Meeting Friends in Gettysburg

On Sunday we met our friends Madonna and Jim in Gettysburg at the Gettysburg National Military Park for a tour of the home and farm of President Dwight D Eisenhower. It was a great tour, but even more fun seeing Madonna and Jim again. They had just returned from Alaska and we had a good time touring the Eisenhower house and catching up on what we'd all been doing.The Eisenhower house and farm is a National Historic place and next to the Gettysburg Battlefield.

We had a nice little in service in the barn by one of the park rangers followed by a very informative tour of the house. We had no idea what a prolific and good painter Eisenhower was or that Mamie was so Victorian in her style.

The pictures did not turn out very bright since we were not allowed to use flash. This was a sitting area.

This is the portrait of Eisenhower that had hung in the White House. A little dark to see here.

This porch room looked familiar to me. I seem to remember pictures of Eisenhower taken in this room.

At any rate we had a great visit, took a lot of pictures and had a nice lunch at Dobbins Tavern before heading back to Intercourse.

Monday was spent visiting local quilt shops in the area---and believe me there are plenty.

Arrived at Intercourse, PA--

We LOVE this area. We try to stop here whenever we are traveling in this direction. The people are so nice. Quilt shops are plentiful. There are 3 within 2 blocks of each other another 2 miles down the same road and at least 2 more 30 minutes away. There is just no comparison between this area of Amish country and Shipshewana. This area wins hands down. We could live here it is so nice.
This is the little office at the CG. They have flowers all around and a little garden where you can sit and overlook the farms. We are staying at Beacon Hill Campground which is about a mile from downtown Intercourse. This is our 3rd stay in this quaint little campground. The owners are so friendly and truly try to make you part of their family. They are very friendly with their Amish neighbors which have farms all around the CG. In August the Lapps bring over homemade ice cream for a free ice cream social. The cream content of their ice cream is very high which makes it extra delicious. Too bad it's not August.

When we arrived on Friday, 2 little Amish boys about 7 and 9 and a girl about 11 came to our door selling homemade breads, pickles, canned vegetables and jams. We were out of bread, so we purchased bread and raspberry and apricot jam. The bread and jam was wonderful with our breakfast the next morning. We had peppered bacon and fresh eggs purchase in Shipshewana, so we had a hearty breakfast.

On Saturday, horse drawn wagons came through the CG selling various homemade Amish goodies like Whoopie pies, shoo-fly pie, sticky buns, fresh milk from the farm and homemade root beer and more jams, and vegetables. Of course we couldn't resist the shoo-fly pie and sticky buns. Now I'll need to loose 50 lbs.

We also visited some of the quilt shops in the area, rode around the country side and paid a visit to Shady Maple our favorite grocery in the area. It's about the size of WalMart and has every thing you can think of and it is all fresh and delicious. The bakery, deli and produce section are tremendous. The fresh made Chicken Pot Pies are the best.

When we returned to the CG I sat outside under the trees and worked on my applique. Nicholas really enjoyed sitting outside with me. Also, as it turned out the trailer next to us in the CG had 2 quilters sitting outside at their picnic table cutting out a quilt for piecing. They are 2 sisters that live about 45 min away and come to this CG regularly to get together and quilt.

This is the view I had while sitting outside under the trees. This is Sam's farm across the way where the boys and girl live that brought the homemade bread and jam.

This is the view behind our motor home. Who wouldn't enjoy sitting outside with this view?

This is Sam plowing his fields with 4 horses. He had some type of gas engine attached which is the first time we have seen anything like that in this area. Usually is strictly horse drawn. Anyway he chose to do this later in the day when it was cooler. Beautiful countryside and corn everywhere you look. I love this area,

Fort Niagara

Yesterday, we visited Fort Niagara which is in Youngstown, NY north of where we are staying. If you are standing at the fort, Lake Ontario is on your North and Niagara River to the East. The fort is over 300 years old and it was very interesting to walk around and see the different sections.

The State Park here was very beautiful and we have noticed many great parks in this area of the country.

Crossing the moat into the entrance of the Fort.

These pulleys raise and lower the draw bridge.

View through the entrance to the Fort.

Well, inside Fort. Indoor plumbing!

While we were there the staff (in costume) did a reenactment and fired the cannon.

It was a nice day and something besides the Falls. One more day in Niagara before we leave,

More From Niagara

David and I went back the following day to the Cave of the Winds. There was no line and we were able to walk right in. It helps to go early on a non-holiday. You are able to walk closer to the falls and get a really wet view. FUN

In the afternoon we took a ride to Canada to view the Falls from there and just to drive around. It was a nice drive and we even found a quilt shop in Fonthill. The Quilting Bee was featured in an issue of Quilt Sampler magazine and was a nice little shop. They had a variety of things, but not a lot of fabric. I did buy a few fat quarters for the quilt I am appliqueing and another 1 meter of fabric. I was shocked at the prices. Thinking it was probably the same as US when translated into yardage vs meterage and with the currency exchange. I was wrong. One YARDs worth in US $$$ was $14.39/yd. That's the highest price I've ever paid, including Alaska. Glad I didn't see anything I couldn't live without.

For dinner we looked up local restaurants on the Food Network and found this one. Pizza Junction in North Tonawanda, NY. Their food was incredible. HUGE portions of everything. Their specialty was beef on weck pizza, which didn't sound that appetizing to us, but their traditional pizza did. We couldn't believe how good it was.

We could only eat 4 slices between the 2 of us. It was the best pizza we've ever had. We'd like to go back for their Haddock dinner or Fettuccine if we're ever hungry again.

Happy July 4th

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th. We spent the morning at Niagara Falls and a great ride on the Maid of the Mist. We decided to get there early due to the Holiday and we were smart to do so. Our plan was to walk over to the Cave of the Winds and do that after, but the line was way into the parking lot and we decided to just go early the next day to do that one.



As you can see, Nicholas is quite content. This is his favorite pose--with his paws over the edge of whatever he is sitting on.

Here we are waiting for our Maid of the Mist ride.

This is Rainbow Bridge which goes from the USA to Canada. Canada is on the left, USA on the right. You can walk across, bike across or drive across.

Here we are arriving at the Falls on the Maid of the Mist. We all look like a boatload of Smurfs!

The Falls were beautiful---and wet.

Shipshewana

As you can see Bentley is quite relaxed in the motor home and catching as many ZZZZs as he can. Actually all of the kitties are feeling quite at home on our trip.

We spent Wednesday in and about Shipshewanna and Middlebury just seeing what was around. We went to the Shipshewanna Flea Market and Auction which was very large and packed with people. It only occurs on Tues & Wed and there were hundreds of vendors. We found a couple of small bargains and then went to the Blue Date Restaurant (www.BlueGateRestaurant.com) for lunch. David had Chicken and noodles with potato salad and I had the grilled meat loaf sandwich with Amish potato chips. The meal was wonderful. Of course we had to follow it up with an Apple Dumpling with ice cream for David and Coconut Pie for me. YUM!!!!! Of course after that we were useless for the day.

After lunch we went to Yoders. It's a department store with clothes, shoes and a fabric store on one side and hardware and grocery store on the other. The fabric was top quality brands and reasonable prices. They had a large inventory for a dept. store.

On Thursday morning we went back to Das Dutchman Essenhaus for breakfast. It was very good and all the tables has apple butter and peanut butter for their toast and biscuits.

We had tine to walk around the village shops and found some very cute items and some pricey prices. The Quilt Shop was not good at all. They had a few pre-made items and almost no fabric. The week before we arrived they had a quilt festival here which was probably very nice and very crowed. They also have all around the area a Quilt Garden Tour where various shops and businesses have planted quilt block patterns in flowers or painted murals on the side of buildings. We did find a few as we rode around--but too lazy to just ride around looking for them.

This was outside DDE Village shops. I'm not sure what that pile of stuff is underneath.

This was the pinwheel block in the back of the village shops.

Then we went to Davis Mercantile which houses several businesses including Lolly's fabrics. Lolly's was very modern and had a nice selection of top quality and the latest fabrics. Notice the quilt mural on the side of the building. Lolly's even had a copy of Kathy's book "Sweet and Simple". We also discovered the basement had a sale room of very nice fabrics.

They even had a quilt shop dedicated to and only selling Minky fabric called the "Cuddle Corner".

After Lolly's we went to Kukui's Hawaiian Shaved Ice for a treat. It was soooo good.

On the way home we stopped at Yoder's Red Barn which had Yoders Meats. This place was incredible. Lots of fresh meats and cheeses of every type. We had to purchase some fresh smoked bacon and fresh jalapeno sausage for cooking in the MH.

It was a long day, but couldn't wait to get home and work on my quilt projects. Just wandering thru the quilt shops made me want to just go home and quilt.

More fun tomorrow.

On the Road to Shipshewana, IN

We left on Monday for Shipshewana, IN. So many of the customers in Lavender Lime have mentioned this area---so we had to see for ourselves.

Monday night we stayed at one of the nicest campgrounds we've seen. It is a Hamilton County recreational CG in Cincinnati, OH. We were a little leery due to the location and the fact that it was run by the county, but it was beautiful, clean and spacious. It is Winton Woods and we would definitely stay here again if we were passing through the area. Bentley had to ride arounds in his stroller.

We arrived Tuesday in Middlebury, IN, just and hop, skip and a jump from Shipshewana.


Inside Das Dutchman Essenhaus Restaurant.

David's dinner.

"The boys", enjoying the views outside.

Our dinner last night was at Das Dutchman Essenhaus (http://www.essenhaus.com/). It was more than a restaurant, but a whole shopping village with bakery, quilt shops, etc. We were very disappointed in the bakery's version of Whoopie Pies. They were small, expensive and almost gone by the time we arrived. The food however was very good. David had beef with homemade noodles served over masked potatoes with a side of broasted potatoes. A little carb intensive. The food did look like the actual picture in the menu. I had the broasted chicken with green beans and broasted potatoes. YUM!

The restaurant was full of items to purchase include many, many quilts hanging on all of the walls. The decor was very warm and comfortable and made me want to go back to the MH and quilt. Yes I brought my featherweight for piecing and an applique project to work on.

Wednesday (today) we are heading to Shipshewanna for the day.