
 The car was full of Morgan and Jakeb's gear that they are taking back to Australia...long story, but they would have been over the limit to fly to meet us within the US, so we had their bags with us......including Jakeb's snowboard, boots and helmets!!  The car is small enough anyway, so to add all that, plus our bags and then pick the boys up in Chicago, drive with them for 10 days...it would have been impossible.  Jakeb had arranged with a friend who lives just outside of DC for us to drop their bags off and they would pick them up when we are all staying in DC.  We had planned on doing this a bit later, but the car was so full it made travelling very uncomfortable.
First place was Natural Bridge...it was absolutely pouring with rain and it was pretty expensive to go in, so we decided to give it a miss.  Instead we made our way up the Blue Mountains to do this beautiful scenic drive, which is one of the best in the US (apparently)...

it was raining a bit, but the higher we got, the more cloud cover came in and the heavier the rain...this was our view.....

so after a brief consultation (3 seconds) we made the decision to head to DC (Olney in fact) and drop the boys gear off....the weather was too miserable to see anything...the car was too uncomfortable to travel in being so full...so off we went...it was about a 3hr drive...in the rain...loads of DC traffic...and another number plate purchase.....

We were at the Creamer's house for about 20 mins, unloaded and drove back to Virginia to Front Royal, getting there around 6pm...with a much lighter load, which was a relief for everyone...especially Joshuah who had had NO room!
Our accommodation at Front Royal was really rank...we had 2 rooms (it was a coupon deal) in a really seedy part of town..the rooms smelt of cigarette smoke, wee, animals....ewwww! Fortunately it was one night only...especially as some of the clientele were BBQing their dinner in the guest carpark!
The next morning we decided to approach the Blue Ridge Mountain scenic drive from another angle...it was a bit grey, but we were assured it would be beautiful up there....I was so excited to see the word Shenandoah everywhere...so many songs!!!! (and to see a KM sign!)

 Then the fog started to become a little thicker.....

until this was our view......seriously!!

So again we decided to call it a day on the Blue Ridge Mountain Scenic Drive (did I mention one of the best in the US!!)...and try somewhere else.  We ended up on another mountain ridge where the sky cleared and we had the loveliest drive, with beautiful country.....

Overlooking the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains

Shenandoah Valley

Shenandoah Valley

Of course John Denver kept playing over and over in my head...."Almost heaven, (West) Virgina, Blue Ridge Mountain, Shenandoah River".....

Yep, that's the Shenandoah River...a little disappointing...can't believe he wrote a song about it!! No I'm sure it was just dirty after lots of rain!!  There was always a creek running along beside the road, so we decided to take a look and it was lovely...

 Stu loved it so much he went for a swim...so far he has swam in the Rio Grande and the Shenandoah....by this time we were ready to go to our accommodation, but not before stopping at a town to check out Thrift shops for number plates...with no success, but some really nice houses....

 The top one is for sale..not sure of the price....so we went and did our grocery shop for 2 days...pretty excited as we were going to a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains...with a hot tub. The photos looked really nice, but you never know if that is what you are going to get.  This cabin was a mid week special, a little indulgent....for our budget.....but we had been staying in pretty ordinary places, so  decided to splurge. It was run by 2 guys...Steve and Chris....who had been amazing with their communication.  This was the place Stu had booked from the KOA..with the bad internet!

It was absolutely beautiful....modern, clean, a big fridge and freezer, big microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, big TV, a dining table that sat 6, couches...and a view from the kitchen overlooking the Shenandoah Valley......I felt like I was back at Australind...except it was mountains, not estuary! It was an absolute treat and the guys had not forgotten anything.  They even left a complimentary bottle of red! It was luxury.  But the best part was the hot tub on the deck...it was divine....

We loved this place so much that we didn't leave it for 2 nights....we watched the sun go down over the Valley....

watched Miami Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs in the 7th game of the NBA final...in luxury, with quick dips in the hot tub in the time-outs!  The next day we saw some interesting creatures....

listened to the woodpeckers and watched the hummingbirds come in for a feed at the birdfeeder...they were magnificent.....

Our last night there was spent in the hot tub.....

with a gorgeous sunset......

and we reluctantly packed up the next morning, in search of our next adventure.  What a great place to relax and unwind......